Aaliyah Dana Haughton, better known simply as Aaliyah, would be celebrating her 33rd birthday today.
The singer died at age 22 on Aug. 25, 2001, in a plane crash leaving the Bahamas.
She was on the island completing her music video for her single "Rock the Boat."
Aaliyah and various members of the record company, plus her entourage, boarded a twin-engine Cessna 402B.
They had a flight scheduled the following day, but filming finished early and she and her entourage decided to leave immediately.
The designated airplane was smaller than the Cessna 404 in which they had originally flown. The whole party and all of the equipment were accommodated on board. As a result, when the aircraft attempted to depart, it was over its maximum takeoff weight by 700 pounds and was carrying one excess passenger.
The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, about 200 feet from the runway.] Aaliyah and the eight others on board, pilot Luis Morales III, hair stylist Eric Forman, Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, video producer Douglas Kratz, stylist Christopher Maldonado, and Blackground Records employees Keith Wallace and Gina Smith, were all killed.
