Aaliyah 'self-titled' album

Aaliyah - self-titled

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Occasionally you hear news so bad that as a music fan it forces you to look up at the heavens and murmur a silent prayer that it isn't true. I vividly remember this feeling on the days I heard Tupac and Biggie were killed, and I remember it again the morning I heard Big Pun had passed away, I'd hoped I'd not feel it again so soon.
At 11.30ish on Sunday morning a good friend of mine rang me with the type of news that once again had me looking skywards hoping it was some deejay in a backwater US state making a really poor choice of humour. About 10 minutes later though after several station jumps between various cable news shows the truth hit home, hard, during the night a plane crash in the Bahamas had claimed the life of 22-year-old Aaliyah Haughton.

At the age of three years-old Aaliyah Dana Haughton was a precious talent, always singing and dancing she was a born entertainer. By the age of nine she was a veteran performer, regularly auditioning for record labels and with several TV pilots under her belt. So good was Aaliyah's voice at 11 that she appeared on US TV show Star Search and then was offered the opportunity to sing with her uncle's ex-wife the legendary Gladys Knight on a fabulous five-night gig in Las Vegas.

"I remember the day Aaliyah was born ...it was a great day," Gladys Knight said in a statement released on Monday (27th). "I became Auntie Gladys to that wonderful little girl. I watched her grow up, and, with the rest of the world saw her achieve success with her very special and unique talents. She ended, "Though she was ours for only a short time, what a time it was. I love Aaliyah, and I will miss her for the rest of my life."

Her uncle, Barry Hankerson then thankfully decided to introduce his young niece to an artist he was managing.
Aaliyah became the young proteg? of a young but still hugely successful Robert Kelly, who had just released his album 'Born In The 90's' and had already worked with the fledgling group Changing Faces and blew them up and was on the verge of releasing what is arguably his best album, R.
To this day her debut single 'Back & Forth' reminds me of summer 1994 when I was 14 years old and on holiday in the States. It was being blazed all over the airwaves and the video was one of the first music videos I can seriously remember rocking to.
Everyone in the industry could tell that this young girl, who was herself only 15 years old when Back & Forth was dropped, must have had something special to have sparked Kelly's natural musical ear.
Soon after the single, came her debut album which was produced by Kelly. Age Ain't Nothing But A Number was a blend of Aaliyah's soft and at times haunting vocals with Kelly's bass heavy sound, and she was exceptional because she had a sound which was unique to someone so young.

Unavailable for comment R. Kelly released a statement through his record label Vibe.
He said that he was "deeply saddened by the tragic loss." and that his "thoughts and prayers are with her family during their time of grief."

Rumours of an alleged marriage between herself and Kelly didn't even seem to faze the teenager as she calmly conducted herself during a smattering of interviews, never dropping to discuss such subjects and instead preferring to speak about her music.
This album was soulful due to Aaliyah's vocals yet Kelly's G-funk bass gave it a sound that until now no-one had really contemplated using as the basis of an artists musical style. Songs like 'No One Knows (How To Love Me Quite Like You Do)' and the title track 'Age Ain't Nothing But A Number' contained a message beyond the years of the singer, yet Aaliyah was able to sing them as though she had gone through it time and time again. She was a remarkable vocalist not just for her age but for her ability to convey the words written for her with such inimitable passion. With writing from R. Kelly and a song penned for her by the Isley brothers this meant that she was able to reach out to her listeners with songs that not only had a bumping beatline but also had meaning.

"There are no words to express the loss of Aaliyah, whose unique talent was just beginning to blossom. The world will never get to see how her gift could have developed and that is truly a loss." Excerpt of a statement from Ernie Isley.

Her debut album spawned two hit singles, 'Back & Forth' and the second single 'At Your Best (You Are Love)' both went gold, and the sultry, street sound and look of her album helped push it to platinum sales.
During this time her talent was already being spotted by some big names, especially evident when she appeared on the late Notorious B.I.G's remix for 'One More Chance' alongside some of the biggest female acts of the time which included Da Brat, Changing Faces, Patra, Total and Faith Evans.

