Aaliyah Haughton

Aaliyah Dana Haughton, a singer and actress, was born in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, she competed on Star Search at age 11 and performed with Gladys Knight, the former wife of her uncle and manager, Barry Hankerson, at a five-night stand in Las Vegas. She signed a contract with Jive Records at the age of 12 and came to popular acclaim in 1994. On her way home from a music video shoot in 2001, a plane crash killed Aaliyah and eight members of her film crew. She was 22 years old.