All language subtitles for Gone.Before.Her.Time.When.the.Music.Stopped.2022.720p.WEB.h264-PFa.srt

They stormed onto the world stage.

- It was this white Jewish girl,

skinny as a rail,

and she had this huge, big voice.

- She's got the baggy pants, bandana, the sunglasses.

It was like, whoa.

With an unrivaled combination

of voice and attitude.

- She didn't take crap from anyone.

And she let it be known you don't always have to be

a yes woman.

- That's when I think people really took notice

this woman was a force to be reckoned with.

But at the peak of their fame...

- She felt like she had no other purpose on this planet

than to live fast, die young.

- I said, "Be careful what you wish for."

They were taken too soon.

- And it's like, oh my god. I couldn't...couldn't believe it.

- All he says is that she was gone.

What would these groundbreaking women have done

with more time?

- It was that moment before a star becomes an icon.

- She had the world at her fingertips.

And where did the stars align

to cement their untimely fates?

- When you break it apart, it's completely sinister.

- She was really a victim in the true sense of the word.

- What the hell is happening here?

Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

In 1992, Nancy Brennan,

the vice president of EMI Records,

gets a call from the head of EMI Latin, José Behar,

that will change the course of music history.

- I happened to be going to Las Vegas.

And José called me, and he said, you know,

"Please, you gotta come see Selena."

I was very involved Latin music, but I knew nothing about her.

At 21 years old,

Selena Quintanilla-Peréz,

known simply as Selena,

has already made a name for herself

as the Queen of Tejano music...

a regional fusion of mariachi, corrido,

country and western styles.

- I had never heard of Tejano music.

I saw her up on that stage

and I had no idea what she was singing,

but I loved her.

I-I just saw her up there and I thought,

"This could be the next Gloria Estefan."

Over the next three years,

Selena proves to be all that and more.

A star destined to burn bright.

- She is a queen, right up there with Madonna

and other female music icons.

She'll never be forgotten.

Drake wears a t-shirt with her face on it.

Cardi B covers her songs.

Beyoncé's called her an "inspiration."

- The thing that I think was so special about Selena

is that her music touched everyone.

I was a kid singing all of her records,

and still not knowing much about her culture.

But I just knew she was fun, and she was cool,

and she was this young girl doing music

the way she wanted to.

And she had this sweetness and this playfulness to her

that made you want to know more about her.

But to fully understand

Selena's enduring impact on American music,

you must first understand where she came from.

Selena Quintanilla-Peréz is uniquely American.

Born in 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas,

she's the youngest of three children

to second generation Mexican-American parents.

Selena's father had been in a singing group

when he was younger.

He kind of wanted to live vicariously

through his children.

Her brother played guitar.

Her sister learned how to play the drums.

And Selena could sing.

I was six years old. He started teaching me.

And my first song that I learned was "I'm in the Mood for Love"

and "Somewhere over the Rainbow."

- And they went out on the road.

At first, the family band is only able to book

small shows close to home.

- They would get in the bus and just drive anywhere in Texas

where they could perform.

Family restaurants, a truck stop, the county fair.

Over the next few years,

the band expands their reach into other states.

As they do, one thing stands out.

- They were traveling out to California, the Southwest,

anywhere where there was a Latin population.

And Selena's father could see

that she was attracting a lot of attention.

She seemed to be the, uh, standout with the fans.

- Tell me also how old you are.

- I'm 10.

She was only 10 years old,

but she had the performance chops

of somebody much older than her years.

And that was, I think, part of her appeal.

To capitalize on Selena's popularity,

her father renamed the band

Selena y Los Dinos.

He also shifts their musical focus

from sentimental English covers

to more Spanish-based Tejano tracks.

- Selena didn't even speak Spanish when they started out.

She had to learn it phonetically.

- Maybe her father did push her,

but she obviously really enjoyed making music.

And she meant a lot to the Mexican community.

Still, as a female frontlady,

Selena faces an uphill battle.

- Promoters and bookers said that she would never make it

because she was a girl.

Tejano music is a male-dominated music scene.

But she and her father stayed the course.

- For them, that was their job.

They went out and worked 52 weeks a year.

The effort pays off

when in 1986, at the age of 15,

Selena's rising appeal leads to an important accolade.

- She won Female Vocalist of the Year

at the Tejano Music Awards, beating out older legends.

And that's when I think people really took notice

this woman was a force to be reckoned with.

She got the attention of José Behar,

the president of EMI Latin,

and, uh, he went over and introduced himself.

And, uh, you know, the rest is history.

In 1989, Selena signs with EMI Records.

One year later, she releases her solo album, "Ven Conmigo"

or "Come with Me,"

with the Los Dinos band composing six

of the album's ten tracks.

- ♪ Conmigo tendrás Todo lo que quieras ♪

♪ Y Hasta el día que me muera

It becomes the first Tejano record to go gold,

selling more than a half million copies.

- She really started to break out of the Tejano scene

and into just mainstream pop music.

And I think that there's just something about her.

She was the kind of artist you fall in love with.

That's when Selena and Nancy Brennan,

the vice president of EMI Records,

crossed paths.

She had an amazing stage presence,

always twirling around the stage.

The people in the club were going crazy.

I had never seen anything like this before.

I knew I had to do something with this girl.

She checked every box.

She was a great singer, a great dancer.

She was gorgeous.

She just exuded personality.

I knew she could be a huge star.

Nancy steps in to represent Selena and her band

with the goal of launching them to the next level.

It's after leaving a shoe store together

that Nancy discovers the key to Selena's success.

- We were in that store

for probably no more than 30 or 40 minutes.

Came out, went back to the parking lot.

And it was full of little girls.

She signed every autograph

and took pictures with every little girl

that wanted to take a picture, because she loved her fans.

When we talk about Selena,

her fan base is one of the first things you think about.

Her fans are so passionate, so fervent.

And, you know, she was great to her fans.

Selena's love for her fans

seems to know no bounds.

She uses her platform to promote issues

facing the most marginalized members of the community.

Talking about HIV and AIDS,

people can start feeling, well, you know,

if Selena can talk about it,

if Selena is an advocate, you know what?

I want to find out more about this.

Or, I want to speak out as well.

She was also outspoken about

battered women and domestic abuse.

It helped empower women

and really had them stand up and say, you know,

I don't want to take this abuse anymore.

You could go to her concerts down there

and you had little girls,

you had their bigger sisters,

you had their mothers,

and you also had their grandmothers would be there.

Like, the parents would take the kids to the show

because everybody loved her.

But there's one fan who's particularly moved:

30-year-old Yolanda Saldívar.

Yolanda, she was a huge fan.

And somehow she got to meet the family.

She wanted to work on the fan club.

The ever-giving Selena and her family

agree to make Yolanda president of the fan club.

They also find work for her at the family's clothing store.

It was more of a boutique store, a nail salon.

They did hair there as well.

They sold all the bustiers that she wore,

the belt buckles that she designed.

