Remembering "Baby Girl"

It's impossible to believe that today is the TEN year anniversary of the death of singer Aaliyah. She and other passengers in her entourage had just finished filming a video on a boat in the Bahamas when the plane they chartered to return in crashed killing everyone on board on August 25, 2001. She was 22 years old.

It feels like it was just yesterday. Someone wrote "if Aayliah was still alive then Beyounce would still be with Destiny's Child and Rihanna would still be in Barbados." We like that and couldn't agree more!

Aayliah was just on the cusp of worldwide never-forget-you fame - although she achieved it a little. Her movie with Stuart Townsend "Queen of the Damned", from the vampire books by Anne Rice, had to be released posthumously. It was a major blow to the studio and was a dud at the box office. No one could watch it knowing she had died before even seeing it herself. It was to be her springboard into the mainstream.

Here are a few of her great songs:

Try Again



Yes, that's Jet Li the the video for "Try Again" with her. They had just filmed the movie "Romeo Must Die" together and we're friends.

Here's another fave, "Are You That Somebody"



And our personal favorite, "More Than a Woman"
"Because no scale can measure the secret pleasure that keeps on getting better..we can be like Bonnie and Clyde, I'll be be your side..."



From Aaliyah's Wiki Page:
"Legacy

Aaliyah has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop in the 1990's, "leaving an indelible imprint on the music industry as a whole."

Steve Huey of Allmusic wrote Aaliyah ranks among the "elite" artists of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late '90s."

Described as one of "R&B's most important artists" during the 1990s, her second studio album, One in a Million, became one of the most influential R&B albums of the decade.

According to Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, Aaliyah provided a "missing link" between hip hop and electronica.

With sales of 8.1 million albums in the United States and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide, Aaliyah has been named the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen Of Urban Pop" and "proved she was a muse in her own right".

Aaliyah was honored at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards by Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Ginuwine and her brother, Rashad, who all paid tribute to her.

In the same year, the United States Social Security Administration ranked the name Aaliyah one of the 100 most popular names for newborn girls.

Aaliyah was ranked as one of "The Top 40 Women of the Video Era" and "100 Sexiest Artists" in VH1's 2003 The Greatest series. She was also ranked at number 18 on BET's "Top 25 Dancers of All Time". Aaliyah has also appeared on both 2000 and 2001 list of Maxim Hot 100 in position 41 and the latter at 14.

In memory of Aaliyah, the Entertainment Industry Foundation created the Aaliyah Memorial Fund to donate money raised to charities she supported.

In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Aaliyah at number 70 on its Top Artists of the Decade, while her eponymous album was ranked at number 181 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade."

Missy Elliot, her friend and collaborator, had this to say this morning:
"“It doesn’t feel like it’s been 10 years because Aaliyah’s leaving is still fresh in our minds and always will be. What I will miss the most about Aaliyah is her laugh and smile. She could light up any room. I miss that from her. I’ll also miss recording with her because she wasn’t ever scared to push boundaries as an artist.”

“If Aaliyah was still with us she would be setting trends as she always did and breaking down barriers. Her music and acting career would have been exploding out the roof because she was already on her way to that place.”


We still really miss her, too..
RIP Aaliyah "Baby Girl"