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Aaliyah<\/strong><\/a>‘s story had barely begun before\u00a0it was out of her hands.<\/p>\n But on what would have been her 47th birthday Jan. 16 if she hadn’t died in a plane crash at the age of 22<\/a>, there’s still so much to unpack with regard to her influence on pop culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Sometimes, when it’s just my mom and me kicking it, I say, ‘I’m 22, and I’ve accomplished so much,'” she told E! News just months before her death on Aug. 25, 2001. “I just know I have to appreciate every moment.”<\/p>\n Aaliyah’s debut studio album, 1994’s Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number<\/em>,\u00a0has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide and was certified double platinum, buoyed by top-10 singles “Back & Forth” and “At Your Best (You Are Love).”\u00a0<\/p>\n The Brooklyn-born, Detroit-bred teen was a show business veteran already, singing at weddings at 8, performing on\u00a0Star Search<\/em>\u00a0alongside\u00a0Gladys Knight<\/strong>\u2014who was briefly married to Aaliyah’s uncle, record producer\u00a0Barry Hankerson<\/strong>, in the 1970s\u2014at 10 and taking the stage in Las Vegas at 11.<\/p>\n “I’m still in high school,” Aaliyah noted in a New York morning show interview<\/a> to promote her first-ever performance at the legendary Apollo Theater, while also beaming about her straight-A report card.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n