Selena proves that

she's more than just a performer...

she's a talented entrepreneur.

And as her opportunities grow,

she takes Yolanda along for the ride.

Selena was on the brink of having, uh,

her own boutique within one of the major department stores

in Mexico City.

So Yolanda was also helping with the arrangements for that.

But she was also involved with the accounting of the fan club.

They trusted her.

And Selena was a very trusting person.

At the same time, Selena's musical accomplishments

continue to stack up.

In 1994, she wins two Billboard Latin Music Awards

and a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album,

with her first live recording, "Selena Live."

♪ Baila, Baila esta cumbia ♪

♪ Un ritmo, un ritmo sin igual ♪

But Selena is just getting warmed up.

She really, really longed to be

as well known with the Anglo market.

And that was my plan.

I was going to make sure that I delivered that dream to her.

"But," I said, "be careful what you wish for,

"because once this album comes out,

you will never be able to just walk down the street in peace."

In 1995, Selena starts recording tracks

for a new crossover album, "Dreaming of You."

But tragically, she will never finish it.

By 1995, 23-year-old Mexican-American sensation

Selena has proven she's a singer and performer for all people.

What's interesting about Selena is that

you have an artist who's already captured

this international artist

and she's about to break into the US market.

That's something that's really hard to do and really special.

And to do that at such a young age is unheard of.

Selena is enjoying a success

only seen at this point by veteran singers

like Jon Secada and Gloria Estefan.

And with the crossover album now in the works,

her A&R rep Nancy Brennan is convinced the sky's the limit.

I had really big dreams

and plans for Selena.

And I put together a cassette.

I had 14 songs for her.

When she plays the tracks

for Selena and her family,

Nancy discovers Selena is starting to find

a voice of her own.

A lot of what I was sending her were ballads.

And she let me know that she wants to do up-tempo songs.

And I said to her, "Listen, Selena.

"We're gonna do up-tempo songs.

"Half your album will be up tempo.

"But I trust me when I tell you, The dance songs come and go.

Very few of them get covered over and over over the years."

I said, "It's the ballads that will make you a star.

The ballads that people will sing for generations to come."

And as it turned out,

one of them was "Dreaming of You."

And she said, "I love that song."

She says, "I want to sing that song."

So that's how that came to be on the album.

♪ 'Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight ♪

The song becomes the title track

for what EMI Records anticipates will be

their biggest Selena album yet.

But as Selena's popularity grows,

concerns about the family's place in it all

began to surface.

Selena was very concerned about her band

being tossed aside when she was out into the Anglo world,

because that was the band's job,

and they got paid when they performed.

If they weren't performing, they weren't making money.

I knew in my mind that that definitely

was going to be an issue

because of the label people.

And they would have wanted a slick-looking band behind her

that looked good to the mass English audience.

Then, just weeks before its release,

a 911 call from a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas,

changes everything.

On March 31, 1995,

medics rush 23-year-old Selena Peréz to the hospital

after she's shot in the back.

The shocking news spreads fast.

The phone rang, and it was

the president of my record company.

And he told me what happened.

And I was like, "Oh my god."

Um, you know, um, "Is she o... she o...

She's okay, right?" And...

and, uh, he said, "No, she didn't make it."

I couldn't...couldn't believe it.

It was just surreal.

It's hard to talk about.

- Jury selection starts this morning

in the trial of the woman accused of murdering

Latino singing star Selena.

What makes the news even harder

is the murderer's identity.

Yolanda Saldívar,

Selena's former fan club president,

is charged with the killing.

Yolanda tells police it was a tragic accident.

But those closest to Selena know the truth.

A few weeks before that awful day,

a lot of the fans were writing or calling,

saying that, um, they'd sent in their membership money,

um, or they had ordered, um, merchandising,

and they weren't receiving it.

Selena's father is convinced

that the funds have been stolen by fan club president Yolanda.

But Yolanda insists she's innocent,

and has the receipts to prove it.

That's when Selena intervenes.

- She was really feeling like she wanted to be

more involved in all the areas of her career.

You know, she'd grown up.

She wasn't a child anymore.

But when Selena confronts Yolanda

on the morning of March 31, 1995,

her kindness and compassion can't mend the rift.

- She turned to leave and that's when

Yolanda started shooting at her.

Four days later,

on April 3, 1995,

the family holds a memorial service

in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Thousands of fans attend.

They had it seem like

5 million white roses everywhere,

'cause, um, white roses were her favorite flower.

People just filed through,

an endless sea of people walking by her closed casket.

- To this day, it just...

doesn't seem real.

Four months after her death,

EMI releases Selena's final album, "Dreaming of You,"

in July 1995.

- A lot of requests for it,

so the least we could do is play it.

"I Could Fall in Love." This is Selena on 104 KRBE.

♪ I could fall in love ♪

It debuts at number one on the Billboard chart,

the first album by a Latin artist

to accomplish such a feat.

- You know, her wanting to cross over to English music,

her dream came true.

She was a woman who really broke ground for Latin music.

And what's super tragic about that

is that she lost her life right as she was crossing over

into the US market.

And who knows how big she would've been?

Jennifer Lopez, of course, played Selena

in the biopic about her life,

which is somewhat ironic, because had Selena lived,

she would have probably accomplished all the highs

that Jennifer Lopez did in her own career.

She was a great singer, a great dancer,

and she could have definitely have tackled film.

She was just such a strong, positive personality.

She lit up a room when she walked in.

The sky was the limit on what she could've done.

Selena's death comes at a time

when the world is preparing for a new millennium.

- It's all about female empowerment.

It's all about, like, let's raise each other up

in an industry that is mostly male dominated.

And as her legacy helps pave the way

for the next century of Latin music,

another female artist is destined to do the same for R&B.

Aaliyah was a risk-taker.

In hip hop, we've been told

it's a quote unquote "young man's game."

So for women to enter into that space,

it's almost twice as difficult.

- Aaliyah was just graceful and poised,

and a very strong and courageous woman.

I mean, she was at the forefront of so many things...

fashion, movies.

I believe if Aaliyah was still with us,

she would be unstoppable.

But unfortunately, fate had other plans.

Aaliyah's plane crashed

shortly after takeoff on Saturday in the Bahamas,

where they had gone to shoot a music video.

I remember the news reports of it.

It was unbelievable.

I think when someone is so vital and so young,

and so much promise,

it's just so shocking when you hear they're gone.

Just one year before Selena's untimely death

shook the music industry,

a new female talent is stepping out on the scene.

- I remember being completely taken by this artist

because she just looked so cool.

She's got the baggy pants, the midriff, and the bandana,

and the sunglasses.

It was like, whoa.

She had this, like, lower-registered voice

that you didn't really hear coming from a woman singer.

- ♪ Age ain't nothin' but a number ♪

♪ Throwin' down ain't nothin' but a thing ♪

- To know that she was so young doing, like,

all this incredible music,

she held the world by storm.

The Princess of R&B.

The Queen of Urban Pop.

One in a Million.

