Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

news

Aaliyah Killed In Plane Crash
dmerryweather by David Merryweather August 26th, 2001
R&B singer and actress Aaliyah died when a small plane that was to carry her and eight others back to the United States crashed after takeoff in the Bahamas, authorities said.

Eight were killed in Saturday's crash, and one critically injured man was flown to Florida for treatment.

"We find it devastating and most unfortunate that after having this world-famous star Aaliyah and her crew select the Bahamas as their choice location for her latest video, the project has climaxed on such a tragic note," said Minister of Tourism Tommy Turnquest, who happened to be visiting Abaco Island, where the plane went down.

The private plane was leaving the Marsh Harbour airport on a trip to Opa-locka, Fla., when it went down Saturday evening, said police spokesman Marvin Dames.

Abaco Island Chief Councilor Silbert Mills said those killed included two women and six men, all Americans.

Islander Derek Russell, who worked for the group during the video shoot, said he got the artist's autograph before the accident. "She's a nice girl, a friendly girl," he said.

The cause of the crash was unclear. Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said the plane was a Cessna 402 owned by Skystream, a company based in Pembroke Pines, Fla. She said the plane crashed at the end of the airport's runway at 6:50 p.m.Investigators in the Bahamas have begun examining the wreckage of the aircraft that crashed on Saturday.

Born in 1979 in New York, Aaliyah was raised in Detroit.
She began performing at age 11 when she sang with Gladys Knight, and her first album 'Age Ain't Nothing But A Number' came out when she was 15 - and sold millions.
Aaliyah's song 'Try Again' earned her a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocalist. She made her feature acting debut in the film 'Romeo Must Die.' and she had signed a deal to appear in the sequal to 'The Matrix'.

Grammy-winning producer and composer Quincy Jones, who knew Aaliyah well, said he was also devastated by the news of the death.
"She was like one of my daughters, she was one of the sweetest girls in the world," he told the Associated Press news agency.

In Detroit and South Florida, radio stations were playing Aaliyah's music as tributes poured in from anguished fans

Family and friends of the 22-year-old singer, whose full name was Aaliyah Haughton, were trying to come terms with their loss.
A statement issued through the singer's public relations firm, PMK, said: "Aaliyah's family is devastated at the loss of their loving daughter and sister. Their hearts go out to those families who also lost their loved ones in this tragic accident."



LATEST


  • Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »




LATEST

    news


    Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

  • 106149
  • news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145

    news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143
  • news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141

    news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139
  • Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138

    Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137
  • Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
MORE


    Column


    Drowned In Sound's 40 Favourite Songs of 2014

  • 98608
  • Interview


    “We’ve been dismantling the rules since Antidot...

  • 100747

    Column


    Reformations, eh? - Falco on the slight-return ...

  • 97723
  • Playlist


    Our Favourite Tracks of Q1 2015

  • 99412

    feature


    Foals: "We're going to get weirder and weirder"

  • 26160
  • Interview


    DiS meets Joanna Gruesome: "Misogyny in music i...

  • 91610

    Discography Reassessed


    A decade of Drukqs: Aphex Twin’s opus, ten year...

  • 80144
  • feature


    PJ Harvey: "There are no rules, and you can mak...

  • 28026
MORE
Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND