Category: Aaliyah

Posthumous Aaliyah album in the works?

Aaliyah
More than 10 years after the death of Aaliyah, fans could be getting their hands on a posthumous album consisting of vaulted works from the late R&B songbird.

On Sunday, producer-songwriter Jeffery "J. Dub" Walker tweeted that a disc was in the works. No surprise that the tweet has since been taken down, but screen grabs are floating online. "Just got great news today; the smash unreleased song called 'Steady Ground' I produced on #Aaliyah is gonna be on her upcoming album," his tweet read.

Walker penned "I Refuse" and "What If" for Aaliyah's self-titled 2001 third album, which was released a few months before she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. He later said that the track “Steady Ground,” which featured her longtime collaborator Static Major, was supposed to be on her final album but that it didn’t make the cut. A demo of the song is one of her few unreleased works to have leaked.

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Aaliyah: 10 years later, impact holds without posthumous releases

Aaliyah

Ten years after the untimely death of Aaliyah,  her imprint hasn’t waned -- despite resting on a small back catalog that never had a chance to develop.

The "street but sweet" brand of R&B she crafted, with the help of R. Kelly and strengthened by longtime collaborators/friends Missy Elliott and Timbaland, both defined and reinvented the sound of ’90s urban music. Her slinky dance moves, breathy falsetto, tomboyish silhouettes and innovative beats that flirted with a number of genres quickly awarded her the moniker the “Princess of R&B.”

When the singer born Aaliyah Dana Haughton died in a plane crash in the Bahamas 10 years ago Thursday, all fans were left with was a brief discography. Aaliyah purists have waited for additional music to surface; with the exception of a handful of tracks, there's been nothing.

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Missy Elliott won't let battle with Graves' disease halt comeback: 'It’s time to concentrate on Missy'

Missy

Missy Elliott knows people are constantly talking and asking questions. Where has she been? Why does she look so different? Is she sick? These are just a few of the long list of queries that have circulated about the Grammy winner over the last few years.

It’s been nearly six years since her last album, “The Cookbook,” and the hitmaker all but vanished from the pop landscape. Yes, she made appearances, but Elliott slid into the background and mostly produced, lending her voice to singles from Monica, Jazmine Sullivan, Jennifer Hudson, Ciara and Fantasia.

The rapper, who once playfully made jabs at the online rumor mill in her hit “Gossip Folks,” answered each of those questions in the season premiere of VH1’s “Behind the Music.”

Naturally, her recent admission that for the last few years she has been battling Graves' disease, an autoimmune illness that affects the thyroid, has made headlines. She was diagnosed in 2008, and the disease has affected her motor skills, as well as afflicted her with some of the illness' other symptoms, including mood swings, hair loss and dizzy spells. After being treated with radiation and medication, Elliott says she is able to manage the disease.

When the 39-year-old called into Pop & Hiss, we discussed her new album, set for release this year, her health, reuinting with Timbaland and the 10-year anniversary of Aaliyah's passing.

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On Aaliyah's 32nd birthday, a celebration of 'Try Again'

On this day in 1979, Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born. Known simply as Aaliyah, the so-called "Princess of R&B" would have been 32 years old today. She died along with eight other people in 2001 when the plane she was on crashed in the Bahamas, but not before helping define a sound. Despite her youth, in the years leading up to her tragic death Aaliyah changed the face of R&B, first with R. Kelly, who signed her, and then, more prominently, with producer Timbaland and rapper Missy Elliott, who helped her craft some of the most innovative -- and freaky -- hits of the decade.

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