Baby Girl.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton has many titles.

But most people know her by a single name:

Aaliyah.

- Aaliyah had self-identified as street, but sweet.

There was always that balance for her.

And it echoed throughout all of her music.

- It was, like, a mix of, like, urban, but still R&B.

Aaliyah brought an innovative sound

that was uniquely her own.

Rooted in her birthplace, Brooklyn,

but reared in her adopted hometown of Detroit,

where she moved at five years old

with her parents and older brother

to be close to their extended family.

- You know, coming from Detroit,

she was very much, you know, inspired by

a lot of the artists in Motown.

I listened to a lot of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye.

My mother loved Johnny Mathis and Luther Vandross.

That's when her vocalist mother

encourages Aaliyah to hone her craft.

Her father was her manager as well.

So I just think she was primed from, like, seven years old

to pursue a music career.

Aaliyah attended Gesu Catholic School.

And that's a school in the area that's known for having

this robust theater program.

As a small child, she took part in so many musicals,

including "Annie."

I was in first grade.

And I just remember how much fun I had

and how it was just pure bliss.

Aaliyah seemed to know from a very young age

that she wanted to be a singer.

And she, you know...she started on "Star Search."

- ♪ My funny Valentine

Not too many kids in their single digits

have that complete understanding of what it is

that they want to do for the rest of their lives.

But Aaliyah did.

Barely out of elementary school,

Aaliyah has her eyes on the prize:

a record deal.

But it's not an easy industry to break into.

There was a lot of interest,

but record labels just really didn't want to invest

in an artist who was still so young.

Still, Aaliyah has some star power in her corner.

- Aaliyah's aunt was Gladys Knight.

I mean, a soul legend.

Of course that had to have influence.

- I remember she called my, um, mother

and asked would I like to perform with her.

And of course I was like, "Yes, definitely."

She ended up, like, opening for Gladys Knight,

which, what 11-year-old does that?

The first night, I was on stage,

in the middle of the stage.

And I just sang straight up, like a little broomstick,

and then I just walked off, you know?

No feeling, no emotion.

And she told me, "You can't do that.

You have to reel an audience in."

She credits that to being

the real training for her, for her own stage presence.

Because when you're that young

and your aunt is a living legend,

you learn a lot when you get on that stage.

Then in 1991, Aaliyah's family connections

lead to a pivotal movement

that will be her ticket to stardom...

and infamy.

- Aaliyah's uncle, Barry Hankerson,

was managing R. Kelly,

and brought R. Kelly in to work on Aaliyah's album.

You know, working with someone like R. Kelly,

you're setting yourself up for a big career,

especially when he's the one creating the songs

that you're about to sing.

And once they had the biggest R&B artist

working on this album,

it became a lot easier to get Aaliyah a formal record deal.

That became the starting-off point, around 12 years old.

While R. Kelly provides the opportunity,

it's Aaliyah's signature sound

that makes her debut album,

"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number,"

stand out.

- I think it really set the template

for what she would do later in terms of fusing soul, pop,

and kind of hip-hop attitude.

When Aaliyah releases the album in 1994,

it generates two top 10 singles

for the now 15-year-old artist.

- ♪ Let me see you go

♪ Go back, back, forth

- You just saw that she was beyond her ears in talent.

She already had a sense of style,

a presence that definitely felt older.

But the pressure to mature faster than her years

begins to take its toll on Aaliyah.

At the time, it was very much marketed

like Aaliyah and R. Kelly were this, you know,

producer/artist dynamic.

Came for the music, stayed for each other.

And there was this... strange way

about how they interacted.

You had R. Kelly, who was 27 years old,

acting like he was a kid.

And then you had Aaliyah being very mysterious about her age.

- I want to wish you a happy birthday.

- Thank you!

- Now, now, a man is not supposed to ask a lady

how old she is, but you're younger.

I think I can ask you.

You know I don't tell my age.

- It's only a number.

It's only recently

that the public has come to find out

what Aaliyah was hiding.

- The full scope of what we are discovering about Aaliyah

and her relationship with R. Kelly,

it's really heartbreaking.

- When you break it apart, it's completely sinister.

In 1994, Aaliyah's relationship

with producer R. Kelly

is a constant source of speculation.

The album "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number,"

I think that the title was a cheeky nod to her younger fans.

But now it just kind of feels creepy in light of what we know.

Nearly 30 years later,

the truth finally comes out.

We learned that R. Kelly

had a significant pattern and history

with sexual abuse of, um, young girls, including Aaliyah.

In September 2021,

R. Kelly's tour manager testifies

about Kelly's sexual relationship

with an underaged Aaliyah.

What we are discovering about Aaliyah

is the confirmation of R. Kelly being a predator to her.

And when R. Kelly's advances reportedly lead to

15-year-old Aaliyah becoming pregnant,

that's when the powerful musical producer makes a hasty decision.

- At the time, unbeknownst to all of us,

R. Kelly kind of forced this marriage upon Aaliyah.

With the goal of gaining legal consent

to get an abortion for Aaliyah,

R. Kelly takes the young singer to a Chicago hotel suite,

where the two are married in secret.

But 18 months later,

when Aaliyah's parents learn of the union,

they immediately step in.

- This marriage was later annulled.

That's when Aaliyah finds the strength

to finally separate from R. Kelly.

- She left Jive Records, moved over to Atlantic Records.

But there was a bunch of producers

who didn't wanna work with her

because they were afraid that R. Kelly

wouldn't wanna work with them.

The situation got super tumultuous,

that lead to her almost being blackballed.

Still, nothing can stand in the way

of Aaliyah's dreams.

In the fall of 1995,

she continues to pound the pavement,

looking for a new music producer.

- It's really amazing

and a testament to her strength

that she was able to still be a force in this business

despite the shadow of R. Kelly.

You had Jermaine Dupri, you had Darkchild

willing to work with her.

But the work that eventually became Aaliyah's signature

was working with Timbaland and Missy Elliot.

Both Missy and Timbaland

are still relatively unknown

when they contribute to Aaliyah's sophomore album.

- Missy Elliot was in an R&B group

and Timbaland was, like, a local DJ.

And the way they found each other was because

Missy and Timbaland caught wind that Aaliyah

was looking for producers and songwriters

for her next project.

And they were urged by Atlantic Records to give it a shot.

So what they ended up doing was

they flew out and they met Aaliyah,

and they cut a couple tracks together.

And with Aaliyah now free

from the constraints of R. Kelly,

she's finally able to unleash her full creative potential.

- She was experimenting with, like, different sounds,

different, like, key signatures,

and really just evolving who she was as an artist.

Like, who would put a baby sound in a song and it be very cool?

Like, Aaliyah did it.

- ♪ If I let this go

♪ You can't tell nobody

In 1996, at just 17 years old,

Aaliyah launches her next chapter

with the release of her second studio album,

"One in a Million."

It's an immediate hit and eventually goes platinum,

cementing Aaliyah's place as an R&B superstar.

