Happy Birthday Aaliyah

In skimming through the Internet, I found a post memorializing that today would have been the singer Aaliyah's 30th birthday. I remember being a kid watching her on Starsearch and following her career which took off when we were both 16. Being the same age as her, our birthdays were only days apart, I felt a connection with Aaliyah even though we were completely different. I think that she was singing to all of us who were going through the same trials she was and her vibrant personality and talents reached millions. I still own every CD of hers, including soundtracks she appeared on.

On August 25, 2001 I was back at San Jose State living at Spartan Village. Beings that school had just started up again, it was a reunion of friends and meeting new people who had moved into the 'ville. A bunch of us were at one friends' apartment when someone burst into the apartment... "Aaliyah's dead." We were all in shock and immediately turned the T.V. on, flipping through channels... yet, it wasn't until a few hours later the news finally confirmed that Aaliyah had died in a plane crash. Another future gone, one the same age we were.

The number of artists lost in plane crashes is high. They are constantly traveling for meetings, shows, concerts, interviews, and shooting videos among other media related items; they travel more so than the average person and thus the chances of dying in an accident become higher. The recent crash in which DJ AM and Travis Barker randomly survived was our most recent reminder of this.

Though there are some who grapple with the public fascination with celebrities and I agree that some obsess a bit much; I can understand the fascination of seeing someone we can actually relate to, someone who touches our innermost being and seeing that person succeed in the music business or show business can make us realize we can survive our daily lives as well.

Music especially speaks to us, moves us emotionally and physically, it sparks memories and gets us through trying times or just a regular boring day. When a song of Aaliyah's comes on, I immediately start moving my head and singing along. So happy birthday Aaliyah and rest in peace.