August 25, 2001: Aaliyah Is Killed In a Plane Crash

You might be cool, but you probably won't be

cool enough to wear a T-shirt with

your own face on it and get away with it.

August 25, 2001, 25 years ago: Aaliyah Dana Houghton, the hip-hop-influenced singer known professionally by just her first name, is killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas.

Aaliyah was born on January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn, and grew up in Detroit. She was related by marriage to singer Gladys Knight, and saw her in concert many times. In 1989, she appeared on the talent show Star Search, singing "My Funny Valentine." She graduated from The Detroit School of Arts with a 4.0 grade point average.

In 1994, she released her 1st album, titled Age Ain't Nothing But a Number. It was successful, but the title proved problematic. It was eventually revealed that, on August 31, 1994, Aaliyah had married Chicago-based singer Robert Kelly, a.k.a. R. Kelly. He was 27. On the marriage certificate, she listed her age as 18. She was actually 15.

Both denied the marriage, but it was discovered, and annulled due to her being underage. There was a rumor of pregnancy, including the alleged fact that he only married her because of it, but no child was born, nor is there any known record of an abortion. She later described him as "a bad man," and the marriage was used as evidence in his later trial for statutory rape.

She released the albums One in a Million in 1996, and Aaliyah in 2001. In 2000, she began an acting career, starring in Romeo Must Die. Her song from that film, "Try Again," hit Number 1 in 2001. She had just finished filming the title role in Queen of the Damned, based on the vampire novel in Anne Rice's Lestat series. She was widely believed to have been dating record executive Damon Dash.

On August 25, 2001, she completed filming a video for "Rock the Boat," a song off Aaliyah -- not to be confused with the song of the same name, a Number 1 hit for The Hues Corporation in 1974 -- in The Bahamas. She got on board a Cessna 402, a propeller-driven plane. In 2001. She was 22, but still should have been aware enough to say, "A propeller-driven plane? Who's piloting this thing, Charles Lindbergh? Oh, hell, no, I ain't getting on that thing!" But she got on, and, shortly after takeoff, it crashed into Marsh Harbour. All 9 people on board were killed.

Tributes soon followed, including at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. At the end of the calendar year, the U.S. Social Security Administration ranked the name Aaliyah as one of the 100 most popular names for newborn girls.