Aaliyah Dana Haughton, known as Aaliyah by her legions of fans, will forever be remembered as the "Princess of R&B." According to Spin, at only 22 years old, the singer "already had one gold and two platinum albums to her credit," while also embarking on what was to be a fruitful career as an actor, too. Simply put, Aaliyah was at the peak of her success.
With three albums under her belt, in August of 2001, Aaliyah jetted off to the Bahamas to film a music video for her single, "Rock the Boat," per Rolling Stone. As revealed by VH1's "Behind the Music," the singer was "anxious" to first board the plane heading to Abaco Island, yet reluctantly agreed. Aaliyah's boyfriend, Damon Dash, told "The Real" in 2016, "She was like, 'I don't like that plane ... It was a complicated situation, but she had to go do that video."
Sadly, Aaliyah's fears came true. On August 25, the singer and her crew were prepped to head back to Florida, boarding a 10-seat twin-engine Cessna 402B. Under a minute after takeoff, the plane crashed, with Aaliyah killed instantly (via Rolling Stone). According to MTV, the music video's director, Hype Williams, still released "Rock the Boat," hoping Aaliyah's fans "would enjoy it." Noting the obvious "pain" of the final product, he added, "that's all the more reason people would appreciate what we've done as a group."
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