More Than a Woman | Aaliyah – Curves a la Mode

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn, New York. Aaliyah — whose name derives from a Hebrew word aliyah, meaning “highest, most exalted one, the best, grew up in Detroit where she attended the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts. At the age of 12 Aaliyah signed a recording contract with her uncle’s label, Blackground Records. She would go on to release her first album “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number” under the production of R.Kelly at the age of 14. It would go on to sell millions, and was followed by the incredible success of her 1996 sophmore album “One In A Million” and her last album in 2001 named simply, “Aaliyah”, both produced by the wonder team that was Timbaland and Missy Elliott.

I absolutely loved all things Aaliyah. She was talented and it seemed liked everything baby girl touched turned to gold. She was a phenomenal singer, dancer and after having a break out part as the female lead Trish in the movie “Romeo Must Die” alongside Jet Li, it seemed like she would excel in acting as well. She was transforming from a star to a super nova.

Romeo-Must-Die-photo-romeo-must-die-17848106-450-288

Aaliyah was later cast in the lead role of Akasha in “Queen of the Damned” and had landed roles in several other films but sadly these were recast with other actresses due to her death–“Honey” (recast with Jessica Alba), “Sparkle” (recast with Jordan Sparks) and two of the Matrix movies “Matrix Reloaded” and “Revolutions” as the character Zee (recast with Nona Gaye, daughter of soul legend Marvin Gaye).

14 years ago on a day like today, Aaliyah tragically lost her life (along with 6 members of her entourage & the pilot) in a plane crash off Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. She was 22 years old.

So today in celebration of her life, music & talent. I’m going to share with you some of my favorite music from Aaliyah– and trust me it was hard to choose just a few songs because she was one of the few artists whose entire albums I played with no skips.