New details of late R&B star Aaliyah‘s life are being revealed nearly 20 years after her death.
Author Kathy Iandoli‘s new biography, Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah, out Tuesday, includes never-before-told stories about the hitmaker’s music, her relationships and the evolution of her career.
Iandoli’s book also explores Aaliyah’s long-lasting influence since her tragic death in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, at age 22.
During an interview with Good Morning America, Iandoli shared more about her reverence for the late music icon and what drew her to creating this biography.
“I wanted to create something that celebrated her because I was sick and tired of the other static that was coming in about her — the other things, the other news — and there’s only really one way to tell a story and it’s to provide this panoramic view of the artist,” she explained.
The author and music expert said Aaliyah’s death was overshadowed by the 9/11 attacks, so many fans “weren’t able to grieve.”
“What started to happen over the years was Aaliyah became an aesthetic — she became this like mythical creature, she became almost like a statue, a piece of iconography,” Iandoli said.
The book covers many points of Aaliyah’s career and her personal life, including her secret — and brief — marriage to disgraced rapper R. Kelly in 1994, when she was just 15 and Kelly was 27. The marriage was later annulled.
In the book, Iandoli also acknowledges the possibility that the late singer may have been drugged before boarding her final flight. Iandoli is clear in stating that this is just a possibility; she is not saying it happened or did not happen.
Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah is now available.
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