5 Musicians Who Have Been Influenced By Aaliyah

On what would have been her 35th birthday, here
are five music stars who have spoken about
Aaliyah's impact on their music.

Today (16th January) marks what would have been
Aaliyah's 35th birthday. The R&B star died in
August 2001 aged just 22, but her influence
continues to impact present day music, so we
thought we'd round-up five musicians who have
spoken about Aaliyah's influence on their sound.

1) Rihanna
A young Rihanna picked out 'Are You That
Somebody' as one of her favourite music videos
and said that she admired the way the later singer
injected personality into her videos.

2) Ciara
Often compared to Aaliyah, here's what Ciara had
to say in an interview with Billboard.
"She was true to who she was and she didn't seem
to care about it. The core of her art to me is
heavily, heavily urban based. When an artist's music
is so urban based, sometimes people like to take
risks with artists like that. When you think about it,
it really is pop, it really is cultural and that's the
one thing that I thought was cool about her music.
It never felt like she was trying to reach across or
do anything more than just keep that cool, soulful,
heavy urban core about it. It wasn't like she was
trying to be anything more than who she was. I
really respect that and I appreciate that."

3) Drake
Drake says that Aaliyah had the biggest influence
and "most impact" on the music he creates,
especially his decision to start singing.

4) Alicia Keys
In 2010, Alicia Keys revealed that one of her
biggest hits 'If I Ain't Got You' was inspired by
Aaliyah.
"The song idea came together right after Aaliyah
passed away. It was such a sad time and no one
wanted to believe it. It just made everything
crystal clear to me -what matters, and what
doesn't."

5) J. Cole
"I feel like every boy my age at that time - middle
school age - was in love with Aaliyah."