For producers of Lifetime's "Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B," the opportunity to tell the late singer's story is a personal one. Her family has opposed the project from the beginning, but producer Debra Martin Chase tells Zap2it Lifetime wants nothing more than to honor the late singer.
"I knew Aaliyah. I had developed 'Sparkle' originally for her -- Whitney [Houston] and I had developed it for her," Chase says. "When 'Sparkle' [starring Jordin Sparks] came out a couple years ago, doing the press I found myself talking a lot about [Aaliyah] and how great she was and what might have been had we not lost her."
That's when "Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B" started coming together. Unfortunately for Lifetime, Aaliyah's family denied them rights to most of her music. "There was a point where we lost a couple of songs -- no secret, there was a lot of publicity about that," Chase explains.
That news was a blow to everyone involved. Chase explains, "We did our soul searching and I did my own. At the end of the day this is a movie about the woman and about her journey. It's as much about Aaliyah the person as about Aaliyah the musician."
Fans won't be disappointed though, because they were still able to use some of Aaliyah's music. "We had enough songs to make this a musical to give something to her fans," she says.
Even without the support of Aaliyah's family and a portion of her songs off limits, Chase still felt it was important to make a movie that covers Aaliyah's life from her debut on "Star Search" at age 10 through her death at 22. "We want it to be an inspirational story," Chase says. "She accomplished so much in her brief 22 years on earth. It is inspirational. It's a lesson, particularly for those who don't know her -- the younger audiences who heave heard her name and heard her music but haven't heard her story and everything she did."
"Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B" premieres Saturday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Lifetime.
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