Those people were invisible to me." Even in her adult life, she considered herself small. When it comes to dealing with negative people, I just let it in one ear and out the other. The majority of kids supported me, which was wonderful. "You always have to deal with people who are jealous, but there were so few it didn't even matter. Other children disliked Aaliyah, but she did not stay focused on them. Her mother told her to be happy she was small and complimented her. She recalled coming into her own before age 15 and came to love her height. When she was growing up, Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and believed she was well-liked, but got teased for her short stature. Her cousin Jomo had a pet alligator, which Aaliyah felt was too much, remarking, "that was something I wasn't going to stroke." Education She had several pet animals during her childhood, including ducks, snakes and iguanas. She auditioned for several record labels and at age 11 appeared in concerts alongside Knight. Her mother made the decision to drop her surname. As a child, Aaliyah traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York to audition for commercials and television programs, including Family Matters she appeared on Star Search at age ten. Īaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle Hankerson was an entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight. Her mother stayed home and raised Aaliyah and her brother. In Detroit, her father began working in the warehouse business, one of his brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's widening interests. She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where in first grade she was cast in the stage play Annie, which inspired her to become an entertainer. When Aaliyah was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad. She started performing at weddings, church choir, and charity events. Aaliyah's mother enrolled her in voice lessons at an early age. Her name is the feminine form of the Arabic " Ali", meaning "highest, most exalted one, the best." Aaliyah was fond of her name, calling it "beautiful" and saying she was "very proud of it" and strove to live up to her name every day. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.Īaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York, the younger child of Diane and Michael "Miguel" Haughton, a warehouse worker. Billboard lists her as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and the 27th most successful in history. She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. In the decades since her death, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases. Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's operator, Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight. On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah was killed in an airplane accident in the Bahamas at the age of 22 along with eight other passengers when the overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff. After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her role in Queen of the Damned, and released, in 2001, her third and final album Aaliyah, which topped the Billboard 200. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this goal. She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single " Try Again". In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first film, Romeo Must Die. After allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records.Īaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million, which sold three million copies in the United States and more than eight million copies worldwide. The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. At the age of 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop".īorn in Brooklyn but raised in Detroit, she first gained recognition at the age of 10, when she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( / ɑː ˈ l iː ə/ ah- LEE-ə January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress.
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