- Her ability to move from ballad to, you know, R&B/pop,

to hip hop song was incredible.

She was working with Middle Eastern samples

against an electronic backdrop with a hip hop backing, too.

So you started to really hear this sound that was

going to become a standard for R&B music.

I think it made a lot of people take notice,

even maybe fans who weren't necessarily into R&B and soul.

A lot of that had to do with the great video presence she had.

A standout in the music video scene,

Aaliyah soon proved she has enough star power

to take on Hollywood.

We started to see Aaliyah everywhere.

And after that,

she gets the role in the film "Romeo Must Die."

Aaliyah was obviously gorgeous.

And she really had a charismatic sort of aura about her.

Her role in "Romeo Must Die," it wasn't the biggest role.

But critically it was praised.

And it was just one of those things

you knew she was gonna be doing more of.

Aaliyah also lends her voice to the film's success.

- ♪ Dust yourself off and try again ♪

The biggest winner from "Romeo Must Die"

was the song "Try Again."

You know, it was never formally released as a single.

And it made history as the first song to the top

the Billboard Hot 100 solely based on radio airplay.

Over the next few years,

Aaliyah contributes songs to six more movie soundtracks.

She's literally the hottest thing ever.

I think there's literally no avenue that she's not touching.

In 1997, her song "Journey from the Past"

from the animated film "Anastasia"

even earns Aaliyah an Oscar nomination.

- ♪ Courage, see me through

♪ Heart, I'm trusting you

- So you have Aaliyah hitting these milestones.

And she really had only been out at that point

for, like, five, six years?

She was really just getting started.

We were all kind of excited to see

what would she do next.

After just seven years on the music scene,

22-year-old Aaliyah has taken the world by storm.

- She can act, she can sing, she can dance.

And she's still very gracious doing all of it,

which is I think what elevates it even more

because you feel like you know her.

You feel like she's your friend.

In 2001, Aaliyah begins filming

her second feature film.

Always a daring artist, Aaliyah seeks out a role

with a bit more bite...

staring as the ancient vampire Queen Akasha

in "Queen of the Damned."

The vampire queen in "The Queen of the Damned"

Anne Rice's book, you know, that was highly anticipated.

It was cool and it was different.

- What would be, like, the coolest role

ever for you to play?

I've done that.

I've done it with "Queen of the Damned," Akasha.

It suggested that she was fearless in, you know,

both her music and in her acting choices.

By the summer of 2001,

it seems like everything was working out for Aaliyah.

She had finished "Queen of the Damned."

Her music was coming back out.

She was releasing an album after five years.

It was the time, that moment before

a star becomes an icon.

It's a status Aaliyah hopes to cement

that same year, when she signs on to co-star with her idol,

Whitney Houston, in the film "Sparkle."

- Who are some of the people that, you know,

you see or watch that, you know,?

- Oh, definitely Whitney Houston.

She's, like, my all-time favorite.

Whitney was a guiding force for anyone

who was a soul singer, an R&B singer.

Whitney Houston was executive producer

of "Sparkle," a film inspired by Diana Ross and The Supremes.

Whitney originally wanted Aaliyah to star in the film.

- She was our Sparkle.

Um, unfortunately...

it just didn't go that way.

Just months before she's due to start production,

Aaliyah travels to Florida to begin work on a music video

for her new hit single, "Rock the Boat."

They filmed parts of the "Rock the Boat" video.

And from what we've been told,

the budget was too high to shoot at the beach in Miami,

so they opted to go to the Bahamas.

After two fun-filled days

on the isle of Treasure Key,

the crew completes the video and wraps ahead of schedule.

- After the video shoot, um,

they were really anxious to get back.

So they did not use the plane that was scheduled,

and they called around and got, um, someone else to do it.

The plane changes from a regular-sized plane

that could carry enough passengers plus cargo

to this tiny little Cessna.

And Aaliyah gets to the airport,

and she doesn't wanna board the plane.

But options are limited on the tiny island.

So Aaliyah reluctantly boards the flight.

All of that cargo is now loaded onto a plane

with Aaliyah, and her crew, and the pilot,

including her 300-pound bodyguard.

On August 25, 2001,

the plane carrying Aaliyah, a pilot,

and seven members of her record label,

takes off from the Bahamas.

Less than five minutes later, tragedy strikes.

Around 6:00 PM in the evening, the plane crashed.

- Everyone on the plane died.

It was just a really terrible situation.

And at the age of 22, an icon lost her life.

Police in the Bahamas said that

one of the plane's engines apparently failed.

The plane crash killed 22-year-old singer Aaliyah

and eight others.

Anyone who was around on August 25, 2001

has their memory of where they were

when they learned that Aaliyah died.

You know, there were...there were concerts that were going on.

And in the middle of the concerts,

people were finding out and then revealing it to the audience.

And it was such a somber day.

She's supposed to be on this red carpet.

She was nominated for a Lady of Soul Award,

and she's supposed to be here, and that's it.

Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

We have to stop taking things for granted.

- The kind of spirit that...that she has,

when she met people, she always left an imprint on them.

- The whole music community really took it hard.

You know, with artists,

a plane crash is not an uncommon death.

We've seen it happen.

Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, John Denver.

But with Aaliyah, it was...

There was something different about it.

And I think it was because everybody knew

just how close she was

to hitting that superstar status.

She was about to take over the world.

And I could only imagine

what she could have been on screen as a film star.

And let's not forget her fashion, too.

I mean, she would have been walking runways.

She would have been designing her own clothes.

I think she really would have been a force

in changing how women maneuver in this business,

because she was right there at the beginning,

and she really had the world at her fingertips.

- Eventually the "Rock the Boat" video released.

"Queen of the Damned" released in 2002.

From the decades after her passing,

so many people, without her there, borrowed from her,

and took these little bits of her...

these fragments of her style, fragments of her sound,

and applied it to their own art.

There's definitely something about her music,

her style, her body of work,

that is truly timeless.

Adele has spoken of Aaliyah's influence,

Halsey, Normani, The Weekend, Rihanna.

There's a point where it's like, who hasn't Aaliyah influenced.

She was pure heart, pure passion, pure soul.

Among Aaliyah's many admirers

is another shooting star,

who will also burn bright and fast.

Just eight months after Lisa "LeftEye" Lopes

joined so many in mourning the death of Aaliyah,

she will meet her own tragic end.

Her former assistant Stephanie Dayton

remembers the day vividly.

- Lisa was taking a group of people

on a 30-day trip to Honduras

to do kind of an artist development type of a trip.

Weeks into their visit,

Stephanie heads out on her own to run errands.

On her way back, she comes across a tragic scene.

I was headed back towards the village

and then we see, on the right side over an embankment,

there's an accident and a car's overturned.

Stephanie notices a groundskeeper

from the property where they've been staying on the scene.

He's trying to explain what happened.

And all he says is, "Lisa gone, Lisa gone."

And we're like, what the hell do you mean, Lisa gone?

And that's all he says.

That's when Stephanie comes to understand

the devastating news.

- Lisa didn't make it.

I lost a friend.

I lost my job.

I lost my boss.

Like, I lost everything in my world at that time.

Just 30 years old at the time of her death,

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes had already made

her mark on the world with a signature fierceness.

She was an incredible songwriter,

an incredible lyricist.

A little wild.

Definitely a musical presence that was a force of nature.

- Thank you!

She was small, but mighty.

She didn't take crap from anyone.

And she let it be known how you made her feel.

And I think that's something that's very important,

to have someone, like, in a public figure

who lets it be known that you don't always have to be

a yes woman.

Born in 1971 and raised in Philadelphia,

Lisa's strong will stems back to her youth.

Her father, he was a military guy,

and he ran the household

with a very military-type style.

- We get up 6 o'clock every morning.

This is how he wakes us up, okay?

6 o'clock, "Everybody get out the bed, get out the bed!

"Don't let your head touch the pillow, get out the bed!

"Stand up on your two feet.

If you let the head touch the pillow, you in trouble!"

So we get up.

- He was very, very strict with, um, his wife,

their mom, as well.

So that's the type of environment

that they grew up in.

Um, it was not a lot of

huggy-kissy type of thing.

But at night,

a different side of their dad emerges.

- Lisa had shared in later years, you know,

that her father had a drinking problem,

and that he even gave her liquor when she was a child.

He would be like,

"Lisa, I bet you can't drink this can of beer

in, like, a minute!"

You know, and she would be like, "I bet I can."

And then he'd be like, "I bet you can't drink this six pack."

You know, and then she would down the six pack.

She liked that side of her father

because when he would, um...

let loose, I guess you would say,

and so she developed that kind of toxic relationship

with alcohol.

Still, there is no shortage of passion

among Lisa and her two younger siblings.

Lisa would see her mom making a lot of furniture.

So she really looked to her mom being creative in that way.

The siblings entertained themselves a lot,

putting on shows together amongst themselves.

- That was the start of Lisa coming into her artistry.

By the time Lisa is 10 years old,

she's already composing songs

and performing with her siblings at local churches.

But it's not enough to distract her

from escalating tensions at home.

In her teenage years,

she kept that close bond with her father.

But her drinking got more intense, you know,

and more intense, 'cause she was getting older,

so she could consume more.

It just got more toxic and more toxic.

By the age of 19,

Lisa Lopes has developed a strong passion for music,

but also a drinking problem.

She knows that's something's got to give.

So she packs her bags and leaves her hometown of Philadelphia

for Atlanta.

- She had a brief period of time when she was dancing backup,

her hip-hop act.

And she found out that a girl group

was, uh, being put together.

And they were looking for some members.

The brainchild of Atlanta record producer

Ian Burke, this new girls' group

is designed to be a launching pad

for his client, Crystal Jones.

And so Lisa went to audition,

and I think the band just clicked.

- The members of TLC were Crystal, Lisa,

and a girl named Tionne.

The group names themselves TLC,

with each letter representing

one of the three band member's names.

But as they are signing on with their new manager,

Pebbles Reid, the group makes a last-minute change.

It didn't work out with Crystal.

But they very much liked the TLC abbreviation.

So they later brought in Rozonda Thomas,

who they called "Chilli," so she could fit the C.

T-Boz definitely was the singer,

and she had a unique low alto voice.

- ♪ Every now and then, I get a little crazy ♪

- And Chilli was kind of the lighthearted,

beautiful, fairy-like, you know, presence.

Lisa, she was the rock star of TLC.

She just kind of had that wild spirit about her.

When she met Michael Bivins from New Edition,

he said he liked the shape of her left eye

because it was different from her right eye.

So Lisa became Left Eye.

Inspired by the potential

of this young, energetic trio,

Pebbles has TLC audition for her husband, LA Reid,

the co-owner of successful label LaFace Records.

- There was kind of a mixing between management,

but at the time, that discovery of this group

and putting them all together,

it seemed like a really perfect combination.

But just when Lisa signs on with her new label,

she is hit with a devastating blow.

The day she got signed,

she went to call her father to tell him.

And that's actually the day he died.

She never got a chance to tell him,

which was always something that haunted her for years.

Lisa does her best to keep her eye on the prize

as she leads the charge in writing TLC's first album

with the help of legendary producers

like Babyface and Dallas Austin.

Hip hop was blowing up.

The Atlanta music scene was blowing up.

So you can only imagine how exciting and, you know,

dynamic, and how crazy things were at that time.

In 1992, TLC releases their first album,

"Ooooooohhh... on the TLC Tip."

It's chock full of bold lyrics

and empowering messages for women.

- At the time, there was a scene of clean hip hop stars

like Whitney Houston and like Brandy.

There was also a world of kind of feminist music

that was happening with Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa.

So there was kind of this great opportunity for these girls

to come in and to take it another step forward.

- They really just stormed on the scene.

You couldn't ignore them, you know?

They were just really refreshing and different.

TLC's first album goes on to sell

more than 4 million copies...

and produce four hit tracks,

all while tackling some of the day's most taboo topics.

- There were so many ills that were happening in society,

from racism to sexism.

Through her rhymes, Left Eye fought for feminism.

She talked about sexual freedom.

- ♪ If I need it in the morning or the middle of the night ♪

♪ I ain't 2 proud 2 beg, no

It's that same message that she reinforces

with her bold signature style.

- She was not going to be this cookie-cutter woman

superstar in the industry.

She wore the baggy clothes,

but she still possessed her femininity.

She's wearing the glasses and she had the condoms,

like, you know...

My mom didn't want me to see that, but why not?

Safe sex is something that you should know about growing up.

- Their musical, social, artistic campaign about safe sex

and about using condoms

really was a form of feminist activism.

Their newfound celebrity

thrusts TLC into the spotlight.

Soon, Lisa and her bandmates begin brushing elbows

with other celebrities around town.

- TLC and Lisa, they're still at the beginnings, you know,

of their career,

but she's buzzing in Atlanta.

But nobody makes an impact like Atlanta Falcons

football star Andre Rison.

- She told me that they met in a club.

That

That he was following her around in a club in Atlanta.

And that she had no interest at all in him whatsoever.

And then at some point, she just finally was like,

"Oh my god, what is it?!"

And then, you know, they had a drink.

From that point on,

Andre and Lisa are virtually inseparable.

- Here's this major entertainer and this major NFL star.

But then it was just a boy and a girl, you know?

And they just vibed together.

They just really clicked.

Just weeks into their relationship,

Lisa moves in with her new man.

But it's not long before the good times are marred

by alleged infidelity and betrayal.

With the fame and the women,

things kind of got out of hand.

And then, you know, she told me one time

that she actually came home and she knew something was up.

And she kept asking him, you know,

"Do you have somebody here? Do you have somebody here?"

And he was like, "Nah, nah, nah."

And she actually found a woman in the closet.

Andre continues to deny infidelity claims.

Still, the heartache and pain push Left Eye into old habits.

- I think that she probably used alcohol as a way to cope.

But on the surface,

Lisa seems to be living a fantasy life.

- They look very happy, so...

You know, you really never knew what was going on with them

behind closed doors.

But two years into the fiery couple's relationship,

their private battles become a public nightmare.

- You're like, what the hell is happening here?

In June of 1994, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes

is pushed to her breaking point

by NFL boyfriend Andre Rison's infidelity.

- She was feeling like she was not being considered

in the relationship.

So she decides to hit him where it hurts.

- She wanted to kind of destroy his favorite thing,

which was his sneaker collection.

So she threw all the sneakers into a bathtub and burned them.

Like his Jordans, all his fancy shoes,

go up in flames in, like, her set it off moment.

But the TLC star's rash decision

sparks an unintended disaster.

- Unfortunately she burned down his home as well.

- And the press, you know,

the world kind of skewed it to the point where she was doing,

you know, all of these negative things to him

and she really didn't feel like it was fair.

The feisty star turns herself in

and authorities charge her with felony arson.

Left Eye's bail is set at $75,000,

which in an unexpected move,

her scorned lover willingly pays.

But the resolution only leads a bigger issue to light.

- We then find out she has a drinking problem

and maybe this is why she acts how she acts.

Clearly Left Eye needed some help.

And all of her people were sort of in damage control after that.

Within the week, Lisa Lopes

checks into an Atlanta rehab center,

hoping once and for all to face the demons

she's been battling since childhood.

- She did consider that a wakeup call.

Andre did not come around as much to visit her.

And I think they just kind of drifted apart at that time.

Lisa said her heart was broken,

and that is when she just started a new life

and started to spread her wings.

So she started taking better care of herself

and writing more.

Just one day after her release,

Lisa returns to the studio to record TLC's second album.

- ♪

Lisa made no apologies.

She didn't cower, you know, after the whole incident.

She was just hurt, take it or leave it.

And then "CrazySexyCool" comes out

and it just makes perfect sense.

Lisa was the crazy one.

- "People always say that Tionne has this cool voice,

"Chilli's known as the sexy one.

"I'm the crazy one. Hey!

'CrazySexyCool,' let's roll with it."

And obviously it worked because that album was just phenomenal.

"CrazySexyCool" is an instant success

and produces three number-one hits for TLC.

- Centerpiece of that project is the song "Waterfalls."

And when you think about

the most important part of that song,

you think of Left Eye's opening line.

- ♪ I seen a rainbow yesterday ♪

♪ But too many storms

- If that song comes on the radio,

I think none of us are changing the channel, ever.

It's such a great song.

And then we all remember the video, of course,

with the, at that time, really innovative special effects.

She wrote the waterfall poem

in the diversion center

that ended up being the rhyme in...in "Waterfalls."

The content of the lyrics themselves,

they just resonate with...with every age group,

race, nationality.

They're just...they're just profound.

The album spends two years

at the top of the Billboard charts,

eventually going quadruple platinum.

It was outstanding for the girls.

I mean, everybody was in love with these.

They were like America's sweetheart.

Despite their commercial success,

by July of 1995,

the group is in crisis,

having amassed over $3 million in debt.

- They were not told the ins and outs of what happens

when you sign a record deal

and how everything,

from the soda that you order in the studio

to the limo that you call to go home

comes out of your budget.

So, they filed bankruptcy.

- You would not imagine that so much success

would result in a bankruptcy.

- Trust me, you can sell 10 million albums,

and you will be broke if you have greedy people behind you.

- And I think that's the first time

the public really sees artists, like,

beefing with their record label.

Like, we're superstars

and we have nothing to show for it.

I think that was the moment,

for Left Eye, at least, where she realized

this music industry is really just a business.

And things change for Left Eye after that.

Her vision changed.

Her path changed.

When the time comes for the girls

to renegotiate their contract,

Lisa hopes this will bring the change they all need.

But nothing could be farther from the truth.

- I'll never forget it.

She had...the contract was FedExed to her

and it was, like, that thick.

And there was probably 70 to 100

signature pages for her to sign.

They wanted it to be turned around by, like, the next day.

And she was like, "This is ridiculous."

It was very high pressure situation, like,

why are you taking so long?

You don't trust us?

She was made out to be the person that was causing trouble

by not signing the contract right away.

In the end, she ended up just signing it

because the other two members of the group had signed it

and she didn't wanna cause any problems.

She was very unhappy about it.

- She went through the motions.

But, you know, she wanted to do her own thing.

And maybe that stemmed from feeling

a little bit betrayed.

Determined to come out on top,

Left Eye throws herself into her work, writing new music.

And in 1999, TLC releases their third album, "FanMail."

They're basically starting from point zero again.

And then four years later,

they show us why they were those superstars, who they are.

And we get "No Scrubs" from "FanMail."

- ♪ A scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly ♪

♪ And is also known as a buster ♪

- If TikTok was around, "No Scrubs" would've been viral

the next day.

- "No Scrubs," I think every woman can relate

dealing with men that we just don't wanna deal with.

And again, it kind of fed into the ironic girl power

of their whole vibe.

The album earns TLC

a place at the top of the Billboard charts

and two more Grammys.

But despite its success, the end of the tour,

the group decides to go their separate ways.

That's when, uh, they took a little time out.

Tionne was dealing with some health things

and Chilli was taking some time with her child.

- Lisa was definitely not incredibly interested in

continuing with the band.

She was left out of some songs

and some processes for "FanMail."

She wanted to be solo.

She wanted to try new things.

- You started to understand

that it wasn't that Left Eye was crazy.

Left Eye was different.

Left Eye saw the world differently,

she was built differently.

She processed music differently.

She created hip hop differently.

And when you're in a group

that is being structured and manufactured for you,

and...and you're wired differently,

what do you do?

Rebel.

Lisa goes out on her own

and forms her own company, Left Eye Productions,

to help other artists gain a seat at the table.

- She started working with artists like Blaque

and this other group, Egypt.

And...and she really was the reason why

Blaque got their record deal.

She also continues to make music herself.

- She took on this moniker NINA...

New Identity Not Applicable.

And it kind of was her way

of wiping the slate clean

and looking toward the future as an entirely different person.

She was working with the Spice Girls.

She worked with NSYNC.

She was in Donell Jones's "U Know What's Up."

And then she was on the remix to Lil Kim's "Not Tonight,"

called "Ladies Night."

Lisa also starts investing

more time in her well-being.

Lisa was looking for

a more spiritually sound life

and separation from the fast-paced world of Hollywood

and the music industry.

- She wanted to cleanse her body.

She wanted to do away with the alcohol and the beer.

She started going to Honduras.

And she started taking better care of herself.

There was no media. There were no fans.

There's no television. There's nothing.

It's just so peaceful.

In April 2002, Lisa makes one last trip to Honduras.

She brings her siblings with her,

as well as the girls from Egypt.

The whole purpose was threefold, actually.

It was to, one, to cleanse.

It was to learn to work together as a group.

And it was to learn some artist development techniques.

Just days before the group is due to come home,

on April 25, they head out for a photoshoot down by the water.

- Left Eye was operating an SUV along this very tiny road.

And she had this camera crew with her,

documenting it all.

This road was very dangerous.

So, Left Eye was forced off the road

while another car was coming at her.

And the SUV crashed.

One young lady,

her leg had been severely injured.

There were other injuries...

Mostly glass and cuts and contusions.

But Lisa was the only fatality.

She didn't have her seatbelt on.

- One-third of the Grammy-winning trio TLC

was killed last night in a car accident.

- This is so hard, because it's such a reality check,

because it's only two of us up here.

- I think we all wanted to see a happy ending for TLC.

The three girls coming together as grown women,

uh, creating new music.

Unfortunately that didn't happen

with the car crash and Lisa's death.

But Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' decade in the industry

makes an undeniable impact.

One that endures even now, more than 20 years later.

- What she gave us through her music as part of TLC

will forever live on.

You look at any female hip hop artist

and best believe they've been touched

in the way Left Eye would deliver her rhymes.

- ♪ Satisfy my appetite with something spectacular ♪

♪ Check your vernacular

♪ And then I'll get back to ya ♪

- ♪ I've been a five-star bitch, man, word to Gotti ♪

♪ I'mma do that ... Future dirty, word to Scotty ♪

Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion,

Cardi B, Flo Milli, Rico Nasty,

I mean, they run the gamut.

Left Eye was a mouthpiece

for so many different parts of society.

And she spoke not just as a woman,

but as a concerned human.

She only shared the knowledge that she had

in her not even 30 years.

So had she been alive for 50 years,

I could only imagine how much more knowledge

she would have had to share.

Her trajectory was one of struggle and redemption.

She made it okay to express yourself

for better or for worse.

But some artists don't even make it to 30.

Just one year after Lisa Lopes' untimely death,

a new siren blazes onto the music scene

with a fire that will ultimately end in destruction.

- ♪ You

- It was this white Jewish girl,

skinny as a rail,

and she had this huge, big voice.

She talked about blacking out.

She talked about, uh, leaving a lover.

I think we are all gobsmacked.

Amy Winehouse was a really a true force.

- It was insane because nobody was ready for Amy.

Amy Winehouse was a unicorn.

You know, she was one of those artists

who was all different genres in one tiny human.

She had this soulfulness about her,

but she still made music that became a pop standard.

She kind of growls and rowls.

And it's just very sexy.

It sounds kind of like a big cat stretching.

She's like a...like a jaguar or something like, mrrowwww!

Then you see her face

and she is not at all what you think.

But the minute you start really listening to her

and hearing her story, it all just sort of made sense.

It was a voice forged in heartache and pain.

But that's not the way it began.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

- I wanted to actually be a roller-skating waitress.

I really did.

Um, up until the age of, like, 16, I was like,

I'm gonna be a roller-skating waitress.

I really wanted to do that.

I just thought it would be really cool.

Um, and then the music thing kind of happened.

And I was like, cool, all right.

I'll do that then.

Born in 1983

and raised in the London suburb of Southgate,

Amy's interests lie in classic Americana.

Her father was a taxi driver in London.

And he used to play Frank Sinatra albums

when they were together at home, and she loved to listen to them.

And I think this was a huge influence on her.

On the surface, Amy seems to have a happy childhood,

with two working parents and an older brother at home.

- Actually, that's ironic that her mom was a pharmacist,

but we won't go there.

But at the age of 10,

Amy's world is upended

when her father leaves the family

to marry his longtime mistress.

- Her dad, he's someone who loved her very much,

but also did some things that, you know,

she didn't always like.

She felt, I think, a lot of betrayals in her life.

Amy rebels with a typical teen angst.

She smokes marijuana and cuts class.

She gets several tattoos.

But she also finds solace through music.

At the age of 14, she gets her first guitar.

That same year, Amy starts writing songs of her own.

- She actually started out as a teenager,

performing in nightclubs and in jazz clubs.

She went and booked those club dates on her own.

She wanted to get out there.

The clubs expose Amy

to a whole community of musicians.

It's through these connections that Amy gets her mixtape

into the hands of an executive at 19 Entertainment

and lands her first management contract at just 19 years old.

One year later, Island Records releases her debut album,

"Frank."

I remember that people that I knew

who were in the music business

started saying, oh my god, have you heard this album,

Amy Winehouse, "Frank"?

What, what, you have to hear it.

At the time that Amy came out

into the music industry, the US market was just returning

to this British invasion of sorts.

Artists like Lily Allen, Adele.

They were this fascination with across the pond.

And the thing that made Amy Winehouse

the perfect combination

was that she was a UK artist influenced by America.

You could definitely see her early influences.

Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington.

She was also a huge hip hop fan.

She loved Slick Rick.

She loved Nas.

She really showed that you could kind of mesh

an old school sensibility

with a modern swagger.

"Frank" goes platinum in the UK

and earns Amy an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.

Suddenly a star is born.

"Frank" really gave her a lot of recognition,

especially in the UK,

and, you know, she started making money

and she had the freedom to, um, kind of explore other things

she wanted to do with her music.

But the album also shows

that Amy's still haunted by childhood trauma.

I mean, she was, what? In her early 20's?

Where did she get the knowledge or the lived experiences

of someone who has really been downtrodden by love?

By far her most toxic addition was love.

She wasn't getting enough of it from the world.

And she certainly wasn't getting it from herself.

In 2005, Amy is drowning her loneliness

at a local pub

when she meets 23-year-old local production assistant

Blake Fielder-Civil.

The couple dives head first into a tumultuous romance.

They had a, quote unquote,

"codependent relationship."

There was a lot of drugs and alcohol involved.

And he admitted that that was when

she started doing hard drugs,

when she became involved with him.

He introduced her to heroin and cocaine.

- Her relationship with Blake was so toxic,

they were like the Sid and Nancy of the early aughts.

And they looked like the epitome of live fast, die young.

They fed off of each other.

There was a lot of drama in that relationship.

Amy channels it all into her music.

In 2006, these songs become the backbone

of her second studio album, "Back to Black."

"Back to Black" is one of

the most brilliant albums ever made.

There's the wonderful lyric,

"You go back to her, and I go back to black."

And it's about how he hurt her.

And he had another woman in his life

that he would go to and come back to,

and go back to, and come back to.

She was expressing something universal

that I think so many people can relate to, which is heartbreak.

- There's a timelessness to it.

There's a beauty to it.

But there's also a lot of pain.

But one song in particular

puts Amy on the map.

- ♪ They tried to make me go to rehab ♪

♪ But I said no, no, no

- "Rehab," I think, is a song that we all took note of.

"Rehab" is almost like a Mick Jagger in that song.

The whole sort of rebellious, defiant aspect of her.

The way that she took all of these things

and turned them into something that was uniquely her

and her style

was really something to...to behold.

While "Rehab" secures

Amy's place on the charts,

it's not until she goes on tour

that she solidifies her place in rock and roll history.

In March of 2007, she did a mini tour of the US,

hitting all the key states.

New York, Austin, Los Angeles.

Anyone who went to those shows was talking about Amy Winehouse.

- She had this air of mystery.

She kept that going,

where she was very observed.

You know, she barely liked to speak.

- At her core, she was really just an artist's artist,

and she just really wanted to sing.

She wanted to write. She wanted to vibe.

- ♪ You go back to her...

But as "Back to Black"

rakes in global success,

it only becomes harder for Amy to avoid the spotlight.

- She was really paying because

she literally blew up overnight.

The whole world wanted to touch her.

The whole world wanted to have a part of her.

So much public scrutiny, I think,

undermined her self-confidence,

her sense of self-esteem,

and her ability to feel confident on stage.

You see her, uh, performing on stage.

And she oftentimes had a drink in her hand.

And she was completely out of it.

She was probably trying to quell some of those nerves,

trying to feel comfortable on stage.

People were feeding on Amy Winehouse.

I mean, every move she made,

it was almost like she was a caged animal trying to escape,

but she couldn't escape.

In 2006, soul singer Amy Winehouse

is struggling with her meteoric rise.

- This was an artist who wanted to be so private,

and everyone just forced her to be public.

And I do believe that contributed

to her mental downfall.

All the tabloids in America were having this heyday.

She would just open her door to the house.

There would be just hundreds of them.

The flashes were just blinding.

You know, she wanted to get away.

To make matters worse,

Amy even battles moments of betrayal from her own family.

Her dad, like a lot of celebrity parents that we see,

he didn't really know how to handle

his daughter's spectacular fame,

which reached, like, the level of The Beatles, almost.

And he was kind of out there, talking about her.

We started to see images of her

that really did not look good.

She was emaciated.

And you could just see her life was a rollercoaster.

Another thing that plays into that

is having a relationship in which you don't feel, like,

100% secure and valued,

and then you wonder, should I be thinner.

It's so sad. She was gifted with talent

so beyond what most people could even dream of.

And yet there she is, you know, not allowing herself to eat.

But 2008 brings a new wave of hope

as Amy's album "Back to Black"

is nominated for an astounding sixth Grammy Award.

For any music artist, that is a pinnacle of success.

But I think that put a level of pressure on her as well.

And in another setback,

Amy can't celebrate her success.

- Unfortunately, because of her visa,

Amy Winehouse could not attend

the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

- She can't come to the US, um, due to drug charges.

So they did a live telecast.

She really wanted to be sober for the Grammys.

And she got sober.

She wound up doing this incredible performance.

And then she won five Grammys.

The night is a monumental moment

in Amy's career.

For many, it also marks the start

of a new, sober chapter for her.

In the months that follow,

her positive momentum only continues.

After the Grammys, you know,

she made some real attempts to get clean.

She went to St. Lucia.

Apparently she had kind of distanced herself from Blake.

- She was trying to relax, escape the paparazzi,

who were hounding her in London.

She was no longer doing drugs at that point.

So she had this sort of magical three months.

- So many people who were in her inner circles

were really trying to help her

because that voice really still needed to get out there.

Amy's family also offers their full support.

Still, her reprieve is short lived.

As much as she was now a Grammy Award-winning artist,

she was getting all of these accolades,

still, her demons were really creeping up

and getting the best of her.

We would hear stories that she was drinking again.

In 2011, after a brief tour in Brazil,

Amy checks herself back into rehab.

By the time she's released,

her management team is already planning a new tour.

- She just did not have the mental strength

or the support system to let her know,

you don't have to get on another stage again

if it means saving you.

On June 18, 2011,

Amy performs in front of a crowd of 20,000 people in Serbia.

But the show is far from a success.

- She was booed.

People were laughing.

And it...it came to a head.

It's just so very sad to see her in that state.

Somebody who had captivated the entire world

not able to really perform up to her level and her talent.

Over the next few weeks,

Amy seeks treatment from several doctors.

- Amy had reached a point with her health

where she really was one drink away from death.

And she wanted to change.

She wanted to survive.

But just hours after telling a physician

she didn't want to die,

on July 23, 2011,

Amy is found unresponsive in her London apartment

by her security guard.

The cause of death is determined to be alcohol poisoning.

In America, a blood alcohol limit of .08%

is considered legally drunk.

At the time of her death,

Amy's is more than five times that.

Her blood alcohol level was .416.

And for a woman of her size,

that's really hard to imagine.

I think that she was, you know, really a victim

in a true sense of the word.

She was a victim of the pressures of fame

that went along with this, you know,

particular kind of focus that the media had on

young, vulnerable women at the time.

We're seeing just how destructive it all was.

You think about other artists who have died

in these really tragic ways.

You know, plane crashes, car crashes.

Even overdoses.

But Amy Winehouse's death was a different kind of tragedy,

because she felt like she had no other purpose on this planet

but to live fast, die young.

But the true love for Amy

and the impact of her death

is seen just three days later

when the soulful siren is finally laid to rest.

- Everybody in the music business

turned out for that funeral, because everyone respected her,

everyone just loved her

and knew what she meant to the world of music.

- It's kind of natural to be vulnerable these days.

But back then, it's very hard to find a woman

who can be so candid and who can be so truthful

about their flaws and about their struggles,

particularly in pop music.

Amy didn't do what was trendy.

You can definitely see, um, the influence with Lady Gaga...

- ♪ I don't wanna be friends

...Lana Del Rey.

- ♪ I got to know

They've managed to find success

by still being unique

and, um, taking chances, trying things with their music

that might not be the typical pop star path.

In the end, the style and bravado

that made Amy Winehouse so electric,

so one of a kind,

is also what takes her too soon.

- I just wish that if she was still here,

that she would've found a stable relationship

and maybe, you know, some peace.

If Amy Winehouse was still with us,

I think the only time you would probably see her,

if you just happen to be somewhere

and she felt like grabbing the mic,

she would've said, this industry is not for me.

- Amy died at 27 years old.

Now she's part of the 27 Club,

which includes Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix.

Nobody really knows why these great music artists

die at the age of 27.

But it's a really fertile time for expression

and even experimentation.

So that's how we'll always remember them,

when they were at their creative peak,

young, uh, and with a lot of promise.

It's that captivating spirit

that launched the legacies of Amy,

Selena, Aaliyah, and Left Eye.

Today their first names are all it takes

to recognize their lasting influence

and impact on music, pop culture, and the world.

- These are artists that were their own trailblazers.

These women thought big.

They empowered women.

And they went for their dreams.

What they've done in their short lives

has really made an impact on all of us.

All the women we were talking about today

were all gone too soon.

I feel like there is so much more to do.

There was so much more music to create.

And it's really such a tragedy

to lose these staples in pop culture,

these staples in the music industry,

before they even reached the height of their full potential.

But their music is timeless.

It carries over generation to generation.

- ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh ♪