RIP Aaliyah

Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the death of Aaliyah.

She died at the young age of 22 in a plane crash, returning from filming a music video.

Some people are destined to live to see their golden years. Aaliyah was not among them.

A gifted performer, her breakthrough album, Age Aint Nothing But A Number, hit the charts in 1994. She released two more albums before hitting the big screen. Starring in two movies, Romeo Must Die (2000) and Queen Of The Damned (2002), Aaliyah’s star was on the rise when she was tragically killed.

I remember when I heard about her passing. It the beginning of my junior year of college, I had just moved into my dorm and the news was all over the internet.

Unlike other performers, she was humble and down to earth. She was ambitious without being greedy or manipulative. She knew she had talent, but also knew that talent will only get you so far.

In honor of her memory, I present to you a brief retrospective of her career.

RIP Aaliyah. Your body may be gone, but your spirit, your work and the impression you left on family, friends, colleagues and fans will forever live on.

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The Critics Were Wrong-Queen Of The Damned (2002)

In 2002, the late singer Aaliyah was expanding her career to become an actor as well as a singer.

Tragically, she was only able to start her movie career before she died in a plane crash.

One of the movies she starred in was Queen Of The Damned, based on the Anne Rice novel.

Lestat De Lioncourt (Stuart Townsend) has been a vampire for several centuries. Woken up by modern rock music, he becomes the front man for a rock and roll band. Jesse Reeves (Marguerite Moreau) has become fascinated by Lestat and begins to study his past, despite the danger.  Lestat’s music reaches the ears of the first vampire, Akasha (Aaliyah) and wakes her up from her centuries long sleep.

To be fair, I have never read any of Anne Rice’s novels, so I am just going by the movie.

It was sort of campy with a little danger factor thrown in. But it was a fun movie, the type that a moviegoer could loose themselves in for a few hours.

Were the critics wrong? Yes and no.