title: Al Capone

text: Capone was born in New York City in 1899 to Italian immigrants. He joined the Five Points Gang as a teenager and became a bouncer in organized crime premises such as brothels. In his early twenties, he moved to Chicago and became a bodyguard and trusted factotum for Johnny Torrio, head of a criminal syndicate that illegally supplied alcohol—the forerunner of the Outfit—and was politically protected through the Unione Siciliana. A conflict with the North Side Gang was instrumental in Capone's rise and fall. Torrio went into retirement after North Side gunmen almost killed him, handing control to Capone. Capone expanded the bootlegging business through increasingly violent means, but his mutually profitable relationships with mayor William Hale Thompson and the city's police meant he seemed safe from law enforcement.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone apparently reveled in attention, such as the cheers from spectators when he appeared at ball games. He made donations to various charities and was viewed by many as a "modern-day Robin Hood". However, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, in which seven gang rivals were murdered in broad daylight, damaged the public image of Chicago and Capone, leading influential citizens to demand government action and newspapers to dub Capone "Public Enemy No.1".


title: Al Capone

text: The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone and charged him with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was convicted of five counts in 1931. During a highly publicized case, the judge admitted as evidence Capone's admissions of his income and unpaid taxes, made during prior (and ultimately abortive) negotiations to pay the government taxes he owed. He was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. After conviction, he replaced his defense team with experts in tax law, and his grounds for appeal were strengthened by a Supreme Court ruling, but his appeal ultimately failed. Capone showed signs of neurosyphilis early in his sentence and became increasingly debilitated before being released after almost eight years of incarceration. On January 25, 1947, he died of cardiac arrest after a stroke.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York on January 17, 1899. His parents were Italian immigrants Gabriele Capone (1865–1920) and Teresa Capone (née Raiola; 1867–1952). His father was a barber and his mother was a seamstress, both born in Angri, a small commune outside of Naples in the Province of Salerno. Capone's family had immigrated to the United States in 1893 by ship, first going through Fiume (modern-day Rijeka, Croatia), a port city in what was then Austria-Hungary. The family settled at 95 Navy Street, in the Navy Yard section of Brooklyn, New York City. Gabriele Capone worked at a nearby barber shop at 29 Park Avenue. When Al was 11, he and his family moved to 38 Garfield Place in Park Slope, Brooklyn.


title: Al Capone

text: Gabriele and Teresa had eight other children: Vincenzo Capone, who later changed his name to Richard Hart and became a Prohibition agent in Homer, Nebraska; Raffaele James Capone, also known as Ralph "Bottles" Capone, who took charge of his brother's beverage industry; Salvatore "Frank" Capone, Ermina Capone, who died at the age of one, Ermino "John" Capone, Albert Capone, Matthew Capone, and Mafalda Capone. Ralph and Frank worked with Al Capone in his criminal empire. Frank did so until his death on April 1, 1924. Ralph ran the bottling companies (both legal and illegal) early on and was also the front man for the Chicago Outfit for some time, until he was imprisoned for tax evasion in 1932.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone showed promise as a student but had trouble with the rules at his strict parochial Catholic school. His schooling ended at the age of 14 after he was expelled for hitting a female teacher in the face. He worked at odd jobs around Brooklyn, including a candy store and a bowling alley. From 1916 to 1918, he played semi-professional baseball. Following this, Capone was influenced by gangster Johnny Torrio, whom he came to regard as a mentor.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone married Mae Josephine Coughlin at age 19, on December 30, 1918. She was Irish Catholic and earlier that month had given birth to their son Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone (1918–2004). Albert lost most of his hearing in his left ear as a child. Capone was under the age of 21, and his parents had to consent in writing to the marriage. By all accounts, the two had a happy marriage despite his criminal lifestyle.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone initially became involved with small-time gangs that included the Junior Forty Thieves and the Bowery Boys. He then joined the Brooklyn Rippers, and then the powerful Five Points Gang based in Lower Manhattan. During this time, he was employed and mentored by fellow racketeer Frankie Yale, a bartender in a Coney Island dance hall and saloon called the Harvard Inn. Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door, and he was slashed with a knife three times on the left side of his face by her brother Frank Galluccio; the wounds led to the nickname "Scarface", which Capone loathed. The date when this occurred has been reported with inconsistencies. When Capone was photographed, he hid the scarred left side of his face, saying that the injuries were war wounds. He was called "Snorky" by his closest friends, a term for a sharp dresser.


title: Al Capone

text: In 1919, Capone left New York City for Chicago at the invitation of Johnny Torrio, who was imported by crime boss James "Big Jim" Colosimo as an enforcer. Capone began in Chicago as a bouncer in a brothel, where is thought the most likely way for him to have contracted syphilis. Capone was aware of being infected at an early stage and timely use of Salvarsan probably could have cured the infection, but he apparently never sought treatment. In 1923, he purchased a small house at 7244 South Prairie Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood in the city's south side for . According to the "Chicago Daily Tribune", hijacker Joe Howard was killed on May 7, 1923 after he tried to interfere with the Capone-Torrio bootleg beer business. In the early years of the decade, his name began appearing in newspaper sports pages where he was described as a boxing promoter. Torrio took over Colosimo's crime empire after the latter's murder on May 11, 1920, in which Capone was suspected of being involved.


title: Al Capone

text: Torrio headed an essentially Italian organized crime group that was the biggest in the city, with Capone as his right-hand man. He was wary of being drawn into gang wars and tried to negotiate agreements over territory between rival crime groups. The smaller North Side Gang led by Dean O'Banion came under pressure from the Genna brothers who were allied with Torrio. O'Banion found that Torrio was unhelpful with the encroachment of the Gennas into the North Side, despite his pretensions to be a settler of disputes. In a fateful step, Torrio arranged the murder of O'Banion at his flower shop on November 10, 1924. This placed Hymie Weiss at the head of the gang, backed by Vincent Drucci and Bugs Moran. Weiss had been a close friend of O'Banion, and the North Siders made it a priority to get revenge on his killers.


title: Al Capone

text: Al Capone was a frequent visitor to RyeMabee in Monteagle, Tennessee, "when he was traveling between Chicago and his Florida estate in Miami."


title: Al Capone

text: During Prohibition in the United States, Capone was involved with bootleggers in Canada, who helped him smuggle liquor into the US. When Capone was asked if he knew Rocco Perri, billed as Canada's "King of the Bootleggers", he replied: ""Why, I don't even know which street Canada is on."" Other sources, however, claim that Capone had certainly visited Canada, where he maintained some hideaways, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police states that there is no "evidence that he ever set foot on Canadian soil."


title: Al Capone

text: In January 1925, Capone was ambushed, leaving him shaken but unhurt. Twelve days later, Torrio was returning from a shopping trip when he was shot several times. After recovering, he effectively resigned and handed control to Capone, age 26, who became the new boss of an organization that took in illegal breweries and a transportation network that reached to Canada, with political and law-enforcement protection. In turn, he was able to use more violence to increase revenue. An establishment that refused to purchase liquor from him often got blown up, and as many as 100 people were killed in such bombings during the 1920s. Rivals saw Capone as responsible for the proliferation of brothels in the city.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone often enlisted the help of local members of the black community into his operations; jazz musicians Milt Hinton and Lionel Hampton had uncles who worked for Capone on the South Side of Chicago. A fan of jazz as well, Capone once asked clarinetist Johnny Dodds to play a number that Dodds did not know; Capone split a $100 bill in half and told Dodds that he would get the other half when he learned it. Capone also sent two bodyguards to accompany jazz pianist Earl Hines on a road trip.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone indulged in custom suits, cigars, gourmet food and drink, and female companionship. He was particularly known for his flamboyant and costly jewelry. His favorite responses to questions about his activities were: "I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want"; and, "All I do is satisfy a public demand." Capone had become a national celebrity and talking point.


title: Al Capone

text: He based himself in Cicero, Illinois, after using bribery and widespread intimidation to take over town council elections (such as the 1924 Cicero municipal elections), and this made it difficult for the North Siders to target him. His driver was found tortured and murdered, and there was an attempt on Weiss's life in the Chicago Loop. On September 20, 1926, the North Side Gang used a ploy outside the Capone headquarters at the Hawthorne Inn, aimed at drawing him to the windows. Gunmen in several cars then opened fire with Thompson submachine guns and shotguns at the windows of the first-floor restaurant. Capone was unhurt and called for a truce, but the negotiations fell through. Three weeks later, on October 11, Weiss was killed outside the former O'Banion flower shop North Side headquarters. The owner of Hawthorne's restaurant was a friend of Capone's, and he was kidnapped and killed by Moran and Drucci in January 1927. Reports of Capone's intimidation became well known to the point where it was alleged that some companies, such as the makers of Vine-Glo, would use supposed Capone threats as a marketing tactic.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone became increasingly security-minded and desirous of getting away from Chicago. As a precaution, he and his entourage would often show up suddenly at one of Chicago's train depots and buy up an entire Pullman sleeper car on a night train to Cleveland, Omaha, Kansas City, Little Rock, or Hot Springs, where they would spend a week in luxury hotel suites under assumed names. In 1928, Capone paid $40,000 to Clarence Busch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing family for a home at 93 Palm Avenue on Palm Island, Florida, in Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach.


