Aaliyah

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on 16 January 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Detroit. Her mother sang, and Aaliyah had singing lessons from an early age. At ten she appeared on the television programme Star Search and shared the stage with Gladys Knight. At twelve she signed a record contract.

Music and breakthrough

Her debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number came out in 1994 and was written and produced by R. Kelly. After reports of an unlawful marriage to him she broke her contract and moved to Atlantic. For her second album, One in a Million (1996), she worked with producer Timbaland and writer Missy Elliott. Together they made R&B with stuttering, unusual rhythms and a lot of space in the music. In 2000 she played her first film role, in Romeo Must Die. The track Try Again from that film became a number 1 on the American Billboard Hot 100. In 2001 her third album, Aaliyah, appeared, with Rock the Boat and More Than a Woman, among others.

Influence

Aaliyah sang lightly and smoothly, almost casually, over rhythms that were angular and innovative. She is regarded as one of the artists who gave modern R&B, pop and hip hop a new shape in the late 1990s. On 25 August 2001 she was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas, only 22 years old. Her music continued to be successful afterwards.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1994Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number
• 1996One in a Million
• 2001Aaliyah

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black Planet^NL Reader
• Mixtape 10: Women in Pop Music^NL Reader

See also

• Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number
• Aaliyah