Remembering Aaliyah


Aaliyah Dana “Baby Girl” Houghton was born on January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn, NY but raised in Detroit, MI. Aaliyah got her first major exposure appearing on the syndicated television series “Star Search” (1989) where she awed the audience with her amazing voice and talent. Withdrawing from the celebrity scene for a few years, Aaliyah lived the life of a normal teenage girl, attending Detroit’s Performing Arts High School where she majored in dance. She was discovered by R&B crooner R. Kelly in 1992 and the rest is history. Despite the success of her 1994 debut album release “Age Ain’t Nothin But A Number”, Aaliyah became famous during the mid-1990s with several hit records from the songwriting/production team of Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Read the rest of this entry for more about Aaliyah and to check out our music video tribute to her…

In 2000, Aaliyah landed her first major movie role in Romeo Must Die, which debuted at number one at the box office. A loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Aaliyah starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. In 2001, Aaliyah went to Australia to co-star with Stuart Townsend in the vampire film The Queen of the Damned, an adaptation of the Anne Rice novel of the same name. Looking ahead, Aaliyah had a supporting role in the two sequels to The Matrix as Zee, the wife of Harold Perrineau Jr.’s character, Link. The directors initially tried to find a way to incorporate her footage into the movies but decided against it due to lack of material available. The role was recast with Nona Gaye playing the role. In 2004, The Matrix was released to DVD, tributes and footage of Aaliyah were found inside the special features. Other films in which Aaliyah was signed to appear were Honey (Jessica Alba was eventually cast as the main character) and a Whitney Houston-produced remake of the 1976 film Sparkle which was canceled in 2007.

On August 25, 2001 Aaliyah, pilot Luis Morales III and the seven other passengers, including her hair stylist Eric Foreman, Anthony Dodd, her security guard Scott Gallin, Douglas Kratz (a director of video production for Virgin Records), stylist Christopher Maldonado, Keith Wallace and Gina Smith (both employees of the Blackground label) were killed in a plane crash after wrapping the video for “Rock the Boat”.

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