title: Al Capone

text: In November 1925, Antonio Lombardo was named head of the Unione Siciliana, a Sicilian-American benevolent society that had been corrupted by gangsters. An infuriated Joe Aiello, who had wanted the position himself, believed Capone was responsible for Lombardo's ascension and he resented the non-Sicilian's attempts to manipulate affairs within the Unione. Aiello severed all personal and business ties with Lombardo and entered into a feud with him and Capone. Aiello allied himself with several other Capone enemies, including Jack Zuta, who ran vice and gambling houses together. Aiello plotted to eliminate both Lombardo and Capone, and starting in the spring of 1927, made several attempts to assassinate Capone. On one occasion, Aiello offered money to the chef of Joseph "Diamond Joe" Esposito's Bella Napoli Café, Capone's favorite restaurant, to put prussic acid in Capone's and Lombardo's soup; reports indicated he offered between $10,000 and $35,000. Instead, the chef exposed the plot to Capone, who responded by dispatching men to destroy one of Aiello's stores on West Division Street with machine-gun fire. More than 200 bullets were fired into the Aiello Brothers Bakery on May 28, 1927, wounding Joe's brother Antonio. During the summer and autumn of 1927 a number of hitmen Aiello hired to kill Capone were themselves slain. Among them were Anthony Russo and Vincent Spicuzza, each of whom had been offered $25,000 by Aiello to kill Capone and Lombardo. Aiello eventually offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who eliminated Capone. At least 10 gunmen tried to collect on Aiello's bounty, but ended up dead. Capone's ally Ralph Sheldon attempted to kill both Capone and Lombardo for Aiello's reward, but Capone henchman Frank Nitti's intelligence network learned of the transaction and had Sheldon shot in front of a West Side hotel, although he did not die.


title: Al Capone

text: In November 1927, Aiello organized machine-gun ambushes across from Lombardo's home and a cigar store frequented by Capone, but those plans were foiled after an anonymous tip led police to raid several addresses and arrest Milwaukee gunman Angelo La Mantio and four other Aiello gunmen. After the police discovered receipts for the apartments in La Mantio's pockets, he confessed that Aiello had hired him to kill Capone and Lombardo, leading the police to arrest Aiello himself and bring him to the South Clark Street police station. Upon learning of the arrest, Capone dispatched nearly two dozen gunmen to stand guard outside the station and await Aiello's release. The men made no attempt to conceal their purpose there, and reporters and photographers rushed to the scene to observe Aiello's expected murder.


title: Al Capone

text: The protagonists of Chicago's politics had long been associated with questionable methods, and even newspaper circulation "wars", but the need for bootleggers to have protection in city hall introduced a far more serious level of violence and graft. Capone is generally seen as having an appreciable effect in bringing about the victories of Republican William Hale Thompson, especially in the 1927 mayoral race when Thompson campaigned for a wide-open town, at one time hinting that he'd reopen illegal saloons. Such a proclamation helped his campaign gain the support of Capone, and he allegedly accepted a contribution of $250,000 from the gangster. In the 1927 mayoral race, Thompson beat William Emmett Dever by a relatively slim margin. Thompson's powerful Cook County political machine had drawn on the often-parochial Italian community, but this was in tension with his highly successful courting of African Americans.


title: Al Capone

text: Another politician, Joe Esposito, became a political rival of Capone, and on March 21, 1928, Esposito was killed in a drive-by shooting in front of his house. Capone continued to back Thompson. Voting booths were targeted by Capone's bomber James Belcastro in the wards where Thompson's opponents were thought to have support, on the polling day of April 10, 1928, in the so-called Pineapple Primary, causing the deaths of at least 15 people. Belcastro was accused of the murder of lawyer Octavius Granady, an African American who challenged Thompson's candidate for the African American vote, and was chased through the streets on polling day by cars of gunmen before being shot dead. Four policemen were among those charged along with Belcastro, but all charges were dropped after key witnesses recanted their statements. An indication of the attitude of local law enforcement toward Capone's organization came in 1931 when Belcastro was wounded in a shooting; police suggested to skeptical journalists that Belcastro was an independent operator.


title: Al Capone

text: A 1929 report by "The New York Times" connected Capone to the 1926 murder of Assistant State Attorney William H. McSwiggin, the 1928 murders of chief investigator Ben Newmark and former mentor Frankie Yale.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone was widely assumed to have been responsible for ordering the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, despite being at his Florida home at the time of the massacre. The massacre was an attempt to eliminate Bugs Moran, head of the North Side Gang, and the motivation for the plan may have been the fact that some expensive whisky illegally imported from Canada via the Detroit River had been hijacked while it was being transported to Cook County, Illinois.


title: Al Capone

text: Moran was the last survivor of the North Side gunmen; his succession had come about because his similarly aggressive predecessors, Weiss and Vincent Drucci, had been killed in the violence that followed the murder of original leader Dean O'Banion.


title: Al Capone

text: To monitor their targets' habits and movements, Capone's men rented an apartment across from the trucking warehouse and garage at 2122 North Clark Street, which served as Moran's headquarters. On the morning of Thursday, February 14, 1929, Capone's lookouts signaled four gunmen disguised as police officers to initiate a "police raid". The "faux" police lined the seven victims along a wall and signaled for accomplices armed with machine guns and shotguns. Moran was not among the victims. Photos of the slain victims shocked the public and damaged Capone's image. Within days, Capone received a summons to testify before a Chicago grand jury on charges of federal Prohibition violations, but he claimed to be too unwell to attend. In an effort to clean up his image, Capone donated to charities and sponsored a soup kitchen in Chicago during the Depression.


title: Al Capone

text: The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre led to public disquiet about Thompson's alliance with Capone and was a factor in Anton J. Cermak winning the mayoral election on April 6, 1931.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone was primarily known for ordering other men to do his dirty work for him. In May 1929, one of Capone's bodyguards, Frank Rio, uncovered a plot by three of his men, Albert Anselmi, John Scalise and Joseph Giunta, who had been persuaded by Aiello to depose Capone and take over the Chicago Outfit. Capone later beat the men with a baseball bat and then ordered his bodyguards to shoot them, a scene that was included in the 1987 film "The Untouchables". Deirdre Bair, along with writers and historians such as William Elliot Hazelgrove, have questioned the veracity of the claim. Bair questioned why "three trained killers could sit quietly and let this happen", while Hazelgrove stated that Capone would have been "hard pressed to beat three men to death with a baseball bat" and that he would have instead let an enforcer perform the murders. However, despite claims that the story was first reported by author Walter Noble Burns in his 1931 book "The One-way Ride: The red trail of Chicago gangland from prohibition to Jake Lingle", Capone biographers Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz have found versions of the story in press coverage shortly after the crime. Collins and Schwartz suggest that similarities among reported versions of the story indicate a basis in truth and that the Outfit deliberately spread the tale to enhance Capone's fearsome reputation. George Meyer, an associate of Capone's, also claimed to have witnessed both the planning of the murders and the event itself.


title: Al Capone

text: In 1930, upon learning of Aiello's continued plotting against him, Capone resolved to finally eliminate him. In the weeks before Aiello's death Capone's men tracked him to Rochester, New York, where he had connections through Buffalo crime family boss Stefano Magaddino, and plotted to kill him there, but Aiello returned to Chicago before the plot could be executed. Aiello, angst-ridden from the constant need to hide out and the killings of several of his men, set up residence in the Chicago apartment of Unione Siciliana treasurer Pasquale "Patsy Presto" Prestogiacomo at 205 N. Kolmar Ave. On October 23, upon exiting Prestogiacomo's building to enter a taxicab, a gunman in a second-floor window across the street started firing at Aiello with a submachine gun. Aiello was said to have been shot at least 13 times before he toppled off the building steps and moved around the corner, attempting to move out of the line of fire. Instead, he moved directly into the range of a second submachine gun positioned on the third floor of another apartment block, and was subsequently gunned down.


title: Al Capone

text: In the wake of the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, Walter A. Strong, publisher of the "Chicago Daily News", decided to ask his friend President Herbert Hoover for federal intervention to stem Chicago's lawlessness. He arranged a secret meeting at the White House, just two weeks after Hoover's inauguration. On March 19, 1929, Strong, joined by Frank Loesch of the Chicago Crime Commission, and Laird Bell, made their case to the President. In Hoover's 1952 "Memoir," the former President reported that Strong argued "Chicago was in the hands of the gangsters, that the police and magistrates were completely under their control, …that the Federal government was the only force by which the city's ability to govern itself could be restored. At once I directed that all the Federal agencies concentrate upon Mr. Capone and his allies."


title: Al Capone

text: That meeting launched a multi-agency attack on Capone. Treasury and Justice Departments developed plans for income tax prosecutions against Chicago gangsters, and a small, elite squad of Prohibition Bureau agents (whose members included Eliot Ness) were deployed against bootleggers. In a city used to corruption, these lawmen were incorruptible. Charles Schwarz, a writer for the "Chicago Daily News", dubbed them Untouchables. To support Federal efforts, Strong secretly used his newspaper's resources to gather and share intelligence on the Capone outfit.


