More Than A Woman: Remembering Aaliyah On The 20th Anniversary Of Her Death
The tragic and sudden death of R&B superstar Aaliyah on August 25, 2001, remains one of the most devastating tragedies in the history of music and pop culture. Only weeks after the release of Aaliyah, the self-titled third studio album, and a final television appearance on BET’s 106 & Park, four days before boarding the twin-engine Cessna plane that crashed shortly after take-off at Marsh Harbour Airport in Abaco, Bahamas, killing all nine people on board, the beloved singer and budding actress was on a meteoric rise.
Now, twenty-years later, family, friends, and fans continue to grieve the loss of an artist whose cultural impact in her short seven years as a mainstay on the R&B charts, beginning with her double-platinum 1994 debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, One In A Million, her multi-platinum sophomore effort famously produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and breakout hits on film soundtracks for Anastasia, Dr. Doolittle, and Romeo Must Die, which also served as Aaliyah’s film debut as an actress—the first of three films she’d signed on to star in—including Anne Rice’s Queen of The Damned and two Matrix films. The grief experienced by those impacted by her death remains fresh, especially considering the heights her career would have reached if she were still alive.
Most people remember where they were and what they were doing the moment news outlets began reporting Aaliyah’s death. A wave of collective grief swept through Black America, with many hoping the news was some sort of internet death hoax. In an era before the invention of social media, fans had no digital outlet to express their shared grief. Instead, they turned to television to receive updates on her final moments, and to radio, which was now playing her music in heavy rotation. For many fans, including myself, who were around the same age as Aaliyah and connected with her music, her sudden and tragic loss was the first time tears were shed for an artist that many had never met in person.
For Rev. Kevin E. Taylor, former Supervising Producer of Series and Specials for BET, and Senior Pastor of Unity Fellowship NewArk, an LGBTQ+ affirming church, losing Aaliyah was deeply personal as he had spent the last days of her life capturing behind-the-scenes footage of the making of her final video Rock The Boat for BET Access Granted. Taylor was also scheduled to be on the plane bound for Miami with Aaliyah until a last minute change to his itinerary. He spoke to The Reckoning about being on set with Aaliyah and seeing her alive for the last time.
“We got the shot of her headed towards the catamaran, and she's doing her wave,” says Taylor. “But around her are Eric [Foreman], Anthony[Dodd], and Christopher [Maldonado], because they’re doing their last finishes. So at one point, in getting this kind of goodbye wave camera shot of her, there's a frozen shot where there’s six of the eight people who died in the frame.”
“Aaliyah was very LGBTQ adjacent. She was very cool with the kids.”
Hairstylists Eric Foreman and Anthony Dodd, along with makeup artist Christopher Maldonado, were prominently featured in Access Granted and perished in the crash along with Aaliyah.
“Aaliyah was very LGBTQ adjacent. She was very cool with the kids,” says Taylor.
“They were like siblings looking out for their baby sister. You couldn’t tell Eric Foreman that he wasn’t a star. He was hilarious. Christopher Maldonado was the opposite. I had to get him to come into the shot. And so she [Aaliyah] pulled him in. She made sure that everybody had their star moment because she understood it was BET. She understood it was Access Granted. She understood it was their time to shine.”
Thursday, August 23, 2001
Before flying to the Bahamas, portions of the Hype Williams directed video for Aaliyah’s second single Rock The Boat was filmed on a soundstage in Miami.
Lisette Bustamante, a dancer who first appeared in Aaliyah’s Try Again music video, was hired by choreographer Fatima Robinson to dance in Rock The Boat. She recalls the energy Aaliyah exuded on set.
“She was really excited. We all felt really beautiful. We all felt like it was a revelation for Aaliyah,” says Bustamante. “She had been kind of almost dark with her look and her vibe and it was very mysterious and she was coming into this womanhood, and we kind of all felt that. It felt light and playful and she was super in love at the time. And you can see that, you can feel that energy from her,” she says.
Besides the sequences shot on the soundstage, Aaliyah was also filmed underwater inside the University of Miami’s diving team pool as a stand-in for the ocean in the final cut of Rock The Boat. Taylor tells The Reckoning that watching these particular scenes from the video remains “heavy.”
“I always struggle with those scenes in the video, because those are the scenes where I know what it's like to see her scared,” says Taylor. “Because the first couple of times during the take of that, she had to take these deep breaths and go really deep down,” he says.
”We didn't know at the time that those very shots that she seemed so fearful in are the places where she seems to exude the greatest peace that looks the most angelic; that looks the sweetest.”
Taylor says it was also in Miami that Gina Smith, a music executive for Blackground Records, changed his itinerary, ultimately sparing his life.
“Gina Smith pulls me over to the side and says, ‘So I was wondering if we could change your itinerary? I know I promised you'd be on the plane.’ Put us [Taylor and his two-person film crew] on a separate plane. I'm fine,” he recalls telling Smith.
“And so Gina Smith wrote my new itinerary on a pull out piece of spiral notebook paper, which I still have on my altar because it's written in her hand [writing].”
Taylor says many people assume he left the entertainment industry to pursue ministry after experiencing a near-death experience, but he says that assumption is inaccurate.
