As the young vocalist came of age, Aaliyah’s sultry voice and ethereal beauty began to nab her movie roles, including parts in the 2000 action flick
Romeo Must Die (
Jet Li,
DMX) and 2001 thriller
Queen of the Damned. The young singer/actress’s life was cut tragically short, however, when she perished in a plane crash just off of the coast of the Bahamas in 2001, right after wrapping filming for the music video of Rock The Boat. Her untimely death shocked the music industry, and she is still widely praised by contemporaries in the music scene- most notably friends
Mary J. Blige and
Missy Elliott - to this day.