title: Al Capone

text: On March 27, 1929, Capone was arrested by FBI agents as he left a Chicago courtroom after testifying to a grand jury that was investigating violations of federal prohibition laws. He was charged with contempt of court for feigning illness to avoid an earlier appearance. On May 16, 1929, Capone was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for carrying a concealed weapon. On May 17, 1929, Capone was indicted by a grand jury and a trial was held before Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge John E Walsh. Following the entering of a guilty plea by his attorney, Capone was sentenced to a prison term of one year. On August 8, 1929, Capone was transferred to Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. A week after his release in March 1930, Capone was listed as the number one "Public Enemy" on the unofficial Chicago Crime Commission's widely publicized list.


title: Al Capone

text: In April 1930, Capone was arrested on vagrancy charges when visiting Miami Beach; the governor had ordered sheriffs to run him out of the state. Capone claimed that Miami police had refused him food and water and threatened to arrest his family. He was charged with perjury for making these statements, but was acquitted after a three-day trial in July. In September, a Chicago judge issued a warrant for Capone's arrest on charges of vagrancy and then used the publicity to run against Thompson in the Republican primary. In February 1931, Capone was tried on the contempt of court charge. In court, Judge James Herbert Wilkerson intervened to reinforce questioning of Capone's doctor by the prosecutor. Wilkerson sentenced Capone to six months, but he remained free while on appeal of the contempt conviction.


title: Al Capone

text: In February 1930, Capone's organization was linked to the murder of Julius Rosenheim, who served as a police informant in the Chicago Outfit for 20 years.


title: Al Capone

text: Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt is said to have originated the tactic of charging obviously wealthy crime figures with federal tax evasion on the basis of their luxurious lifestyles. In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled in "United States v. Sullivan" that the approach was legally sound: illegally earned income was subject to income tax.


title: Al Capone

text: The key to Capone's conviction on tax charges was not his spending, but proving his income, and the most valuable evidence in that regard originated in his offer to pay tax. Ralph, his brother and a gangster in his own right, was tried for tax evasion in 1930. Ralph spent the next 18 months in prison after being convicted in a two-week trial over which Wilkerson presided. Seeking to avoid the same fate, Al Capone ordered his lawyer to regularize his tax position, and although it was not done, his lawyer made crucial admissions when stating the income that Capone was willing to pay tax on for various years, admitting income of $100,000 for 1928 and 1929, for instance. Hence, without any investigation, the government had been given a letter from a lawyer acting for Capone conceding his large taxable income for certain years he had paid no tax on. On March 13, 1931, Capone was charged with income tax evasion for 1924, in a secret grand jury. On June 5, 1931, Capone was indicted by a federal grand jury on 22 counts of income tax evasion from 1925 through 1929; he was released on $50,000 bail. Capone was then indicted on 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act (Prohibition laws).


title: Al Capone

text: On June 16, 1931, at the Chicago Federal Building in the courtroom of Wilkerson, Capone pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and the 5,000 Volstead Act violations as part of a -year prison sentence plea bargain. However, on July 30, 1931, Wilkerson refused to honor the plea bargain, and Capone's counsel rescinded the guilty pleas. On the second day of the trial, Wilkerson deemed that the 1930 letter to federal authorities could be admitted into evidence, overruling objections that a lawyer could not confess for his client. Wilkerson later tried Capone only on the income tax evasion charges as he determined they took precedence over the Volstead Act charges.


title: Al Capone

text: Much was later made of other evidence, such as witnesses and ledgers, but these strongly implied Capone's control rather than stating it. Capone's lawyers, who had relied on the plea bargain Wilkerson refused to honor and therefore had mere hours to prepare for the trial, ran a weak defense focused on claiming that essentially all his income was lost to gambling. This would have been irrelevant regardless, since gambling losses can only be subtracted from gambling winnings, but it was further undercut by Capone's expenses, which were well beyond what his claimed income could support; Wilkerson allowed Capone's spending to be presented at very great length. The government charged Capone with evasion of $215,000 in taxes on a total income of $1,038,654, during the five-year period. Capone was convicted on five counts of income tax evasion on October 17, 1931, and was sentenced a week later to 11 years in federal prison, fined $50,000 plus $7,692 for court costs, and was held liable for $215,000 plus interest due on his back taxes. The contempt of court sentence was served concurrently. New lawyers hired to represent Capone were Washington-based tax experts. They filed a writ of "habeas corpus" based on a Supreme Court ruling that tax evasion was not fraud, which apparently meant that Capone had been convicted on charges relating to years that were actually outside the time limit for prosecution. However, a judge interpreted the law so that the time that Capone had spent in Miami was subtracted from the age of the offences, thereby denying the appeal of both Capone's conviction and sentence.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone was sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary in May 1932, aged 33. Upon his arrival at Atlanta, Capone was officially diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhoea. He was also experiencing withdrawal symptoms from cocaine addiction, the use of which had perforated his nasal septum. Capone was competent at his prison job of stitching soles on shoes for eight hours a day, but his letters were barely coherent. He was seen as a weak personality, and so out of his depth dealing with bullying fellow inmates that his cellmate, seasoned convict Red Rudensky, feared that Capone would have a breakdown. Rudensky was formerly a small-time criminal associated with the Capone gang and found himself becoming a protector for Capone. The conspicuous protection of Rudensky and other prisoners drew accusations from less friendly inmates and fueled suspicion that Capone was receiving special treatment. No solid evidence ever emerged, but it formed part of the rationale for moving Capone to the recently opened Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, in August 1934. On June 23, 1936, Capone was stabbed and superficially wounded by fellow-Alcatraz inmate James C. Lucas.


title: Al Capone

text: Due to his good behavior, Capone was permitted to play banjo in the Alcatraz prison band, the Rock Islanders, which gave regular Sunday concerts for other inmates. Capone also transcribed the song "Madonna Mia" creating his own arrangement as a tribute to his wife Mae.


title: Al Capone

text: At Alcatraz, Capone's decline became increasingly evident, as neurosyphilis progressively eroded his mental faculties; his formal diagnosis of syphilis of the brain was made in February 1938. He spent the last year of his Alcatraz sentence in the hospital section, confused and disoriented. Capone completed his term in Alcatraz on January 6, 1939, and was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in California to serve out his sentence for contempt of court. He was paroled on November 16, 1939, after his wife Mae appealed to the court, based on his reduced mental capabilities.


title: Al Capone

text: The main effect of Capone's conviction was that he ceased to be boss immediately on his imprisonment, but those involved in the jailing of Capone portrayed it as considerably undermining the city's organized crime syndicate. Capone's underboss, Frank Nitti, took over as boss of the Outfit after he was released from prison in March 1932, having also been convicted of tax evasion charges. Far from being smashed, the Outfit continued without being troubled by the Chicago police, but at a lower level and without the open violence that had marked Capone's rule. Organized crime in the city had a lower profile once Prohibition was repealed, already wary of attention after seeing Capone's notoriety bring him down, to the extent that there is a lack of consensus among writers about who was actually in control and who was a figurehead "front boss". Prostitution, labor union racketeering, and gambling became moneymakers for organized crime in the city without incurring serious investigation. In the late 1950s, FBI agents discovered an organization led by Capone's former lieutenants reigning supreme over the Chicago underworld.


title: Al Capone

text: Some historians have speculated that Capone ordered the 1939 murder of Edward J. O'Hare a week before his release, for helping federal prosecutors convict Capone of tax evasion, though there are other theories for O'Hare's death.


title: Al Capone

text: Due to his failing health, Capone was released from prison on November 16, 1939, and referred to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for the treatment of syphilitic paresis. Because of his unsavory reputation, Johns Hopkins refused to treat him, but Union Memorial Hospital was willing to take him as a patient. Capone was grateful for the compassionate care that he received and donated two Japanese weeping cherry trees to Union Memorial Hospital in 1939. After a few weeks of inpatient and outpatient care, on March 20, 1940, a very sickly Capone left Baltimore and travelled to his mansion in Palm Island, Florida. In 1942, after mass production of penicillin was started in the United States, Capone was one of the first American patients treated by the new drug. Though it was too late for him to reverse the damage to his brain, it did slow down the progression of the disease.


title: Al Capone

text: In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist examined him and concluded that Capone had the mentality of a 12-year-old child. He spent the last years of his life at his mansion in Palm Island, Florida, spending time with his wife and grandchildren. On January 21, 1947, Capone had a stroke. He regained consciousness and started to improve, but contracted bronchopneumonia. He suffered a cardiac arrest on January 22, and on January 25, surrounded by his family in his home, Capone died after his heart failed as a result of apoplexy. His body was transported back to Chicago a week later and a private funeral was held. He was originally buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago. In 1950, Capone's remains, along with those of his father, Gabriele, and brother, Frank, were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.


