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Aaliyah Haughton was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 16, 1979. At the age of five, she moved to Detroit. Aaliyah, whose name means "highest, most exalted one" in Swahili, says: "I've been singing all my life. I've always wanted this. I sang in church, in school plays, and my parents gave me vocal lessons." She began professionally performing at the age of nine, auditioning regularly for record companies, television pilots, and singing on Star Search. By the time she was eleven, Aaliyah was singing with Gladys Knight in Las Vegas for a five-night gig, whose ex-husband was Aaliyah's uncle, Barry Hankerson. |
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Barry Hankerson, who was also a the manager for the artist R. Kelly, introduced Aaliyah to R. Kelly. Aaliyah recalls: "I met Robert (R. Kelly) before he came out with 'Born in The 90's. He came to my house and I sang for him, from there we went into the studio and started working together." Aaliyah says: "It came out of nowhere, yet it felt totally natural. I was tripped out. As that first album was coming to a finish, I was listening back to the tracks thinking, 'Wow, that's really me. This is how I am and how I sound.'" The album, "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" later went platinum and produced two gold singles: "Back & Forth" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)". "I remember how nervous I was right before 'Back & Forth' came out. It was my first single and I kept wondering if people would accept it. when it went gold, I had my answer, and it was such an incredibly satisfying feeling." |
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