Alexandra Shipp to play Aaliyah in Lifetime film
![Alexandra Shipp, shown in 2012. Shipp has very little time to get ready for her new role as the late R&B singer Aaliyah.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/a20d45865fedec4c64b1437e7cf12cf0d2032f3c/c=0-30-1896-2566/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/07/18/1405713447000-AP-People-Alexandra-Shipp.jpg?width=300&height=402&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
NEW YORK (AP) — Alexandra Shipp has very little time to get ready for her new role as the late R&B singer Aaliyah.
Lifetime spokeswoman Kannie Yu LaPack confirmed Friday that Shipp will play the singer, who died in a plane crash in 2001. Shipp replaces Zendaya in the Lifetime biopic Aaliyah: Princess of R&B. Zendaya pulled out of production last month.
The project was briefly halted, but filming will start later this month, leaving the 23-year-old Shipp little time to prep. She has played roles on Nick show House of Anubis and in the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
The biopic will be released this fall and will follow the multi-platinum-selling R&B star's career from 10-year-old Star Search contestant to her death in a plane crash in the Bahamas at age 22.