(born: Aaliyah Haughton, New York 16 January 1979; died Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas 25 August 2001)

Aaliyah was at the forefront of the Nineties’ mainstream acceptance of R&B which now sees acts like Destiny’s Child and 3LW go straight into the US and UK pop charts. A teen idol who scored her first transatlantic hit with “Back and Forth” in 1994 at the age of 15 and remained a chart presence for the next seven years, she went on to model for the fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and made her acting début last year opposite the Chinese martial arts legend Jet Li in the film Romeo Must Die… The rhythm ‘n’ blues singer was killed in a plane crash after a video shoot in the Bahamas. She was 22.
NASSAU, Bahamas (CNN) — The small aircraft that crashed…on the island of Abaco, killing singer Aaliyah and eight others, was overloaded by hundreds of pounds, officials said Thursday.   The extra weight — and the way in which it was distributed — most likely contributed to the plane’s crash shortly after takeoff, said John Frank, executive director of the Cessna Pilots’ Association…Immediately after the crash Saturday at Marsh Harbour airport, airport employees told CNN that baggage handlers and the pilot of the Cessna 402 had complained before takeoff that the aircraft was overloaded with luggage, but the passengers insisted on taking everything with them.  Aaliyah (Limited Edition)

Books:  

Aaliyah: An R&B Princess in Words and Pictures by Kelly Kenyatta
Aaliyah: More Than a Woman  by Christopher John Farley
Aaliyah  by Tim Footman