title: Al Capone

text: Capone is one of the most notorious American gangsters of the 20th century and has been the major subject of numerous articles, books, and films. Particularly, from 1925 to 1929, shortly after he relocated to Chicago, he enjoyed status as the most notorious mobster in the country. He cultivated a certain image of himself in the media that made him a subject of fascination. His personality and character have been used in fiction as a model for crime lords and criminal masterminds ever since his death. The stereotypical image of a mobster wearing a pinstriped suit and tilted fedora are based on photos of Capone. His accent, mannerisms, facial construction, physical stature, and parodies of his name have been used for numerous gangsters in comics, movies, music, and literature.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Lucifer is an American urban fantasy television series developed by Tom Kapinos that premiered on January 25, 2016, and concluded on September 10, 2021. It is based on the DC Comics character created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg. The character was introduced in the comic book series "The Sandman" and later became the protagonist of a spin-off comic book series. Both series were published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The television series was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The series revolves around the story of Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), the DC Universe's version of the Devil, who abandons Hell for Los Angeles where he runs his own nightclub named Lux and becomes a consultant to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The ensemble and supporting cast include Lauren German as Detective Chloe Decker, Kevin Alejandro as Detective Daniel "Dan" Espinoza, D. B. Woodside as Amenadiel, Lesley-Ann Brandt as Mazikeen, Rachael Harris as Dr. Linda Martin, and (beginning in season 2) Aimee Garcia as Ella Lopez. Filming took place primarily in Vancouver before production was relocated entirely to Los Angeles beginning with the third season.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The first season received mixed reviews from critics, though subsequent ones were better rated; many critics particularly praised Ellis's performance. Despite initially high viewership for its debut, ratings remained consistently low throughout the series' run on Fox. In May 2018, Fox cancelled "Lucifer" after three seasons; a month later, Netflix picked up the show, where the series continued for a further three seasons, consistently earning high viewership for its tenure on the streaming platform.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The series focuses on Lucifer Morningstar, a handsome and powerful angel who was cast out of Heaven for his rebellion. As the Devil, Lucifer tires of the millennia he spent being the Lord of Hell, punishing people. Becoming increasingly bored and unhappy with his life in Hell, he abdicates his throne in defiance of his father (God) and abandons his kingdom for Los Angeles, where he runs his own nightclub called Lux.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: When he finds himself involved in a murder investigation, he meets the intriguing Detective Chloe Decker. After helping the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) solve the case by using his power to manipulate humans into revealing their deepest desires, Lucifer accepts a subsequent invitation to work with Chloe as a consultant to the department, and throughout the series, they encounter all sorts of supernatural beings while solving crimes together and developing their relationship.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: In April 2016, Fox renewed the series for a 13-episode second season, which premiered on September 19, 2016. On October 31, 2016, the series received a 9-episode extension for a full 22-episode second-season pickup by Fox. On February 13, 2017, Fox renewed the series for a third season initially consisting of 22 episodes, which premiered on October 2, 2017. However, in March 2017, it was revealed that the final four episodes of the second season would be removed and placed in the third season to air, resulting in the second season consisting of 18 episodes and the third season of 26. On January 22, 2018, writer Chris Rafferty indicated that the third season would instead contain 24 episodes, and the extra 2 episodes would be held for the fourth season.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: On May 11, 2018, Fox canceled the series after three seasons, stating it was a "ratings-based decision". The 2 episodes being held for the fourth season would now be seen back-to-back as "bonus episodes" at the end of the third season; they were broadcast on May 28, 2018, as a single two-hour bonus episode.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: On June 15, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had picked the series up for a fourth season of ten episodes, which was released on May 8, 2019. On June 6, 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a fifth (and originally final) season of sixteen episodes, in two batches consisting of 8 episodes each. The first 8 episodes were released on August 21, 2020, and the second 8 episodes were released on May 28, 2021. On June 23, 2020, Netflix officially renewed the series for a sixth and final season of 10 episodes, which was released on September 10, 2021.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: In September 2014, it was reported that DC and Fox were developing a television series based on the "Sandman" character Lucifer, as originally written by Neil Gaiman. The series is a "loose adaptation" of the original comic book. In May 2015, the series was officially picked up for 13 episodes for the 2015–16 season. Fox then hired "Almost Human" alum Joe Henderson as showrunner, with Kapinos remaining on the series in a lesser capacity.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: In an interview, actress Lesley-Ann Brandt stated that production for the fifth season was "99% finished," with production all completed except for half of the final episode before suspending production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed on September 24, 2020, to finish the final episode of the fifth season and begin production of the sixth season.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: In February 2015, it was announced that Tom Ellis had been cast as Lucifer Morningstar, and that Tom Kapinos would write the pilot, to be directed by Len Wiseman. Approximately one month after, Lauren German was cast as LAPD-detective Chloe Decker. Lina Esco was originally cast as Maze (Mazikeen), however, the role was later recast with Lesley-Ann Brandt. Kevin Alejandro portrayed Dan. In June 2016, it was announced that Tricia Helfer had been cast as Lucifer and Amenadiel's mother, Charlotte, and that she was to appear in multiple episodes in the second season. The character was promoted to series regular in July 2016. Aimee Garcia had also been cast as a regular in the second season, playing L.A.P.D.'s forensic scientist Ella Lopez. In August 2016, executive producer Ildy Modrovich announced the casting of Michael Imperioli as the angel Uriel, Amenadiel and Lucifer's younger brother with "a chip on his shoulder". For the fourth season, Graham McTavish and Inbar Lavi were cast as Father Kinley and Eve respectively. For season 5, Netflix announced the casting of Matthew Bohrer as Donovan Glover, a character who appeared in only one episode.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: In February 2020, Netflix and Warner Bros. were reported to have begun talks to renew the show for a sixth season. In March 2020, Tom Ellis and other stars of the series were reported to have signed up for a sixth season. However, a contract dispute led Ellis to not be officially signed on until late May.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Although the pilot was shot on location in Los Angeles, the rest of the first season and the entirety of the second were filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, with some exterior filming in Los Angeles. Production relocated to California beginning with the third season, taking advantage of tax incentives provided by the California Film Commission under its "Program 2.0" initiative and spending $92.1 million on production. Season four was also shot on location in Los Angeles, as well as at Warner Bros.' Burbank studio lot, spending $35.8 million on production.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The opening theme is a six-second clip from "Being Evil Has a Price", performed by the band Heavy Young Heathens. In a lawsuit filed against Warner Bros., the song's composers, Robert and Aron Marderosian, claim the song has been used without giving them proper credit or a licensing agreement.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Several episodes include musical performances by Tom Ellis, although he has stated in interviews that while it is his vocals, the piano accompaniment seen on screen is not actually his. Neil Gaiman is a fan of David Bowie, and some of Bowie's music has been used on the series (The illustration of Lucifer in the comics is also based on David Bowie).


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Simultaneously with the release of the first half of Season 5, an official soundtrack was released by WaterTower Music, containing cast recordings from all five released seasons.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: In its first three seasons, "Lucifer" aired in the United States on Fox, in 720p, high definition, and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The first and second seasons aired on Monday at 9 pm ET, before moving to the 8 pm time slot on Monday for the third season. Hulu owned the exclusive streaming rights in the United States, with each season released after its broadcast on Fox but moved over to Netflix in December 2018.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: CTV holds the broadcast rights for Canada. In the United Kingdom it aired on the television channel FOX until the channel was cut prior to Season 4. Subsequently Amazon Video holds first-run broadcasting rights, with each episode airing less than 24 hours after the US broadcast. The series aired on FX in Australia before moving to FOX8 during its third season when FX closed and on TVNZ1 in New Zealand.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Following the release of its second half of the fifth season on Netflix, Lucifer was near the top of Nielsen's streaming ratings, garnering 1.8 billion viewing minutes from May 31 to June 6, 2021.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The pilot episode was screened in July at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. The pilot was met positively by the viewers, with "Bleeding Cool"s Dan Wickline praising the episode, saying "the show itself is enjoyable because of the great dialogue and flawless delivery from its lead" and "This version of Lucifer refuses to take almost anything seriously and the show is better for it."


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Max Nicholson of "IGN" rated the pilot episode a 6.9/10, praising Tom Ellis's performance as Lucifer and the lighthearted tone of the series, but criticizing the series for essentially being another crime procedural series.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The first season received mixed reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of critics gave it a positive review based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.40 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads, ""Lucifer" got sex appeal, but the show's hackneyed cop procedural format undermines a potentially entertaining premise." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 49 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Critics were much more receptive to the rest of the series. The second season has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Tom Ellis continues to shine as the Morning Star [sic], though perhaps he could fly higher if he weren't locked into such a familiar format."


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Ed Power of "The Telegraph" gave the second-season premiere a 4 out 5, stating that "It is entirely beguiled by its own preposterousness." Bernard Boo of "We Got This Covered" gave the premiere 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying "Lucifer's second season gets off to a nice start, building on the show's strengths while retaining some of the weaknesses. It remains an unapologetically sordid, demonically fun hour of TV." LaToya Ferguson of "The A.V. Club" gave it a B grade, calling the episode funny with "genuinely funny moments to come from" and saying that the premiere "starts the season off on a good note." She praised Tom Ellis's performance calling it "pitch perfect."


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: On May 28, 2015, the American Family Association (AFA) website One Million Moms launched a petition to prevent the series' airing. The petition stated that the series would "glorify Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh." The petition had 31,312 signatures by the series' premiere date. Posted the same date on the main AFA website, the petition garnered 134,331 signatures by the premiere date. In response to the petition, character creator Neil Gaiman commented on his Tumblr page:


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: The campaign was referred to in a joke in the 2nd season episode "Sympathy for the Goddess". Lucifer is told he is in danger, and asks "Is it the Yakuza? The Nephilim? One Million Moms?"