Aaliyah's sophomore LP came in mid 1996 and now without the guidance of her former mentor she left her record label Jive and while joined to her uncles newly formed Blackground Records, signed with the much larger Atlantic Records. Here she found her home, she met and became friends with two of the hottest young urban music producers, Tim'baland' Mosley and Missy 'Misdemeanor' Elliot. Together they penned the majority of the tracks of a 17-track album that moved Aaliyah into a new more hip-hop influenced style. Keeping her jumpsuits and her trademark glasses with hair covering her left eye she displayed a more sensual side to herself on a second album which would exceed her first and take it to multi-platinum success.
Both '4 Page Letter' and 'If Your Girl Only Knew' received critical acclaim amongst both her peers and fans alike, they were tracks which showed how Aaliyah was evolving as an artist and maturing as a young woman. They covered subject matter ranging from a shyness to talk to that someone you like to being the other woman and moved her further away from the teenage persona she portrayed on her previous album. Her friendly open personality also made her friends with the labels other stars which included Tim's long time partner Magoo, and male RnB solo artist Ginuwine with who she dueted on the huge title track from this LP, 'One In A Million'.

A somewhat speechless Ginuwine released a statement which simply read,
"Words cannot express what I'm feeling, she was family, I will truly miss her."

The industry would not see an album from this talented young lady for a further five years, however Aaliyah did not become a stranger to the recording booth.
She recorded the track 'Journey To The Past' for the Disney animated film Anastasia which would give her the chance to perform at the Oscars when the song was nominated for an Academy Award.
Aaliyah's multi-faceted character also allowed her to branch away from the music business during this time. She became a model for the Tommy Hilfiger clothing line and would appear in numerous commercials, she also graduated from her Detroit Performing Arts school with a 4.0 grade point average.
With further beat making from her now regular producer Timbaland Aaliyah also released a track on another film soundtrack, this time for Eddie Murphy's Dr. Dolittle. 'Are You That Somebody?' was once again responsible for rewriting the RnB rulebook as the pair took Tim's clever sampling of a baby crying and Aaliyah's soft hypnotic voice and crafted what was undoubtedly a hit from the moment it was pressed, and helped push the film soundtrack to double platinum sales.
Aaliyah, who had a bit part in a production of Annie in her childhood years, had always confessed of her love for acting and she made her big screen debut in 2000 co-starring alongside Jet-Li and rap star DMX in the motion picture Romeo Must Die.

A quote from her fellow artist and co-star DMX described Aaliyah,
"a talented, classy warm beautiful compassionate [and] humble best describes my experiences of Aaliyah. She was a down-to-earth sister with enough energy to put anyone on a cloud, Let us pray."

Aaliyah was already in the process of recording her third album when the part came along, Warner Brothers told her Jet Li was a part of the film and immediately she wanted to be a part of it. When she read the script she made her mind up, the edgy, family-orientated character of the part convinced her it was definitely the part for her and she put her album on hold.
Climbing to the number two spot in the U.S. box office charts Aaliyah received high praise for her portrayal of Trish O'Day, she brought a sassiness and drive to the character, and was credited by those she worked with as a consummate professional throughout the filming. She refused the offer of a body double for the stunts instead preferring to endure a month of intensive training with Jet Li's own personally fight choreographer, and also refused to use any tricks when she was required to produce tears for particularly emotional scene. This performance would earn her nominations at the 2001 MTV Movie Awards for 'Best Female Performance' and 'Breakthrough Performance Female'.

Aaliyah could never stay too far away from her music though and together with Timbaland brought together a wide range of artists for the films soundtrack. One which she herself co-produced, picking some of her favourite artists which included Destiny's Child, Joe, ex-Blackstreet member Dave Hollister. Aswell as her 'superhero' friends Timbaland, Magoo, and Ginuwine and the less well known group Playa, which was her own way of repaying their writing for her.

Timbaland speaking in a shaky voice to a MTV reporter over the phone said of the woman he affectionately called 'baby-girl'.
"She was like blood, and I lost blood. Me and her together had this chemistry, and I feel like I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans right now. But I feel like they need to know that beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the [most special] person I ever met."

