Former “Shake It Up” star will play the ill-fated singer who died in a plane crash.

Lifetime is doubling down on its biopics about ill-fated songbirds.

The network, which recently announced that it is working on a movie about the life of singer Whitney Houston, is also planning a film about the life of actress and R&B sensation Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.

“Replay” singer Zendaya has been tapped to play the chanteuse in the film, which bears the working title “Aaliyah: Princess of R&B” and is based on the bestselling book “Aaliyah: More Than a Woman” by former Time music editor Christopher Farley.

Zendaya will record four of Aaliyah's songs for the film, Lifetime.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was that music business rarity: a teen idol who transformed herself into a critically acclaimed hip-hop soul artist, a singer who successfully made the transition to actress, and a beautiful woman who never let the trappings of celebrity go to her head. Following her impressive debut at age 14 with the album Age Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number, Aaliyah raised the bar with her hugely influential and bestselling follow-up, One in a Million. She then took her talents to Hollywood, starring in the action thriller Romeo Must Die and the highly anticipated horror film The Queen of the Damned. But soon after the release of her third album in the summer of 2001, Aaliyah’s life was cut short in a tragic plane crash.

Here is the inspirational story of the star The Washington Post dubbed “Hip-Hop’s Lady Di” — a woman who, by the time of her death at age twenty-two, touched legions of fans around the world with her haunting voice and gentle spirit.

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Source-TheWrap