20 years ago, the American soul singer Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. Today she plays an important role in the R. Kelly trial. And their music is also finding its way into streaming services for the first time.
She was only 22 years old, but already a superstar in show business. On August 25, 2001, the American soul singer and actress Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. The artist had just finished filming her latest video. According to experts, the Cessna had loaded hundreds of kilos too much and the luggage was not evenly distributed. According to police reports, the machine, which was on its way to Florida, was engulfed by the flames immediately after the crash. All nine inmates died.
According to the latest revelations in the book “Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah,” written by music journalist Kathy Iandoli, the singer was said to have been carried unconscious into the plane. At least that’s what a man said in her taxi to the airport. The then 13-year-old Kingsley Russell, whose family ran a taxi and restaurant business in the Abaco Islands, was reportedly there when his stepmother drove the singer’s team to the airport to start their flight back to the United States and helped as a porter.
The pilot is said to have been under the influence of alcohol and cocaine
He said the singer refused to get on the plane after hearing it was overweight and instead went to sleep in the taxi. For this, she is said to have received a sleeping pill from her team, which caused her to fall into a deep sleep and did not notice any further discussions about the overloaded machine. After all, they are said to have been carried into the Cessna while sleeping.
The twin-engine machine was in the air for less than a minute before it crashed. It was later revealed that the pilot was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. The 30-year-old was sentenced to three years probation for possession of crack and cocaine just twelve days before the accident. The investigation into the causes of the crash also revealed that the Cessna 402-B had not been properly maintained.
Aaliyah first got the spotlight when she was ten
At the time of her death, Aaliyah was just nominated for two Grammy Awards for best R&B singer. Her death was the tragic end of a career that had been rising steeply up until then. The Brooklyn-born Detroit-raised singer, whose real name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, first appeared in the spotlight after performing on Star Search when she was ten. At the age of eleven she gave a concert in Las Vegas with soul singer Gladys Knight. In 1993 she signed a record deal when she was just 14. A year earlier she met R. Kelly, with whom she worked on her 1994 debut album “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number”. The album sold three million copies and went double platinum.
Her second album, “One in a Million”, sold eight million copies worldwide. The single “Try Again” from that album earned her a Grammy nomination. She then started acting, first starring in the film “Romeo Must Die”, for which she also sang on the soundtrack, and then in the vampire film “Queen of the Damned”. Her third and final album, the eponymous “Aaliya” h, was released in July 2001 – a month before she died.
R. Kelly married Aaliyah, who was only 15 years old
Despite the large age difference, her relationship with R&B musician R. Kelly quickly went beyond professional collaboration. The two are said to have married in 1994 when the singer was 15 years old and R. Kelly was 27 years old. The public was unaware of the romance. Only 20 years after the singer’s death did more and more details come to light. And these play a very special role in the trial against R. Kelly.
The singer is currently on trial in New York for, among other things, organized crime, extortion and the sexual exploitation of a child. The marriage to Aaliyah is also the subject of negotiation. Last week, a former tour manager testified that the musician had passed the then 15-year-old Aaliyah as of legal age and married because he thought she was pregnant. According to US media reports, the manager said he bribed an official with money from Kelly. He was supposed to have forged identification papers so that the singer, who was 27 years old at the time, could marry the young person after learning of the alleged pregnancy of the 15-year-old. Aaliyah’s age is 18 on the Illinois marriage certificate. Sex with minors is illegal in the US state.
But the dead Aaliyah is not only being brought back to life in the courtroom. On the 20th anniversary of her death, her second album “One in a Million” was broadcast on streaming services for the first time and is also available for download. It is the first of several Aaliyah albums to be released on streaming platforms in the coming months. Previously, only their 1994 debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number was available as a stream. Aaliyah’s uncle, Barry Hankerson, said a few days ago on the Instagram account of his record label Blackground Records 2.0: “Thank you to all of your many fans who keep their music alive. I’m sorry it took so long but losing a family member so unexpectedly takes time to process that kind of grief. I made a decision to release Aaliyah’s music to keep her legacy alive “.
Sources: ,,,, DPA
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
