The Queen of R&B

The life of Aaliyah Dana Haughton  

It’s been 20 years since of the death of the pop star Aaliyah. The late artist was born on Jan 16, 1979, that would make her 45 today. Unfortunately, she passed away on Aug 25, 2001, at the young age of 22. 

At the age of 14 the young star released her debut album Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number. Produced by R.Kelly. The album produced 2 US billboard top 100, back and forth and at your best were both singles certified gold by the RIAA. For her first album it sold over 3 Millon copies in the United States.  

Between her dropping two big albums in 1994 the 15-year-old Aaliyah got married to the 27-year-old R. Kelly. R.Kelly met Aaliyah through her uncle, Barry Hankerson. Who also was Kelly’s manager. After the drop of her Album in 1994 the two allegedly got married. Before all we know about R.Kelly now, he was known as the king of R&B and sold over 75 Millon records worldwide, making him the most successful R&B singer. 

After her first big hit with Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number. She made the Album One in a Millon. She made her second album One in a Millon in 1996. The album made the top 100 solely through airplay (frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations) becoming the first time such thing happened.  

Later in 2001 on July 7th Aaliyah would release the Album “Aaliyah”, which would be her 3rd and final album. Aaliyah just finished her recording of the music video rock the boat. But while on an airplane leaving the Bahamas, her plane unfortunately crashed. On Aug 25, 2001, at 22 the queen of R&B passed away.  

Even after her passing Aaliyah music continued to succeed. She has sold 8.1 Millon albums in the United States and about 32 million worldwide. She has influenced a lot of music and many people have been moved by it. After only 3 Albums she was named the 10th most successful female R&B artist in the last 10 years. She passed with 3 albums, three American Music Awards, Two MTV VMAs, and with five Grammy Award nominations.