On August 25, 2001 R&B star Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash at the age of 22. At around 6:50pm the singer and her entourage boarded a private aircraft at Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas and were heading to Florida. They never arrived.
All nine people aboard including Aaliyah died when the plane crashed shortly after take-off just 60 metres from the end of the runway. An investigation found the aircraft had 320 kg of excess weight on board, including one extra passenger than it was allowed. An investigation into the plane-crash that killed Aaliyah discovered cocaine in the pilots bloodstream.
Today Aaliyah would have been 42. At the time of her death Aaliyah had released three albums. ‘Aaliyah’, her third and final album reached no 1 in the USA one year earlier. She had already had a number one hit with ‘Try Again’ and clocked up 12 Top 40 singles in the USA.
Aaliyah would become a posthumous movie star. In early 2001 Aaliyah was in Australia to film the movie ‘Queen of the Damned’. She played the lead role of Akasha. The film was shot in the Melbourne suburb of St Albans and around city locations including St Kilda. The quarry scenes were shot in Werribee. The movie was a sequel to ‘Interview With A Vampire’ (1994) starring Tom Cruise. Aaliyah never saw the completed movie. It premiered in 2002.
Aaliyah could have become a major star had she lived. She was signed to star in the sequel to ‘The Matrix’. She had partly filmed her role as Zee for ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ and would also appear in the third movie ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ but Nona Gaye (daughter of Marvin Gaye) was recast for the role.
Aaliyah’s final album ‘Aaliyah’ was released just one month before her death. It has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.
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