Just as we had finished blogging about the tragedy of the late R&B star Aaliyah’s missing back catalog on the 19th anniversary of her death, we received yet another shred of hope that her music could soon become available in the digital music era.
According to a message posted from a verified Twitter account for the singer and attributed to her estate, a deal is being worked on to resurrect her catalog “in the near future.”
“We are excited to announce that communication has commenced between the estate and various record labels about the status of Aaliyah’s music catalogue, as well as its availability on streaming platforms in the near future,” the statement reads. “Thank you for your continued love and support. More updates to come!”
After Aaliyah died in 2001 in a plane crash, her uncle Barry Hankerson folded his record label Blackground Records, and her catalog never migrated into the music streaming era — a point of contention among fans who don’t have her CDs or vinyl records.
Of course, Aaliyah fans, take this news with a grain of salt. Talks of reviving her catalog have gone back to at least 2012, when Hankerson sold a stake in Blackground. After nothing materialized, a Twitter account attributed to Hankerson teased that Aaliyah’s music would be coming to digital streaming platforms in early 2020, but that also never happened.
As of now, Aaliyah’s only available music is her controversial 1994 record with R. Kelly, Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number.
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This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2020.
