Career
Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million; it sold 3.7 million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first major film, Romeo Must Die. She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single "Try Again". The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this feat. "Try Again" earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist.After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her part in Queen of the Damned. She released her third and final album, Aaliyah, in July 2001. On August 25, 2001, since then, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases. Aaliyah recorded several number one R&B hits and five top ten Billboard Hot 100 singles. She has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop, earning her the nicknames "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop". She is listed by Billboard as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and 27th most successful R&B artist overall.
]1991–95: Age Ain't Nothing but a Number
After Hankerson signed a distribution deal with Jive Records, he signed Aaliyah to his Blackground Records label at the age of 12.Hankerson later introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly,who became Aaliyah's mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of the album, which was recorded when she was 14.Released in June 1994, the album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and sold over three million copies in the United States.Aaliyah's debut single, "Back & Forth", topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks and was certified Gold by the RIAA.The second single, a cover of The Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)", peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also certified Gold by the RIAA.The title track, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", peaked at number 75 on the Hot 100.Additionally, she released "The Thing I Like" as part of the soundtrack to the 1994 film A Low Down Dirty Shame.
]1996–99: One in a Million
"If Your Girl Only Knew" (1996)
The first single released from her second studio album, "If Your Girl Only Knew" was described as a sassy, organ-infused song.Aaliyah was noted for having "smoother, more seductive, and stronger" singing.In 1996, Aaliyah left Jive Records and signed to Atlantic Records.She worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who contributed to her second studio album, One in a Million. The album yielded the single "If Your Girl Only Knew", which topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two weeks. It also generated the singles "Hot like Fire" and "4 Page Letter". The following year, Aaliyah was featured on Timbaland & Magoo's debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie". One in a Million peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200,selling over 3.7 million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide.Aaliyah attended the Detroit High School for the Performing Arts, where she majored in drama and graduated in 1997 with a 4.0 grade point average.Aaliyah began her acting career that same year; she played herself in the police drama television series New York Undercover.During this time, Aaliyah participated in the Children's Benefit Concert, a charity concert that took place at the Beacon Theatre in New York. She contributed on the soundtrack album for the Fox Animation Studios animated feature Anastasia, performing a cover version of "Journey to the Past" which earned songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.Aaliyah performed the song at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony and became the youngest singer to perform at the event. Later on that year Tommy Hilfiger gave her an endorsement deal, part of her deal was to model at various Tommy Hilfiger shows. The song "Are You That Somebody?" was featured on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. "Are You That Somebody?" was in the midst of its chart run when Billboard changed its policy to allow airplay-only singles to chart on the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. It climbed to number four on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. The single peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
]2000–01: Romeo Must Die and eponymous album
In 2000, Aaliyah landed her first major movie role in Romeo Must Die. A loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Aaliyah starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. It grossed $18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office.In addition to acting, Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the film soundtrack, where she contributed four songs."Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12" vinyl and 7" single. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist.The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States.
After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah began to work on her second film, Queen of the Damned. She played the role of an ancient vampire, Queen Akasha, which she described as a "manipulative, crazy, sexual being".She was scheduled to film for the sequels of The Matrix as the character Zee.Aaliyah went on to release her eponymous album, Aaliyah, in July 2001. Produced by Timbaland,the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 187,000 copies in its first week. The first single from the album, "We Need a Resolution", peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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