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: On May 11, 2018, following the series' initial cancellation, co-showrunner Joe Henderson indicated that the third-season finale would feature a "huge cliffhanger" that was meant to deter Fox from cancelling the series and encouraged fans to "make noise" with the hashtag #SaveLucifer. Fans, as well as the cast and crew, rallied on Twitter and #SaveLucifer soon became the #1 trending topic. A second hashtag, #PickUpLucifer, emerged as a trending topic as well. An online petition also began circulating aimed at renewing "Lucifer" for a fourth season on a new network. Warner Bros. Television subsequently began shopping the series around to premium cable and streaming services. On June 15, 2018, Netflix picked up the series for a fourth season. The penultimate episode of the fourth season is titled "Save Lucifer" in honor of the campaign.


title: Lucifer (TV series)

text: Lucifer Morningstar makes a cameo appearance in The CW's Arrowverse crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths", which is featured throughout the TV shows "Arrow", "The Flash", "Supergirl", "Batwoman", and "Legends of Tomorrow". The events of his cameo were five years before the events of "Lucifer". The event also retroactively establishes the world of the series as Earth-666, confirms that Lucifer is aware of the multiverse, and elaborates how Mazikeen came to work for him (pre-Crisis) thanks to John Constantine. It is also revealed he has history with Constantine as well.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is an American television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+. It is the 11th "Star Trek" series and was launched in 2022 as part of Kurtzman's expanded "Star Trek" Universe. A spin-off from "", it follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship USS "Enterprise" as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy during the decade before "".


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn respectively star as Pike, Spock, and Number One, all characters from "The Original Series". These actors were cast in the roles in 2019 for the of "Discovery", and, after a positive fan response, Kurtzman expressed interest in bringing them back for a spin-off series. Development began by March 2020 and it was officially ordered in May. The lead cast, title, and creative team were confirmed, with Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers as showrunners. Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, and Bruce Horak also star. Some of those actors also play younger versions of "Original Series" characters. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, H M R X Productions, and Roddenberry Entertainment. Filming took place at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga, Ontario. The showrunners chose to return to the episodic storytelling of "The Original Series" rather than "Discovery" more serialized approach.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premiered on Paramount+ on May 5, 2022, and its 10-episode ran through July 7. A is in production and is expected to premiere in 2023. The series has received positive reviews for its episodic storytelling and cast. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and several other awards.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" follows Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy in the decade before "". It has a contemporary take on that series' episodic storytelling and 1960s designs, and features the following narration from Mount during each episode's opening credits (similar to the opening narrations in "The Original Series" and ""): Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship "Enterprise". Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: When Alex Kurtzman, the co-creator and executive producer of "", asked Akiva Goldsman to join that series as a supporting producer, Goldsman believed—based on internet rumors—that it was a prequel to "" that would follow the USS "Enterprise" (NCC-1701) under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. He was disappointed to find that this was not the case, and with his encouragement the "Enterprise" was introduced in the finale. Then co-showrunner Aaron Harberts wanted to explore Pike, feeling that he had not been seen much in "Star Trek", but was less interested in exploring "Enterprise" crew member Spock due to his many appearances throughout the franchise. He was also reluctant to have an actor other than Leonard Nimoy or Zachary Quinto portray the character. However, Spock was confirmed to be included in the in April 2018. Anson Mount was cast as Pike, and he revealed in July that Rebecca Romijn would portray "Original Series" character Number One. Mount and Romijn signed one-year deals for the series as part of the producers' attempt to align "Discovery" more closely with the wider "Star Trek" continuity than it was in the first season. In August, Ethan Peck was revealed to have been cast as Spock.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of "Discovery", Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the "Star Trek" franchise beyond "Discovery" to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. Mount left "Discovery" following the second-season finale, and fans began calling for him to reprise his role in a spin-off series set on the "Enterprise", alongside Romijn and Peck. Mount and Peck both responded positively to the idea. Mount stated that filming "Discovery" was difficult and his return would involve "a lot of creative conversations", but he later added that he had never had such a positive response to his work as he did for his role as Pike, which "changed [his] life". Kurtzman also expressed interest in the idea, saying, "The fans have been heard. Anything is possible in the world of "Trek"."


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Kurtzman announced that the second season of companion series "" would include three shorts starring the "Enterprise" actors. He said this was a way to bring those characters and actors back, but would not prevent them moving forward with a full spin-off series. In January 2020, Kurtzman said active discussions regarding such a spin-off series had begun and he had been "tossing ideas back and forth" with Goldsman, who had moved from producing "Discovery" to co-showrunning "". Kurtzman said he would prefer for the potential spin-off to be an ongoing series rather than a miniseries, and said it could explore the seven years between "Discovery" second season and the accident that seriously injures Pike in "The Original Series". Kurtzman soon stated that two unannounced "Star Trek" series were in development for CBS All Access, and the spin-off was reported to be one of them in March.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: CBS All Access officially ordered "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" to series in May 2020, with Mount, Romijn, and Peck confirmed to be reprising their roles. Kurtzman and Goldsman were confirmed to be executive producing alongside their fellow "Star Trek" producer Jenny Lumet, Henry Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin and Aaron Baiers of Kurtzman's production company Secret Hideout, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, and Rod Roddenberry (the son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry) and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. Akela Cooper and Davy Perez were set as co-executive producers. Goldsman wrote the script for the series' first episode based on a story he wrote with Kurtzman and Lumet, and was set as showrunner alongside Myers. Goldsman would also remain an executive producer and co-showrunner on "Picard". Myers joked that "" (1965), the first pilot episode of "The Original Series" which stars the same main characters as "Strange New Worlds", could be considered the pilot for the new series as well, making it "the longest pilot-to-series pickup in the history of television".


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: In September 2020, ViacomCBS announced that CBS All Access would be expanded and rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021. A of "Strange New Worlds" was reported to be in development in November 2021, which frequent "Star Trek" director Jonathan Frakes confirmed a month later. Paramount+ officially announced the second-season order in January 2022. Goldsman expressed his hope that the series continue until it caught it up with the events of "The Original Series", and Mount said he was willing to continue the series until fans felt Pike was on the same level as previous "Star Trek" captains James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. Myers said in July 2022 that early discussions about a third season had begun, explaining that the season had not been officially ordered but they were planning for it due to the amount of time needed to prepare for production.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Kurtzman felt that what audiences responded to when watching Pike, Spock, and Number One on "Discovery" was their "relentless optimism", and said "Strange New Worlds" would explore how Pike remains an optimistic leader despite learning about his tragic future during the second season of "Discovery". Myers wanted to take advantage of his own experience in comedy to make the series lighter than the more dramatic "Discovery" and "Picard", feeling that the "purpose" of the series was to carry on the optimistic messages of "The Original Series". It was important to him to explore contemporary social and political issues in the series, like all previous "Star Trek" projects had, and to ignore elements of characterization from "The Original Series" that were no longer appropriate, such as its portrayal of female characters, in favor of a more modern approach with a "richer perspective". After working as a general science advisor on "Discovery" and the other Paramount+ "Star Trek" series, astrophysicist Erin Macdonald did the same for "Strange New Worlds". She said each series was on a "spectrum of science to fiction", and her role on "Strange New Worlds" was mostly to help the writers remove the "word salad" from science explanations and tweak other dialogue to ensure the correct terms were being used.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Goldsman said the series was more episodic than "Discovery" and "Picard", a style closer to "The Original Series", though it does take advantage of serialized storytelling to develop character arcs. Myers elaborated that the writers wanted to bring a "modern character sensibility" to ""Star Trek" in the way "Star Trek" stories were always told. It's a ship and it's traveling to strange new worlds and we are going to tell big ideas science fiction adventures in an episodic mode. So we have room to meet new aliens, see new ships, visit new cultures." Since the series has just 10 episodes a season, unlike the 20 episodes or more that past episodic "Star Trek" seasons had, the producers felt "Strange New Worlds" was not able to "just [try] different things" and instead wanted to show its full potential by giving each episode a "dramatically" different genre and tone.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn star in the series, reprising their respective roles of Christopher Pike, Spock, and Una Chin-Riley / Number One from "Star Trek: Discovery". Their characters were first introduced in "The Cage", which starred Jeffrey Hunter as Pike, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, and Majel Barrett as Number One. Babs Olusanmokun, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, and Melissa Navia were announced as additional series regulars with the start of filming. Their roles were revealed in September 2021: Bush was cast in Barrett's other "Original Series" role of Christine Chapel, Gooding took over the role of Nyota Uhura from Nichelle Nichols, and Olusanmokun replaced Booker Bradshaw as Joseph M'Benga. Chong and Navia were cast as new characters La'an Noonien-Singh and Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak was cast as Hemmer. Horak was the first legally blind regular actor in a "Star Trek" series, and knew from when he was first cast that Hemmer would die in the first season. Horak said this would not be the end of his involvement in the series.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Design work began by August 2020, with Jonathan Lee as production designer. Myers said they approached the series as if "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry was making "The Original Series" with modern technology and effects, keeping elements of the 1960s designs that still worked for a contemporary project while avoiding the parts that looked "cheap". He compared this to the first "Star Trek" film, "" (1979), which also used its budget and resources to expand on the original designs. Mount said the sets had a "mid-century modern look from the 1960s. There are some pieces that you might find in a super upscale version of Macy's in 1967. It retains that cool '60s vibe, but in an updated way". The "Enterprise" sets for "Strange New Worlds" were updated from the "Discovery" ones, such as the bridge set being more compact and closer to the size of the "Original Series" set. The sets were designed to function like a practical starship, including moving components and pre-programmed monitor graphics that reacted to the actors, and a practical viewscreen to replace the visual effects that "Discovery" used. Lee wanted the bridge to feel "warmer" than "Discovery" cool blue and green palette, especially using the colors of the on-set monitor graphics to achieve this. The engineering, mess hall, and cargo bay sets were augmented with virtual production technology. The props were also redesigned from the "Discovery" ones: phasers, tricorders, and communicators all feature "retro" looks closer to those from "The Original Series".


