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Aaliyah
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Aaliyah was an actress and pop singer on the verge of superstardom when she was killed in a 2001 plane crash. She sang professionally as a child and released her first album, Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number (1994), when she was 14. She released the albumw One in a Million in 1996, and by the end of the decade she was working in the movies as an actress and composer. She co-starred with Jet Li in Romeo Must Die (2000), and her song from the movie, "Try Again," was a hit single. At the time of her death she had released three albums and had agreed to appear in two more films: Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned (2001) and the sequel to the 1999 Keanu Reeves film The Matrix.
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A star in the RB world before she was even out of her teens, Aaliyah's promising career was tragically cut short by her death in a plane crash at age 22. Even with only three albums under her belt, she'd already earned a place as a talented trendsetter among the RB elite. Following a successful transition to a more mature image, Aaliyah played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late '90s. Her work with Timbaland,...
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Aaliyah had a supporting role as Zee, the wife of Harold Perrineau Jr.'s character, Link, in the two sequels to The Matrix. 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 character. Other films in which Aaliyah was signed to star in were Honey (which instead was filmed with Jessica Alba as the main character), and a Whitney Houston-produced remake of the 1976 film Sparkle (now in the works with Raven-Symoné as the main character). Aaliyah and one of her agents had ... pitched and signed a deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures for her to star in a film based upon a true story about interracial love.
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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.
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At the age of 14, Aaliyah signed her first record contract when Hankerson founded his own recording company, Blackground Enterprises. She was the first act to sign with the Blackground label. At about the same time, her uncle introduced Aaliyah to R&B singer/songwriter R. Kelly, who was ... managed by Hankerson's Midwest Entertainment Group. Kelly, impressed with Aaliyah's vocal ability, signed on to produce her debut album. Of her first meeting with Kelly, Aaliyah told Vibe: "He came to my house, and I sang for him, and from there we went into the studio." Her debut album, entitled Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, was released in 1994 and eventually went double platinum.
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Aaliyah signed her first music contract with her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records at the age of 14, in 1993. She released her debut album, “Age Ain't Nothing but a Number” in 1994, at age 15, under the guidance of R. Kelly who wrote most of her songs and produced the album. The album went platinum within months of being released. Her second album, “One in a Million”, was primarily written and produced by Missy Elliot and Timothy Timbaland. Released on August 27, 1996, it went double platinum within the next year. Aaliyah’s “street but sweet” image landed her, her first endorsement deal with Tommy Hilfiger.
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Aaliyah