Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn New York.  She spent the majority of her growing years in city of Detroit Michigan.  As a teenager she made her first public appearances as a singer, while performing in her aunt(Gladys Knight) Las Vegas Revue Performances.  Her name pronounced Ah-Lee-Yah (highest, most exalted one¿ in Arabic), would soon catch the attention of a more broader music base, when she would become a part of the New Jill Swing movement in music during the mid-90's.  

Earlier in her career she became a protege of the ever-so-popular music artist known as R. Kelly.  In 1994, Aaliyah caught the music world's attention at the age of 15, when she made her first album entitled "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, which included the US Top 10 hit singles "½Back & Forth; (which shot to #1 on the Hot 100 singles charts), and the remake of the Isley Brothers, At Your Best (You Are Love)and "Down With The Clique", a bass heavy jam.

Hip-Hop historians credit Aaliyah's 1994 platimum debut album "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number", for paving the way for Brandy, Monica, and a whole bunch of other teen stars that go by one name.

Aaliyah instantly grabbed fans attentions with her mix of good-girl/bad-girl style.  Her sound had a real street flare, and she wasn't doing the bubble gum pop thing like the rest of the teen queens that came before her.  In addition to fans, music critics expressed to "Entertainment Weekly Magazine" their excitement for the artist's unique and special appeal.  In their own words, "Imagine En Vogue packed into one teenage body and backed by hip-hop svengali R. Kelly, and you have Aaliyah...a promising star..."

Aaliyah was still a student at the Detroit High School of the Performing Arts when she traveled to Kelly�s home in Chicago for music sessions geared towards the anticipation of her second album.  During this time she still remained a �straight A� student throughout the first stage of her recording career.  She had somehow managed to maintain a healthy equilibrium between her education and the growing success of her commercial appeal to the music industry.

In 1996, Aaliyah released her second album entitled, "One In A Million", which she collaborated on with the new hotshot producer named Timbaland.  Her music skills would be further enhanced by her soundtrack contributions to the movies Anastasia (Journey To The Past) and the movie Dr. Dolittle (Are You That Somebody?).  Aaliyah was also voted "Hottest Stars Under 21" by Teen People in 1999.

Aaliyah made her first screen-acting debut in Andrzej Bartkowiakïk, "Romeo Must Die."  The song entitled, "Try Againï", from the movie soundtrack, went to the top of the US singles chart in June 2000.  The hit single, also garnered Aaliyah 2 Grammy nominations and the 2000 MTV awards for Best Female Video and Video From a Film. 

Next, she then followed up with a second screen appearance for the title role in "The Queen of the Damned, an adaptation of the Anne Rice novel, as the vampire character of 6,000-year-old Akashaï.  She would later be slated to appear in the upcoming feature hit movies entitled, "The Matrix 2 & series, as the character known as "Zee".  Filming is due to began in fall of 2001.

In 2001, Aaliyah released her third album simply entitled, "Aaliyah 2001ï".  The self-titled "Aaliyah" debuted in the Top 5 on the Billboard magazine album chart.  It includes the hit single, "We Need A Resolutionï".  This album would serve as a major focal point concerning her career.  It would be Aaliyah's last album that she would have the opportunity to create.  As an artist she was poised to become more popular, with each music composition released, and as an actress her future seemed even more promising.  In retrospect, it's very clear that Aaliyah, "the highest, most exaled one," was on her way to becoming an international superstar.

Less than a month before her Bahamian video production shoot, of "Rock The Boatï", the extremely gifted singer/actress told the German newspaper Die Zeitof�, a rather unique premonition concerning one of her repetitive dreams.  In her own words she describes, "Suddenly, I lift off. Faraway. How do I feel? As if I am swimming in the air. Free. Weightless. Nobody can reach me. Nobody can touch me. It's a wonderful feeling."

During the later part of August, Aaliyah went to the Grand Abaco Islands in the Bahamas to film a video for the song entitled, �Rock The Boat�.  On August 25, she and eight others boarded a plane on their return trip for home.  Moments later, we would lose her at the age of 22.  The heavens would gain a new angel.

AALIYAH DISCOGRAPHY

AALIYAH PHOTO GALLERY

AALIYAH - AT YOUR BEST LYRICS

AALIYAH MEMORIAL