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Bernadette Croft was set as the costume designer for the series after working as an assistant on "Discovery". The Starfleet uniforms were updated from the ones seen in "Discovery", and Mount called them "a world of difference from the "Discovery" uniforms. They're a lot more forgiving... more of a throwback." The uniforms retain the primary colors from the "Original Series" costumes (gold for command and control officers, blue for science officers, and red for communications, engineering, security, and tactical). Each division has an insignia that appears on their Starfleet badge, and these were added as a pattern on the shoulders and arms. The uniform is seen as both a standard tunic and a longer jacket that has a similar look to the miniskirt-style uniforms worn by actresses on "The Original Series". Croft had wanted to avoid the "over-sexualization" of the miniskirt design, but Romijn encouraged her to make a more appropriate version because "you can make it look badass, and you can fight, you can do whatever you need to do in a dress". The series' version of the miniskirt is gender-neutral and actors decide whether they want to wear it or the tunic style. Dr. M'Benga's tunic is light blue and has a flap in the front to approximate the look of modern scrubs, while also taking inspiration from the costumes worn by DeForest Kelley's Dr. Leonard McCoy in "The Original Series". Nurse Chapel wears a white jumpsuit that is similar to the medical uniforms worn in "Discovery". Away team members wear a grey jacket over their uniforms which are an homage to the jackets worn in "The Cage". The jackets have a round patch on the shoulder that was inspired by a costume worn by William Shatner as James T. Kirk in the film "" (1982). The boots that the officers wear were created by shoe designer John Fluevog to be a more futuristic version of the "Cuban-style boots" from "The Original Series". The leather boots have a metal Starfleet delta insignia on the ankle.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Legacy Effects provided alien prosthetics for the series, and introduced new alien species in almost every episode. Per Goldsman's request, Legacy re-designed the prosthetics for Spock's ears and eyebrows to be closer to those used on Nimoy in "The Cage" than the ones from "Discovery". Adjustments were also made to better fit Peck's face, such as having a lower angle to the eyebrows compared to Nimoy's. Prosthetics department head Chris Bridges convinced Peck to shave his eyebrows, which Peck had chosen not to do on "Discovery", to improve the process of applying the prosthetics and reduce the time it took from two hours to 72 minutes. The make-up and hair team worked on Spock's hairstyle and sideburns, creating a variation on Nimoy's look that better suited Peck's face. The opening title sequence was made by creative studio Picturemill. They begin with a "start-up sequence" of the "Enterprise" in which the ship becomes illuminated and Mount gives the "Space: the final frontier..." monologue that was also used for "The Original Series" and "". This is then followed by visuals of the "Enterprise" flying through various interstellar locations and visiting the titular "strange new worlds" which is similar to the "exploratory-style title sequence" from "".


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: The series is filmed at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga, Ontario, under the working title "Lily and Isaac". The showrunners encouraged the directors to bring a unique look and tone to each episode to highlight the series' episodic approach. Paramount+ constructed a video wall to allow for virtual production on the series, based on the StageCraft technology used on the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian". The new virtual set was built in Toronto by visual effects company Pixomondo, and features a 270-degree, by horseshoe-shaped LED volume with additional LED panels in the ceiling to aid with lighting. The technology uses the game engine software Unreal Engine to display computer-generated backgrounds on the LED screens in real-time during filming; additional filming to support these visual effects took place in New Mexico.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: By December 2020, "Discovery" and "Picard" composer Jeff Russo had discussed "Strange New Worlds" with Kurtzman, including how it "should be treated musically", but whether Russo would be involved in the spin-off's score had yet to be determined. In February 2022, Russo was revealed to have written the main titles music for the series while Nami Melumad was composing the rest of the score. Melumad previously composed the music for "" and an episode of "Short Treks", and approached each episode as if it was a feature film. Russo's main theme is a modern adaptation of Alexander Courage's original "Star Trek" theme, and includes a theremin as a way to foreshadow Courage's vocal arrangement of the theme.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ in the United States, Latin America, Australia, and the Nordics on May 5, 2022. It is released in Canada by Bell Media (broadcast on CTV Sci-Fi Channel before streaming on Crave), in New Zealand on TVNZ, and in India on Voot. The series is being released in other countries and territories as Paramount+ becomes available there.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: Parrot Analytics determines audience "demand expressions" based on various data sources, and the company calculated that "Strange New Worlds" was the fifth-most in demand U.S. streaming series in May 2022, being 30.9 times more in demand than the average series. The only other Paramount+ series on the list for that month was the of "Picard" (ranked 9th). In August 2022, Paramount+ said "Strange New Worlds" was the most-watched original "Star Trek" series on the service over its first 90 days, and the second-most watched original series in general for the service in the United Kingdom.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 99% approval score with an average rating of 8.15/10 based on 81 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Strange New Worlds" treks across familiar territory to refreshing effect, its episodic structure and soulful cast recapturing the sense of boundless discovery that defined the franchise's roots." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: As with previous Paramount+ "Star Trek" series, each episode of "Strange New Worlds" is followed by an episode of the official aftershow "The Ready Room". Hosted by "The Next Generation" actor Wil Wheaton, "The Ready Room" features interviews with cast and crew members as well as behind-the-scenes details from each episode.


title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

text: The first tie-in novel for the series was announced in April 2022 as "The High Country", from author John Jackson Miller. It was set to be published by Gallery Books on February 21, 2023, and tell an original story about Pike and the crew having to abandon ship during a mission. Miller, the author of many "Star Trek" tie-in novels, previously wrote "The Enterprise War" that explored Pike and the "Enterprise" before the second season of "Discovery". The first comic book tie-in for the series, titled "The Illyrian Enigma", was announced in September 2022. Written by co-executive producer Kirsten Beyer and veteran "Star Trek" author Mike Johnson, the four-issue series features art by Megan Levens and Charlie Kirchoff. It is set between the first and second seasons, continuing from the first season's cliffhanger ending with the "Enterprise" crew attempting to prove Una's innocence.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop".


title: Aaliyah

text: Born in Brooklyn but raised in Detroit, she first gained recognition at the age of 10, when she appeared on the television show "Star Search" and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At the age of 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number". The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, "One in a Million", which sold three million copies in the United States and more than eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first film, "Romeo Must Die". She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single "Try Again". The song topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in "Billboard" history to achieve this goal. After completing "Romeo Must Die", Aaliyah filmed her role in "Queen of the Damned", and released, in 2001, her self-titled third and final studio album, which topped the "Billboard" 200.


title: Aaliyah

text: On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah died at the age of 22 in an airplane accident in the Bahamas, when the overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all nine on board. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight. Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's operator, Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. In the decades since her death, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases. She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. "Billboard" lists her as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and the 27th most successful in history. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York, the younger child of Diane and Michael "Miguel" Haughton, a warehouse worker. She was of African-American descent. Her name is the feminine form of the Arabic "Ali", meaning "highest, most exalted one, the best." Aaliyah was fond of her name, calling it "beautiful" and saying she was "very proud of it" and strove to live up to her name every day. Aaliyah's mother enrolled Aaliyah in voice lessons at an early age. She started performing at weddings, church choir and charity events. When Aaliyah was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad. She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where in first grade she was cast in the stage play "Annie," which inspired her to become an entertainer. In Detroit, her father began working in the warehouse business, one of his brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's widening interests. Her mother stayed home and raised Aaliyah and her brother.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle, Hankerson, was an entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight. As a child, Aaliyah traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York to audition for commercials and television programs, including "Family Matters"; she appeared on "Star Search" at age ten. Aaliyah chose to begin auditioning. Her mother made the decision to drop her surname. She auditioned for several record labels and at age 11 appeared in concerts alongside Knight. She had several pet animals during her childhood, including ducks, snakes and iguanas. Her cousin Jomo had a pet alligator, which Aaliyah felt was too much, remarking, "that was something I wasn't going to stroke."


title: Aaliyah

text: When she was growing up, Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and believed she was well-liked, but got teased for her short stature. She recalled coming into her own before age 15 and came to love her height. Her mother told her to be happy she was small and complimented her. Other children disliked Aaliyah, but she did not stay focused on them. "You always have to deal with people who are jealous, but there were so few it didn't even matter. The majority of kids supported me, which was wonderful. When it comes to dealing with negative people, I just let it in one ear and out the other. Those people were invisible to me." Even in her adult life, she considered herself small. She had "learned to accept and love" herself and added: "the most important thing is to think highly of yourself because if you don't, no one else will".