Aaliyah herself contributed 4 tracks to the 18-track soundtrack, 'Are You Feelin' Me?' was a uptempo track with Aaliyah's vocals laced over a bumping beat courtesy of Timba. 'Come Back In One Piece' showed Aaliyah's love for Hip-Hop, something she had always professed, with a feature from her co-star and Ruff Ryder, DMX. More representative of Aaliyah style was the more melodic and smooth 'I Don't Wanna' which again featured heavily the thick bass mixed with her evocative voice.
However track two from this soundtrack would propel Aaliyah's talents, which were already well know in the urban music scene, into the world-wide music spotlight. 'Try Again' was co-written by Timbaland and was an sultry upbeat song aimed at a guy letting him know that if she doesn't give it up on the first date not to give up on her, she's just testing his devotion. This song would garner the songstress two awards at the MTV 2000 Music Awards for both the 'Best Female Video' and 'Best Video In A Film' categories. The Romeo Must Die soundtrack would eventually sell in excess of 5,000,000 copies world-wide and her single 'Try Again' went platinum in Australia alone while holding down the top spot on the U.S's Billboard Hot 100, the first song to do so without being a commercially released single first.
Her third album was once more nearly put on hold as Aaliyah was yet again cast in a part most full-time actresses would kill for, she was asked to play the part of the Queen Vampire Akasha in 'Queen Of The Damned' the follow up to the hugely successful 'Interview With A Vampire' from the trilogy of books by Ann Rice.

"Of all the people I know, [she] had such a clear and pure spirit, such a clear idea of what she wanted. It's hard to imagine that being interrupted,"
A statement from Michael Rymer director of 'Queen Of The Damned.

Aaliyah instead decided she would fly her whole recording crew out to the set and do both simultaneously so as to guarantee the release of the album this year.
Her director for Romeo Must Die Joel Silver was so enamoured with the stars ability that he signed her up to co-star in two sequels he was making. Aaliyah was asked to star in the follow-up's to the huge blockbuster The Matrix, a film which she herself said she would have loved the part of Trinity. Her character Zee was due to become the love interest to one of the main characters Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburn in the 'Matrix Reloaded' and was to play a bigger part in 'The Matrix 3'.

Speaking about her crying scene from in Romeo Must Die, Joel Silver said,
'Aaliyah didn't want to do that [use tricks to force tears]. She reached down somewhere and found this place where she could be this incredible actress." Silver himself beginning to cry continued, "She was a fantastic girl."

Aaliyah's third album is testament to the artist that she was, it is again a progression of her life from within her music. She deals with deeper issues such as physical violence in a relationship 'Never No More', and takes the album to a more sensual level with song's like 'Rock The Boat'.
Aaliyah is quoted as saying she feels this album is really her, her best work, and whether long time fans would agree or not, they will undoubtedly hail this album as one which displays Aaliyah's style in full. Even though the track 'I Care 4 U' with Missy and Timba is over 5 years old and was supposed to be on her One In A Million LP, it's presence shows that Aaliyah's voice was still as fresh as it was when she was 17. With another gold plus selling single ('We Need A Resolution') and her multi-platinum single 'Try Again' this album is Aaliyah through and through, it is her style, her voice, her character, her personality all rolled up and presented in a 15-track album of sheer class.

Aaliyah's own comments on her third album,
"I really want people to get a sense of who Aaliyah really is with this album, you know there's a side of me that's very dark and very mysterious and a lot of the track on the album are like that. This one is really me in totality."

Aaliyah will forever be remembered for her extreme sense of humbleness. She was a superstar in the making, yet in an industry in which many of it's stars pander their own fame she always took the time to meet her fans shake their hands and pose for pictures. In her eyes she was no better than anyone else, she was just fortunate enough to have a job which she not only loved, but allowed her to please so many others.
Always a very private person Aaliyah kept the line between her music which was for all extensive purposes her work, and her personal life firmly drawn. She was very much the introspective young girl she was when she came out at 14, her life rooted in her family and friends.
The success of Aaliyah's debut album began the search by many record companies for their own young RnB sensations. 'Age Ain't Nothing But A Number' paved the way for artists such as Brandy, Mona Lisa and Monica and more recently Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. This was a young lady who was well on her was to being comparable to Diatrulys or to Whitney Houston, but for mine, the 20-something generation.
Her parents must have been trully been guided when they named their beautiful daughter Aaliyah (Ah-Lee-Yah). To her friends, her family and her fans she without a doubt lived up to meaning of her Arabic name, 'the highest, most exalted one'.
In the words of the director for the last video shoot the day before Aaliyah lost her life "Aaliyah loved her friends, and each one of those people on that plane with her was a great friend", we can best serve her memory by remembering all those with her who are no longer with us.
She will forever live on in our hearts, our minds and through the memories she has given us and each time we hear her voice.

From the bottom of my heart may she rest in peace.

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Aaliyah - self-titled