Aaliyah

Aaliyah Dana Haughton (born January 16th, 1979 - died August 25, 2001, age 22) was an American recording artist. She became a singer at an early age as well as showing signs of acting in her early childhood. She released her first album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number in 1994 after being introduced to R. Kelly several years prior. The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with R. 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; it sold 3.7 million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first major film, Romeo Must Die. She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single "Try Again". The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this feat. "Try Again" earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her part in Queen of the Damned. She released her third and final album, Aaliyah, in July 2001.
On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in an airplane crash in The Bahamas after filming the music video for the single "Rock the Boat". The pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the accident and had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system. Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases. Aaliyah is estimated to have sold 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. She has been credited for helping redefine contemporary R&B and hip hop, earning her the nicknames "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop". She is listed by Billboard as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and 27th most successful R&B artist in history.
BJAYE said that she is one of his inspirations in making pop & R&B music and said "she is very much like one of the greatest singers i've ever actually listen to and she is one of my favorite artists and her music is one of the main reasons i've started doing music because i've been more vocally active to singing her songs and other R&B artist songs.