Aaliyah Haughton

In my blog today I will be talking about my favorite artist. My favorite artist is Aaliyah. She is my favorite artist because she is very pretty, she talented and she has her own style. Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn, New york January 16, 1979. She was the second and youngest child of Diane and Micheal Haughton. At a young age she received singing lesson by her mom. At the age of 5 her family moved to Detroit, Michigan where she was raised. She attended Catholic school Gesu Elementary and in when she was in the first grade she received a part in the stage play Annie.

Barry Hankerson is Aaliyah uncle from Blackground entertainment. She traveled with him and was able to audition for commercials and TV programs. At the age of nine she appeared on Star Search. She auditioned for several record labels and appeared with Gladys Knight at a concert when she was eleven. Aaliyah was signed to her uncle label and Jive records at the age of twelve. She then was introduced to R. Kelly who became her song writer and mentor. She had her first album "Age Aint Nothing But A Number" when she was fourteen. She married R. Kelly at the age of fifteen. Rumors started to fly which the two denied and in 1996 she left Jive records and signed to Atlantic records working with Timberland and Missy Elliott. She attended Detroit High school for Performing Arts majoring in drama and graduated in 1997 with a 4.0 GPA.

She began her career the same year she graduated and she played in New York Undercover. She was the youngest performer to appear at the 1998 Academy awards where she received an award for performing a cover version of Journey to the Past. She has been credited for helping define R&B and hip-hop and is named the Queen of Urban hip-hop. She has sold over millions of albums in her lifetime. She premiered in the Romeo Must die at the age of 20 and Queen of the Damned. Romeo Must Die ranked at $18.6 million in its first weekend. She served as a executive producer where she contributed of her songs. The video and song Try Again got her an Grammy award for Best Female R&B vocalist. She also earned Best Female Video and Best Video from a film at MTV video music award in 200

August 25, 2001 she died from a plane crash in Marsh Harbour, Albaco Islands(The Bahamas). It was due to heavy equipment loaded on the plane. It was stated that the pilot was intoxicated and had drugs in his system and he lied about his pilot license. She was in the Bahamas doing a video shoot for her song "Rock the Boat". August 31, 2001 her funeral took place at Ignatius Loyola Church in New York where over 800 mourners attended she was buried at Ferncliff.

It sad to say she left this earth at the age of 22. But if she still was living she would still be achieving ans succeeding. She was doing a great job at the time of her death.