title: Aaliyah

text: During her audition for acceptance to the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, Aaliyah sang the song "Ave Maria" in its entirety in the Italian language. Aaliyah, who maintained a perfect 4.0 grade-point average when graduating from high school, felt education was important. She saw fit to keep her grades up despite the pressures and time constraints brought on her during the early parts of her career. She called herself a perfectionist and recalled always being a good student. Aaliyah reflected: "I always wanted to maintain that, even in high school when I first started to travel. I wanted to keep that 4.0. Being in the industry, you know, I don't want kids to think, 'I can just sing and forget about school.' I think it's very important to have an education, and even more important to have something to fall back on." She did this in her own life, as she planned to "fall back on" another part of the entertainment industry. She believed that she could teach music history or open her own school to teach that or drama if she did not make a living as a recording artist because, as she reasoned, "when you pick a career it has to be something you love".


title: Aaliyah

text: After Hankerson signed a distribution deal with Jive Records, he signed Aaliyah to his Blackground Records label at the age of 12. Hankerson later introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly, who became Aaliyah's mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her first album, recorded when she was 14. Aaliyah's debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", was released under her mononym "Aaliyah", by Jive and Blackground Records on May 24, 1994; it debuted at number 24 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 38,000 copies in its first week. It peaked at number 18 on the "Billboard" 200 and it was certified two times Platinum by the RIAA. To date the album has sold over 3 million copies in the US. In Canada, the album was certified gold by Music Canada for 50,000 copies in shipments. In 2014, "Vibe" magazine estimated that the album had sold six million copies globally.


title: Aaliyah

text: Upon its release, "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Some writers noted that Aaliyah's "silky vocals" and "sultry voice" blended with Kelly's new jack swing helped define R&B in the 1990s. Her sound was also compared to that of female quartet En Vogue. Christopher John Farley of "Time" magazine called the album a "beautifully restrained work", noting that Aaliyah's "girlish, breathy vocals rode calmly on R. Kelly's rough beats". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that the album had its "share of filler", but described the singles as "slyly seductive". He also wrote that the songs on the album were "frequently better" than that of Kelly's second studio album, "12 Play". The single "At Your Best (You Are Love)" was criticized by "Billboard" for being out of place on the album and for its length.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah's debut single, "Back & Forth", peaked at number 5 on the Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks. Two more singles charted: a cover of the Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)" peaked at number 6 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and the album's title track, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", peaked at number 75. Additionally, she released "The Thing I Like" as part of the soundtrack to the 1994 film "A Low Down Dirty Shame".


title: Aaliyah

text: In 1996, Aaliyah left Jive Records and signed with Atlantic Records. She worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who contributed to her second studio album, "One in a Million". Elliott recalled Timbaland and herself being nervous to work with Aaliyah, since Aaliyah had already released her successful debut album while Elliott and Timbaland were just starting out. Elliott also feared she would be a diva, but reflected that Aaliyah "came in and was so warming; she made us immediately feel like family." The album yielded the lead single single "If Your Girl Only Knew", which peaked at number 11 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and topped the "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two weeks. It also generated the singles "Hot Like Fire" and "4 Page Letter". "One in a Million" peaked at number 18 on the "Billboard" 200, and was certified double platinum by the RIAA on June 16, 1997, denoting shipments of two million copies. The album went on to sell 3 million copies in the U.S. and over eight million copies worldwide. The year after her album was released, Aaliyah was featured on Timbaland & Magoo's debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie".


title: Aaliyah

text: In 1997 Aaliyah graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, where she majored in drama. The same year, she began her acting career, playing herself in the police drama television series "New York Undercover". During this time, Aaliyah participated in the Children's Benefit Concert, a charity concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York. She also became the spokesperson for the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. During her campaign with Tommy Hilfiger, the company sold over 2,400 pairs of the red, white and blue baggy jeans she wore in their advertisements. In December 1997, she performed the Christmas carol "What Child Is This?" at the annual Christmas in Washington television special. She also contributed to the soundtrack album for the animated film "Anastasia", performing a cover version of "Journey to the Past" that earned songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Aaliyah performed the song at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, becoming the youngest singer to perform at the event. Also in 1998, she released the song "Are You That Somebody?" which was featured on the "Dr. Dolittle" soundtrack. The song peaked at number 21 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and earned Aaliyah her first Grammy Award nomination.


title: Aaliyah

text: In 1999, Aaliyah landed her first big-screen acting role in "Romeo Must Die". She starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. Released on March 24, 2000, the movie grossed US$18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office. Aaliyah purposely stayed away from reviews of the film to "make it easier on" herself, but she heard "that people were able to get into me, which is what I wanted." In contrast, some critics felt there was no chemistry between her and Jet Li, as well as viewing the film as too simplistic. This was echoed by Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times", who wrote that while Aaliyah was "a natural" and the film was conceived as a spotlight for both her and Li, "they have so little chemistry together you'd think they're putting out a fire instead of shooting off sparks.


title: Aaliyah

text: In addition to acting, Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the film's soundtrack, for which she contributed four songs. "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the "Billboard" Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12-inch vinyl and 7-inch single. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States.


title: Aaliyah

text: After completing "Romeo Must Die", Aaliyah began to work on her second film, "Queen of the Damned". She played the role of an ancient vampire, Queen Akasha, which she described as a "manipulative, crazy, sexual being". Filming both Romeo Must Die and "Queen of the Damned" delayed the release of the album. Aaliyah had not intended for her albums to have such a gap between them. "I wanted to take a break after "One in a Million" to just relax, think about how I wanted to approach the next album. Then, when I was ready to start back up, "Romeo" happened, and so I had to take another break and do that film and then do the soundtrack, then promote it. The break turned into a longer break than I anticipated." Aaliyah enjoyed balancing her singing and acting careers. Though she called music a "first" for her, she also had been acting since she was young and had wanted to begin acting "at some point in my career", but "wanted it to be the right time and the right vehicle" and felt "Romeo Must Die" "was it". Connie Johnson of the "Los Angeles Times" argued that Aaliyah having to focus on her film career may have caused her to not give the album "the attention it merited."


title: Aaliyah

text: During the recording stages for the album, Aaliyah's publicist disclosed that the album's release date was most likely in October 2000. Ultimately she finished recording the album in March 2001; after a year of recording tracks that began in March of the previous year.


title: Aaliyah

text: Eventually, "Aaliyah" was released five years after "One in a Million" on July 17, 2001, and it debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200, selling 187,000 copies in its first week. The first single from the album, "We Need a Resolution", peaked at number 59 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The week after Aaliyah's death, her third and self-titled studio album, rose from number 19 to number one on the "Billboard" 200. "Rock the Boat" was released as a posthumous single. The music video premiered on BET's "Access Granted", and it became the most viewed and highest rated episode in the history of the show. The song peaked at number 14 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Promotional posters for "Aaliyah" that had been put up in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles became makeshift memorials for grieving fans. In February 2002, the album was certified double Platinum by the RIAA.


title: Aaliyah

text: "More than a Woman" and "I Care 4 U" were released as posthumous singles and peaked within the top 25 of the "Billboard" Hot 100. "More than a Woman" reached number one on the UK singles chart making Aaliyah the first female deceased artist to reach number one on the UK singles chart. "More than a Woman" was replaced by George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" which is the only time in the UK singles chart's history when a dead artist has replaced another dead artist at number one.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah was signed to appear in several future films, including a romantic film titled "Some Kind of Blue", and a Whitney Houston–produced remake of the 1976 film "Sparkle". Houston recalled Aaliyah being "so enthusiastic" about the film; the project was shelved after she died. Before her death Aaliyah filmed some scenes for the sequels of "The Matrix" as the character Zee. A portion of her role in "The Matrix Reloaded" was filmed; these unused scenes were included in the tribute section of the "Matrix Ultimate Collection" series.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah had the vocal range of a soprano, and with the release of her debut album "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", writer Dimitri Ehrlich of "Entertainment Weekly" compared her style and sound to R&B group En Vogue. Ehrlich also expressed that Aaliyah's "silky vocals are more agile than those of self-proclaimed queen of hip-hop soul Mary J. Blige." In her review for Aaliyah's second studio album "One in a Million" "Vibe" magazine, music critic Dream Hampton said that Aaliyah's "deliciously feline" voice has the same "pop appeal" as Janet Jackson's. In 2001, Aaliyah called her sound "street but sweet", pairing feminine vocals with a gritty urban rhythm track. In an interview she spoke about her artistry, saying, "I love to fuse other types of music with my own". She explored a wide range of genres such as R&B, pop, hip hop, funk, soul, and dance-pop.


title: Aaliyah

text: Discussing her lyrical content in "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), Keith Harris said "When it came to sexual availability, she was between En Vogue maliciously taunting 'You're never gonna get it' and Tweet blankly cooing 'Oops, there goes my shirt.'" Aaliyah did not usually write her own lyrics. The only time she had a hand in writing is on the song "Death of a Playa" from the "Hot Like Fire" single (1997). She co-wrote that song with her brother Rashad Haughton, and "it reflects Aaliyah's dark perspective on romance". Of her role in crafting her music, Aaliyah said, "I like to have the final say but I was trained as a singer, actress and dancer, the interpreter, bringing other people's words to life. I need the songs to reflect me in one way or another". After her R. Kelly–produced debut album, Aaliyah worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott, whose productions were more electronic. The duo "mixed choppy, nervous rhythms over loops of computer-generated backing tracks, and incorporating harmonies which – within the genre's limited horizons – seemed daring".


