# Where would Aaliyah be today if she hadn't died in an air crash? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285 "2015-02-10T09:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/1 "2015-02-10T09:26:55Z")
I watched _Romeo Must Die_ again recently: > **[Romeo Must Die (2000) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165929/?ref_=nv_sr_1)** > > Romeo Must Die: Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. With Jet Li, Aaliyah, Isaiah Washington, Russell Wong. An avenging cop seeks out his brother's killer and falls for the daughter of a businessman who is involved in a money-deal with his father. A brighter, pre-9/11 world. This is a dumb movie in many ways, but overall I have been a fan since I first watched it. Aaliyah is great in it and her charisma blows up the screen. She had incredible talent as a singer and as an actress as well. My guess is that, had she not died in the crash, she would be the biggest R&B star today. Of course, that is just speculation. Anything could have happened since then. But in terms of talent, she is worth five or so Beyonces to me. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/2 "2015-02-10T09:57:52Z")
Beyonce level. Massive pop star, solid box office draw, everything in her life fodder for the tabloids. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/3 "2015-02-10T11:20:05Z")
Scratching at the inside of her coffin. I’ll show myself out. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/4 "2015-02-10T12:31:46Z")
Right up there with Taylor Dayne and Terence Trent D’Arby. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/5 "2015-02-10T12:38:22Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Right up there with Taylor Dayne and Terence Trent D’Arby. I disagree. Even pretty early on in her career, Beyonce had a certain charisma, an “it” factor to her, that set her apart from monomymous 90s R&B contemporaries such as Brandy or Monica. I think Aaliyah had a lot of the same thing, and I don’t even particularly care for the genre of music. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/6 "2015-02-10T12:58:08Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > I disagree. I don’t know her at all, I was just making a joke. The truth is you can’t guess a career based on talent or charisma; plenty of people with both get nowhere, and plenty with neither become megastars. It’s a bamboozling crapshoot. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/7 "2015-02-10T13:08:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t know her at all, I was just making a joke. The truth is you can’t guess a career based on talent or charisma; plenty of people with both get nowhere, and plenty with neither become megastars. It’s a bamboozling crapshoot. That’s a good point, and nobody yet has brought up the third main option, AKA the Whitney Houston: megastar into increasing levels of surreal trainwreck and slightly-less-early demise. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/8 "2015-02-10T14:27:47Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > She had incredible talent as […] an actress as well. You must not have watched\* Queen of the Damned\*. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/9 "2015-02-10T14:35:56Z")
I don’t think Aaliyah’s music was quite poppy enough for her to be Beyoncé famous. Maybe Missy Elliott famous. Lauryn Hill famous. Much more famous than when she died, but not megastar famous, I don’t think. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/10 "2015-02-10T14:39:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You must not have watched\* Queen of the Damned\*. This is the only thing I’ve seen / know about her, other than her unfortunate demise. She may have gone on to have a brilliant music career but Angela Bassett she aint. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/11 "2015-02-10T14:53:19Z")
How can you ever know? Was she talented? of course- but so are lots of one hit wonders. If she’d survived, she might be as big as Beyonce or as forgotten as Jody Watley. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/12 "2015-02-10T14:57:12Z")
I don’t think Aaliyah would have stayed an R&B star. She was beautiful, talented, clean living, with a solid voice which was actually underutilized during her short career. Given the way music has changed since then I think she’d be doing more along the lines of what Beyonce and Rihanna are doing musically. More pop than R&B. She’d be on their level too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/13 "2015-02-10T15:48:38Z")
I remember once talking to somebody about where Buddy Holly’s career would have gone if he hadn’t died in that plane crash. And I pointed out that he’d probably would have been another Chuck Berry - people would remember his early music but he wouldn’t have maintained his career. Just because you make it to the top doesn’t mean you stay there. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/14 "2015-02-10T16:05:55Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > How can you ever know? > > Was she talented? of course- but so are lots of one hit wonders. > > If she’d survived, she might be as big as Beyonce or as forgotten as Jody Watley. Well I hope you’re not implying she was a one hit wonder. She had four number one songs on the Billboard chart, though admittedly her number one songs were not there for long. All three of her albums were certified double platinum in the USA. That’s probably a much stronger showing than most people realize. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/15 "2015-02-10T16:48:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I remember once talking to somebody about where Buddy Holly’s career would have gone if he hadn’t died in that plane crash. And I pointed out that he’d probably would have been another Chuck Berry - people would remember his early music but he wouldn’t have maintained his career. Just because you make it to the top doesn’t mean you stay there. I think few would argue that Buddy Holly would have been relevant forever, but some say he would have been up there with Elvis. I disagree because Elvis had something he didn’t: looks. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/16 "2015-02-10T16:53:53Z")
Speaking from an entirely generic viewpoint… probably somewhere between forgotten and almost-forgotten but still turning out albums. It’s easy to forget how many white-hot superstars of a moment burn out in the next, no matter how much promise they show or studio backing they have. It’s also easy to grossly romanticize celebrities who die young, badly, or at some early peak. I think James Dean would have gone the way of Sal Mineo (down to the sad, dirty death, probably at the hands of some rough trade.) I think Marilyn would have ended up lumped in with the other suicide blonde D-cups. I think John Lennon would have persisted at the “quirky ex-Beatle, doing weird stuff with that strange wife” stage, no more popular or beloved on a large scale than Harrison. I think many of the dead rap and hip-hop stars who went out in a blaze of gunfire would be forgotten, eclipsed, minor playahs on the P. Diddy spectrum or just churning out albums no one but a small fan base keeps buying. Concur with LN on Buddy Holly and Richie Valens and so forth - basically forgotten and lumped in with a dozen other performers of the era. (Put it this way: If Kris Kristofferson had gone down on that plane, as he nearly did, he’d be some huge country/pop avatar instead of just another kountry krooner of the 70s.) And on a more serious note, I think JFK would have Nixoned out, because it was time for a Nixon, any Nixon, even a young, handsome, Democratic one. (I recall my mother’s opinion on this one, around 1975: “Being a hero is dying at the right time.”) The only thing I really remember about Aaliyah is that her insistence on bringing all of her mountain of luggage on a small plane may have contributed to the crash. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/17 "2015-02-10T17:10:29Z")
She’d be married to either Jay Z or Kanye West. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/18 "2015-02-10T17:16:01Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Well I hope you’re not implying she was a one hit wonder. . No, no, that wasn’t my point at all. I merely meant that talented, successful musical artists fall off the face of the Earth all the time, and there isn’t always a logical explanation. Who really KNEW back in 1984 that Madonna would still be a star 30 years later and Bananarama would be pretty much forgotten? Who really KNEW 30 years ago that Jon Bon Jovi would still be a star today and not Rick Springfield? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/19 "2015-02-10T18:04:31Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Who really KNEW back in 1984 that Madonna would still be a star 30 years later and Bananarama would be pretty much forgotten? Who really KNEW 30 years ago that Jon Bon Jovi would still be a star today and not Rick Springfield? “Here’s your Flying Fickle Finger of Fate award. Oh, I’ll have fries with that.” ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-aaliyah-be-today-if-she-hadnt-died-in-an-air-crash/712285/20 "2015-02-10T18:28:45Z")
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