American soul singer among nine killed in Caribbean plane crash

Internal links

Pierre Perrone on Aaliyah

The American soul singer Aaliyah was among nine people who died when their plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after take-off in the Caribbean on Saturday.

The 22-year-old singer and actress, whose full name was Aaliyah Haughton, was returning to Miami aboard a small Cessna plane after filming a video in the Abaco islands, part of the Bahamas.

Aaliyah sold a million copies of her debut album Age Ain't Nothing But a Number in 1994 and more recently had a hit single with "Try Again". One of her latest projects was to have been an appearance in a sequel to the cult film The Matrix.

Supt Basil Rahming, of Grand Bahama police department, confirmed yesterday that Aaliyah was among the eight who died immediately when the twin-engined propeller plane experienced engine failure on take-off and crashed into bushes about 200 feet from the end of the runway, in a ball of flames. One of the passengers who had initially survived the crash with severe injuries and who had been flown to Nassau died early in hospital early yesterday.

Supt Rahming said the other bodieswould be flown to Nassau for autopsies before being taken to the United States.

Aaliyah was born in New York but moved to Detroit when she was five years old. She began performing at an early age and, by the time she was 11, was singing on stage in Las Vegas with the legendary Gladys Knight. She released her debut album, which featured material written by fellow soul singer R Kelly, just a few years later when she was 15. After her album success in 1994, Aaliyah embarked on a tour of Europe, Japan and South Africa.

Her single "Try Again" earned her a Grammy nomination this year for best female R&B vocalist, and she also released her third album, Aaliyah.

The musician Quincy Jones, who was the album's producer, arranger and composer, said yesterday: "She was like one of my daughters, she was one of the sweetest girls in the world. She vacationed with me and my family in Fiji. I loved her and respected her and I am absolutely devastated."

The other passengers killed were Scott Gallin, 41; Keith Wallace, 49, of Los Angeles; Douglas Kratz, 28, a representative for Virgin Records and Eric Foreman, 29, both of Hollywood, California; Gina Smith, 29, of New Jersey; Christopher Maldonado, 32, of New York, and Anthony Dodd, 34, of Los Angeles. The pilot, identified only as L Marael, also died.