“I became a pastor in January of that year. I went to Abaco as a pastor,” he says.
Unbeknownst to Taylor, his faith would be invaluable in 48 hours.
Friday, August 24, 2001
After shooting wrapped in Miami, Aaliyah, the dancers, and crew boarded small jets to Abaco, Bahamas. Bustamante tells The Reckoning that even 20 years later, she remembers how uncomfortable she was before boarding the plane.
“We all kind of had a weird feeling because we were getting on this small plane to this small island. And we were a little uneasy,” she says. “I'm not going to lie. We were excited, but there was sort of an uneasy feeling on our plane. We weren't on the same plane as Aaliyah, but I remember feeling that,” says Bustamante.
Taylor remembers when he and his crew landed on the island and the young fan they encountered who would be remembered for capturing the last fan photo with Aaliyah.
“There was a young boy waiting in the little airport. He knew she was coming because he was waiting there with a picture for her to sign,” he says.
“We all got to connect with her, with the crew, we all became fast friends and it felt kind of like a family vacation. We got to explore the island, and it was really beautiful. I remember thinking to myself, this is just like a dream come true.”
“We worked all day Friday. I was up at six [a.m.], Aaliyah, Eric Foreman, Chris Maldonado, Anthony Dodd, Derek Lee were up at three [a.m.], and even Fatima was up going through the choreography in front of her as she was getting her makeup done.”
While the three-day shoot was grueling with early start times, Bustamante says there was down time that allowed the crew to grow closer.
“We all got to connect with her, with the crew, we all became fast friends and it felt kind of like a family vacation,” she says. “We got to explore the island, and it was really beautiful. I remember thinking to myself, this is just like a dream come true.”
24 hours later, the dream would become a nightmare.
Saturday, August 25, 2001
20 years later, Bustamante admits that some details during the three-day music video shoot are blurry, but she distinctly remembers dancing for hours on the yacht under the sun, the resulting fatigue, and the last time she saw Aaliyah alive after wrapping the shoot early.
“I remember Aaliyah saying she was gonna leave. “We're going to get a boat and we're going to go back and some of us are gonna leave early tonight,” Bustamante recalls Aaliyah telling the crew.
“We got the shot of her headed towards the catamaran, and she’s doing her wave. But around her are Eric, Anthony, and Christopher because they’re doing their last finishes. So in getting this kind of goodbye wave camera shot of her, there’s a frozen shot where there’s six of the eight people who died in the frame.”
“And then, I literally have this memory of watching who decided they were getting on that boat with her. All the dancers decided we were all going to stay together. And I remember Derek [Lee], who did the wardrobe styling. He would have gone with her, but he was sitting across from me and he was like, ‘I have too much stuff. You guys just go. I'm going to go tomorrow.’ And I remember one girl from the record company [Gina Smith] who was asleep. She was exhausted next to me and she got up immediately. She was like, ‘I want to go.’ She was done. I remember all of them getting on the boat together and I have the picture of them waving goodbye to us. That was the last time I saw all of them.”
“We got the shot of her headed towards the catamaran, and she's doing her wave. But around her are Eric, Anthony, and Christopher because they’re doing their last finishes,” says Taylor. “So in getting this kind of goodbye wave camera shot of her, there's a frozen shot where there’s six of the eight people who died in the frame.”
Bustamante says news of the crash spread quickly on the small island, but it wasn’t until she saw Hype Williams and Fatima Robinson that the situation became real.
“I looked over my shoulder and I saw Hype and Fatima and they were walking towards me crying, and that's when I knew something was not right. I think Fatima had to identify the bodies. We were just in emotional shock. To be with all these people and then all of a sudden, it's like, they're gone.”
Taylor, who’d returned to the mainland, received frantic calls from colleagues, but he says it wasn’t until he received a call from his mother that he knew it was real.
“You know what it feels like to have some bad news just kind of wash over you? I almost couldn't breathe. I remember not being able to stand upright, so I just kinda laid down. I ended up kind of drifting off in the weight of it,” he says.
Gone, But Not Forgotten
With a 20-year absence of Aaliyah’s catalogue on streaming platforms, and tension between the estate and Blackground Records founder Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah’s music is finally scheduled to be available for streaming on August 20. But has the delay impacted her legacy? Taylor says no.
“If you go into many of the urban neighborhoods in which we live, you will find 10 and 12 and 14-year-old girls named Aaliyah. You will find young girls who will tell you they’re named after her because she was my mother's favorite singer. We have to honor that we are talking about young kids whose parents are playing Aaliyah on Saturday while they clean like my mother played Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole and Aretha,” he says.
“Aaliyah’s music felt light years ahead back then and feels fresh now. I remember tuning into MTV & BET to record all her visuals so I could learn Fatima’s steps.”
Michael Ward, a long time Aaliyah fan and host of Revolutionary Health on CNPTV, says, “Aaliyah’s music felt light years ahead back then and feels fresh now. I remember tuning into MTV & BET to record all her visuals so I could learn Fatima’s steps.”
“She was so ahead of her time musically and artistically,” says Bustamante. “She was a great example of an artist who was humble, kind, and human. Let's remember what a light she was in the community.”
