Aaliyah

Billboard lists her as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and the 27th most successful in history.

Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress.

She has been credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop".

Born in Brooklyn and 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.

At the age of 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, the younger child of Diane and Michael "Miguel" Haughton, a warehouse worker.

She was of African-American descent.

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.

When she was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad.

In Detroit, her father began working in the warehouse business, one of his brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's widening interests.

Her mother stayed home and raised her and her brother.

Her mother enrolled her in voice lessons at an early age.

Eventually, she started performing at weddings, church choir, and charity events.

Aaliyah 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.

Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle Hankerson was an entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight.

As a child, Aaliyah traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York City to audition for commercials and television programs, including Family Matters.

After failing to land a role on the show she continued her acting through the Gesu Players.

In 1989 at age ten she appeared on Star Search, where she performed "My Funny Valentine".

Aaliyah chose to begin auditioning.

Her mother made the decision to drop her surname.

She auditioned for several record labels and at age 11 appeared in concerts alongside Knight.

During her childhood, she had several pet animals including ducks, snakes and iguanas.

Her cousin Jomo had a pet alligator, which Aaliyah felt was too much, remarking, "that was something I wasn't going to stroke."

Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and believed she was well-liked, but she was teased for her short stature.

Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number (1994).

The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

After allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records.

Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million (1996), which sold three million copies in the United States and more than eight million copies worldwide.

In 2000, Aaliyah made her acting debut in the film Romeo Must Die, alongside Jet Li.

She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which was supported by her single "Try Again".

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely through airplay, becoming the first in the chart's history to do so.

After completing the film, Aaliyah subsequently filmed her starring role in Queen of the Damned (which was released posthumously), and in July 2001, released her eponymous third album, which topped the Billboard 200.

The album spawned the singles "We Need a Resolution", "Rock the Boat" and "More Than a Woman".

On August 25, 2001, at the age of 22, Aaliyah was killed in an airplane accident in the Bahamas along with eight other people on board, when the overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff.

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.

Aaliyah's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's operator, which was settled out of court.

In the decades following her death, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases.

She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide.