

Almost nothing is known about this man.” Despite multiple requests for comment, Hankerson declined to participate in this story. “I’m consistently amazed by the things Barry Hankerson has accomplished,” says veteran music journalist Jim DeRogatis, one of the few members of the press ever to talk regularly with Hankerson, mostly during his long tenure at the Chicago Sun-Times. But his achievements remain shrouded in mystery. Kelly, Ginuwine, Timbaland, and Missy Elliott. The 70-year-old Harlem native was an extraordinary figure in the music business, who helped launch not just Aaliyah’s career, but also those of R. To understand Aaliyah, and the fate of her iconic catalog, you have to understand her uncle, Barry Hankerson, who groomed the singer for stardom from a young age as her manager and the co-founder of her label home, Blackground Records. Year by year, streaming accounts for a greater portion of an artist’s visibility and reverence among the next generation of listeners. The situation puts her entire musical legacy at risk of fading from memory. Instead, there’s a single, stubborn man, sitting on a catalog that includes almost all of her most famous work, as well as albums from Timbaland and Toni Braxton, and a trove of unreleased original material that’s never before been heard. It’s not an artistic statement or a play for more money, and there’s no dedicated Aaliyah-only streaming service in the works. But Aaliyah’s internet absence is different-there’s no logic to it. Other times they’re the result of ideological stands against the devaluation of artistic output (Joanna Newsom), or cranky nitpicking about audio quality (Neil Young). In fact, Aaliyah’s most popular, most important works-the albums One in a Million and Aaliyah, and late-career singles like “Are You That Somebody?”-aren’t available for streaming or sale on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, or any other online music service.ĭigital voids like these can result from legal battles over uncleared samples (as with De La Soul), or from musicians holding out for better royalty terms (the Beatles, until recently). But you won’t find most of her music online. The three albums she released while alive influenced some of today’s most significant artists-Drake, Beyoncé, the Weeknd, and many more.
#Gladys knight son lawsuit settle full
It has been 15 years since Aaliyah died in a plane crash, ending a life and career that were only beginning to realize their full potential. Only her uncle, mysterious music industry exec Barry Hankerson, knows why. The digital discography of the late R&B legend is unavailable and incomplete.
