Ten years ago today (25 August) the world lost a superstar-in-the-making when a private jet crashed in the Bahamas taking with it the life of its passenger, Aaliyah Dana Haughton, aged just 22.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on 16 January 1979, Aaliyah's 10-year career began after she signed a record deal with Jive before she even reached her teens. Immediately scoring chart success, she
took the TLC/SWV/Salt'N'Pepa/Brandy Vs. Monica brand of mid-90s popular R&B that was around at the time, but added her own bandana-wearing, sunglasses-sporting, midriff-baring swagger.
Debuting in 1994 with radio-friendly, R Kelly-produced single Back & Forth she not only hit Number 1 on the US R&B chart, but had transatlantic success landing in the UK singles chart's Top 20.
Following this, Aaliyah sold three million copies in the US alone of her first album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number. Initially this was overshadowed by allegations she had entered into an illegal marriage with notorious bad boy Kelly, but weathering the storm she soon signed to Atlantic Records. With that label she'd go on to achieve even greater feats on the Missy Elliott-featuring follow-up album One In A Million (1996) - a record which would launch the prolific career of its producer, a certain Timbaland.
Aaliyah was the full package: a model, a dancer, and eventually an actress, she added a further string to her bow in 2000 with a starring role in Jet Li martial arts vehicle, Romeo Must Die, for which she also provided the soundtrack alongside co-star DMX.
In 2001, Aaliyah repeated the trick with her eponymous third album, again linking up with Missy Elliott and Timbaland, creating a blueprint that can be heard across pop music today.
A contemporary while in Destiny's Child, Beyonce adopted many of Aaliyah's genre-melding moves as she went solo. Further afield her musical fingerprints can be detected on dubstep newbies The Weeknd (via samples) while Gossip and The xx have covered her (see below for all three).
So ten years on Aaliyah is missed and still a vital part of our musical universe - a fitting place to be perhaps for a woman who was ahead of her time, yet, cruelly ran out of it.
Aaliyah's legacy - three current acts enthralled with the singer
The Gossip - Are U That Somebody (cover)
The xx - Hot Like Fire (cover)
The Weeknd - What You Need (Rock The Boat sample)
And of course, here's another one of Aaliyah's own, Don't Know What To Tell Ya
Eve Barlow
2:19 PM | 25/08/2011
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j aime les starts americaines
Posted by yvan at 1:20 PM | 26/08/2011 | Report Abuse
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Posted by destiny at 1:33 PM | 30/08/2011 | Report Abuse
aaliyah is a great lost 2 america
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aaliyah is a great lost 2 america
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