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah's songs have been said to have "crisp production" and "staccato arrangements" that "extend genre boundaries" while containing "old-school" soul music. Kelefah Sanneh of "The New York Times" called her "a digital diva who wove a spell with ones and zeroes", and writes that her songs comprised "simple vocal riffs, repeated and refracted to echo the manipulated loops that create digital rhythm", as Timbaland's "computer-programmed beats fitted perfectly with her cool, breathy voice to create a new kind of electronic music." She released "musically risky singles into a notoriously fickle pop market", without being "concerned about conforming to the stereotypes of the marketplace". Her songs "gracefully walk a line between commerciality and experimentation". Reviewing her album, British publication "NME" felt that Aaliyah's "radical" third album was "intended to consolidate her position as U.S. R&B's most experimental artist".


title: Aaliyah

text: As her albums progressed, writers felt that Aaliyah matured, calling her progress a "near-flawless declaration of strength and independence". ABC News noted that her music was "evolving from the punchy pop-influenced hip hop and R&B to a more mature, introspective sound", on her third album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described her album "Aaliyah" as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward", and called it one of the strongest urban soul records of its time. She portrayed "unfamiliar sounds, styles and emotions", but managed to please critics with the contemporary sound it contained. Ernest Hardy of "Rolling Stone" felt that Aaliyah was displaying stronger technique, giving her best vocal performances. Altogether, Aaliyah's music can be described as alternative R&B, progressive soul, and neo soul, according to "Time" Farley.


title: Aaliyah

text: As an artist, Aaliyah said she was inspired by a number of performers. These include Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sade, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Donnie Hathaway, Johnny Mathis, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Barbra Streisand. Aaliyah said that Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was her "favorite album" and that "nothing will ever top "Thriller"." She said she had always wanted to work with Janet Jackson, to whom she had often been compared, saying, "I admire her a great deal. She's a total performer ... I'd love to do a duet with Janet Jackson." Jackson reciprocated Aaliyah's affection, saying, "I've loved her from the beginning because she always comes out and does something different, musically." Jackson also said she would have enjoyed collaborating with Aaliyah.


title: Aaliyah

text: According to director Paul Hunter from day one, "Aaliyah wanted her videos to stand out from clips by other R&B singers". He stated, "You can watch programming all day and see a certain type of video by female artists, "Then when one of hers comes on it's something special, something different to look at. That's what she was about." Christopher John Farley from "Time" stated that Aaliyah's "videos, for the most part, are about mood, not about storylines... Her videos are usually lushly shot and infused with sexual tension, though not in overt and obvious ways".


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah focused on her public image while protecting her private life. "USA Today" said, "Her slinky vocal style and eye-popping videos made her a crossover star, while her persistent protection of her privacy added an air of intrigue about her". She often wore baggy clothes and sunglasses, stating that she wanted to be herself. Aaliyah also wore black clothing, starting a trend for similar fashion among women in United States and Japan. She felt that it was "important ... to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack".


title: Aaliyah

text: When she changed her hairstyle, Aaliyah took her mother's advice and covered her left eye, much like Veronica Lake. The look has become known as her signature and been referred to as fusion of "unnerving emotional honesty" and "a sense of mystique". In 1998, she hired a personal trainer to keep in shape, and exercised five days a week and ate diet foods. Aaliyah was praised for her "clean-cut image" and "moral values". Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" wrote of Aaliyah's artistry and image, "she was lithe and dulcet in a way that signified neither jailbait nor hottie—an ingenue whose selling point was sincerity, not innocence and the obverse it implies."


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah's family played a major role in the course of her career. Aaliyah's father Michael Haughton served as her personal manager from 1995. Her mother assisted her in her career while brother Rashad Haughton and cousin Jomo Hankerson worked with her consistently. Her father's illness ended his co-management of Aaliyah with her mother Diane Haughton, which forced her to run all of her decisions by Rashad.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah was known to have usually been accompanied by members of her family and the "Rock the Boat" filming was credited by Rashad Haughton as being the first and only time her family was not present. In October 2001, Rashad stated: "It really boggles everyone [that] from Day One, every single video she ever shot there's always been myself or my mother or my father there. The circumstances surrounding this last video were really strange because my mother had eye surgery and couldn't fly. That really bothered her because she always traveled. My dad had to take care of my mom at that time. And I went to Australia to visit some friends. We really couldn't understand why we weren't there. You ask yourself maybe we could have stopped it. But you can't really answer the question. There's always gonna be that question of why." Aaliyah's friend Kidada Jones said in the last year of her life her parents had given her more freedom and she had talked about wanting a family.


title: Aaliyah

text: Gladys Knight, who had been married to Aaliyah's uncle Barry Hankerson, was essential to the start of Aaliyah's career as she gave her many of her earlier performances. One of their last conversations concerned Aaliyah having difficulty with "another young artist" that she was trying to work with. Knight felt the argument was "petty" and insisted that she remain being who she was in spite of the conflict.


title: Aaliyah

text: With the release of "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", rumors circulated of a relationship between Aaliyah and R. Kelly, including the allegation that they had secretly married without her parents' knowledge. "Vibe" magazine later revealed a marriage certificate that listed the couple married on August 31, 1994, in Sheraton Gateway Suites in Rosemont, Illinois. Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, was listed as 18 on the certificate; R. Kelly was 27. The marriage was annulled by her parents in February 1995, but the pair denied the allegations, saying that neither was married and that the certificate was a forgery.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah reportedly developed an intimate relationship with Kelly during the recording of her debut album. She told "Vibe" magazine in 1994 that she and Kelly would "go watch a movie" and "go eat" when she got tired and would then "come back and work". She described the relationship between her and Kelly as "rather close." In December 1994, Aaliyah told the "Chicago Sun-Times" that whenever she was asked about being married to Kelly, she urged them not to believe "all that mess" and that she and Kelly were "close" and "people took it the wrong way".


title: Aaliyah

text: Jamie Foster Brown in the 1994 issue of "Sister 2 Sister" wrote that "R. Kelly told me that he and Aaliyah got together, and it was just magic." Brown also reported hearing about a sexual relationship between them. "I've been hearing about Robert and Aaliyah for a while—that she was pregnant. Or that she was coming and going in and out of his house. People would see her walking his dog, 12 Play, with her basketball cap and sunglasses on. Every time I asked the label, they said it was platonic. But I kept hearing complaints from people about her being in the studio with all those men." Brown later added "at 15, you have all those hormones and no brains attached to them".


title: Aaliyah

text: In his 2011 book "The Man Behind the Man: Looking from the Inside Out", Demetrius Smith Sr., Kelly's former tour manager, revealed that Kelly married Aaliyah after she told him that she was pregnant. In the 2019 documentary "Surviving R. Kelly", Smith described how he helped Aaliyah forge the necessary documents to show she was 18 in order to marry Kelly. Smith also said he was "not proud" of his role in facilitating their marriage. Additionally, the documentary revealed that Jovante Cunningham, a former backup dancer, claimed to have witnessed Kelly having sex with Aaliyah on his tour bus.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah admitted in court documents that she had lied about her age. In May 1997, she filed suit in Cook County seeking to have all records of the marriage expunged because she was not old enough under state law to get married without her parents' consent. It was reported that she cut off all professional and personal ties with Kelly after the marriage was annulled and ceased contact with him. In a 2014 interview, Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson said that she "got villainized" for her relationship with Kelly and the scandal over the marriage made it difficult to find producers for her second album. "We were coming off of a multi-platinum debut album and except for a couple of relationships with Jermaine Dupri and Puffy, it was hard for us to get producers on the album." Hankerson also expressed confusion over why "they were upset" with Aaliyah given her age at the time.


title: Aaliyah

text: Aaliyah was known to avoid answering questions about Kelly after the professional split. During an interview with Christopher John Farley, she was asked whether she was still in contact with him and would ever work with him again. Farley said Aaliyah responded with a "firm, frosty 'no'" to both questions. "Vibe" magazine said Aaliyah changed the subject anytime "you bring up the marriage with her". A spokeswoman for Aaliyah said in 2000 that when "R. Kelly comes up, she doesn't even speak his name, and nobody's allowed to ask about it at all." Kelly later said that Aaliyah had opportunities to address their relationship after they separated professionally but chose not to. In 2019, Damon Dash revealed to "Hip Hop Motivation" that Aaliyah did not even speak of her relationship with Kelly in private; he tried multiple times to discuss it with her, but she would only say that Kelly was a "bad man". Dash said he was unable to watch "Surviving R. Kelly" because its interviews with visibly traumatized girls struggling to discuss their encounters with Kelly reminded him of how Aaliyah behaved when trying to recount her relationship with Kelly. Dash later appeared in "Surviving R. Kelly, Part 2" in 2020.


title: Aaliyah

text: Other allegations were made about Kelly regarding underage girls in the years after Aaliyah's death, and their marriage was used as an example of his involvement with them. He has refused to discuss his relationship with her, citing her death. "Out of respect for her, and her mom and her dad, I will not discuss Aaliyah. That was a whole other situation, a whole other time, it was a whole other thing, and I'm sure that people also know that." In 2016, Kelly said that he was as in love with Aaliyah as he was with "anybody else." Aaliyah's mother, Diane Haughton, reflected that everything "that went wrong in her life" began with her relationship with Kelly.