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Donny Edward Hathaway
(October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979)
was an American
soul singer,
keyboardist,
songwriter,
backing vocalist,
and arranger
who Rolling Stone
described as a
"soul legend".
His most popular songs
include
"The Ghetto",
"This Christmas",
"Someday We'll All Be Free",
and
"Little Ghetto Boy".
Hathaway is also renowned
for his renditions of
"A Song for You",
"For All We Know",
"Jealous Guy"
and
"I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know",
along with
"Where Is the Love"
and
"The Closer I Get to You",
two of many collaborations
with
Roberta Flack.
He has been inducted into
the St. Louis Walk of Fame
and won
one Grammy Award
from four nominations.
Hathaway was also
posthumously honored
with a Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award
in 2019.
Dutch director
David Kleijwegt
made a documentary called
Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway,
which premiered at the
International Film
Festival Rotterdam
on
January 28, 2020.
Early Life
Hathaway,
the son of
Drusella Huntley,
was born into a
Black American family
in Chicago, Illinois,
and was raised by
his grandmother,
Martha Pitts,
also known as
Martha Crumwell,
in the
Carr Square housing project
Hathaway began singing
in the church choir
with his grandmother,
a professional gospel singer,
at the age of three,
and studying piano.
He graduated from
Vashon High School in 1963.
Hathaway then studied music
on a fine arts scholarship
at Howard University
in Washington, D.C.,
where he met his
roommate and drummer
Ric Powell,
who ultimately launched
Donny's musical career
as a member of
"The Ric Powell Trio".
At Howard,
he was also a member of
the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity,
but during 1967,
just before completing a degree,
Donny and Ric left Howard
after receiving job offers
in the music business
with the likes of
Curtis Mayfield's
Curtom Records in Chicago.
Career
Hathaway worked as a
songwriter,
session musician,
and producer for
Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records
in Chicago.
He did the arrangements
for hits by the Unifics
("Court of Love" and "The Beginning of My End")
and took part in projects
by the Staple Singers,
Jerry Butler,
Aretha Franklin,
the Impressions
and
Curtis Mayfield himself.
After becoming a
"house producer"
at Curtom,
he started recording there.
Hathaway recorded his
first single
under his own name
in 1969,
a duet with singer
June Conquest called
"I Thank You, Baby".
They also recorded the duet
"Just Another Reason",
released as the B-side.
Former
Cleveland Browns president
Bill Futterer,
who as a college student
promoted Curtom
in the southeast in
1968 and 1969,
was befriended by
Hathaway
and has cited
Hathaway's influence
on his later projects.
That year,
Hathaway signed to
Atco Records,
then a division of
Atlantic Records,
after being spotted
for the label by
producer/musician
King Curtis
at a trade convention.
He released his
first single of note,
"The Ghetto, Pt. 1",
which he co-wrote
with former
Howard roommate
Leroy Hutson,
who became a
performer, writer,
and producer with
Curtom.
The track appeared
the following year
on his critically acclaimed
debut LP,
Everything Is Everything,
which he
co-produced with
Ric Powell
while also
arranging all the cuts.
His second LP,
Donny Hathaway,
consisted mostly of
covers of contemporary pop,
soul, and
gospel songs.
His third album
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
was an album of duets
with former
Howard University associate
and label mate
Roberta Flack,
for whom he previously
sang backup on
"Killing Me Softly with His Song"
that established him,
especially on the pop charts.
The album was a critical
and commercial success,
including the
Ralph MacDonald-penned track
"Where Is the Love",
which proved to be
not only an R&B success,
but also scored
Top Five on
the pop Hot 100.
It sold over
one million copies,
and was awarded
a gold disc
by the RIAA
on
The album also included
other covers,
including versions of
Carole King's
"You've Got a Friend",
"Baby I Love You",
originally a hit for
Aretha Franklin,
and
"You've Lost That Loving Feeling".
Perhaps Hathaway's
most influential recording
is his 1972 album,
Live,
which has been termed
"one of the best
live albums ever recorded"
by Daryl Easlea
of the BBC.
The album is on the list of
"40 Favourite Live Albums"
published by
British online music
and culture magazine T
he Quietus.
It was recorded at
two concerts:
at the Troubadour in Hollywood,
and side two at
The Bitter End
in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.
Hathaway was
the co-composer
and performer of
the Christmas standard,
"This Christmas".
The song,
released in 1970,
has become a holiday staple
and is often used in movies,
television and advertising.
Hathaway followed this
flurry of work
with contributions to soundtracks,
along with his recording
of the theme song
to the TV series
Maude.
He composed and conducted music
for the 1972
soundtrack of the movie
Come Back Charleston Blue.
In the mid-1970s,
he produced albums
for other artists
including
Cold Blood,
where he expanded
the musical range
of lead singer
Lydia Pense.
His final studio album,
Extension of a Man
came out in 1973
with two tracks,
"Love Love Love"
and
"I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"
reaching both the pop
and R&B charts.
It also included his classic ballad,
"Someday We'll All Be Free"
and a six-minute symphonic-styled
instrumental piece called
"I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry".
He told UK music journalist
David Nathan in 1973,
"I always liked pretty music
and I've always wanted
to write it."
Added the writer,
"He declined to give one
particular influence
or inspiration but said
that Ravel,
Debussy and Stravinsky
were amongst
whom he studied."
He returned to the charts
in 1978
after again teaming up with
Roberta Flack for a duet,
"The Closer I Get to You"
on her album,
Blue Lights in the Basement.
The song topped the R&B chart
and reached the No. 2 spot
on the Hot 100.
Atlantic then put out
another solo single,
"You Were Meant For Me"
shortly before his
sudden death.
Liner notes for later releases
of his final solo album explain:
"Donny is no longer here,
but the song
"Someday We'll All Be Free"
gathers momentum as
part of his legacy...
Donny literally sat in the studio
and cried when he heard
the playback of his final mix.
It's pretty special
when an artist
can create something
that wipes them out."
Edward Howard,
lyricist of the song, adds,
"It was a spiritual thing for me...
What was going through my mind
at the time was Donny,
because Donny was a
very troubled person.
I hoped that at some point
he would be released
from all that he
was going through.
There was nothing I could do
but write something that
might be encouraging for him.
He's a good leader for
young black men".
During the peak of his career,
Hathaway began experiencing
severe bouts of depression
and exhibiting
unusual behavior.
Between 1973 and 1974,
he was hospitalized several times
until he was eventually diagnosed
with paranoid schizophrenia
for which he was prescribed
various medications.
At one point,
Hathaway was prescribed
fourteen different medications
that he was to take twice a day.
After Hathaway was diagnosed
and began taking medication,
his mental state improved.
However, Eulaulah Hathaway
has said that her husband
became less than diligent
about following his
prescription regimen
when he began feeling better
and often stopped
taking his
medications altogether.
From 1973 to 1977,
Hathaway's mental instability
wreaked havoc on
his life and career
and required
several hospitalizations.
The effects of his depression
and severe mood swings
also drove a wedge
in his and Flack's friendship;
they did not reconcile
for several years,
and did not release
additional music
until the successful release of
"The Closer I Get to You"
in 1978.
Flack and Hathaway
then resumed
studio recording to
compose a
second album
of duets.
DEATH
Sessions for another album
of duets were underway
in 1979.
On January 13,
Hathaway began a
recording session with
producers/musicians
Eric Mercury and James Mtume.
Each reported that
although Hathaway
was singing fine,
he began behaving irrationally,
seeming to be paranoid
and delusional.
According to Mtume,
Hathaway said that
white people
were trying to kill him
and had connected
his brain to a machine
for the purpose of
stealing his music
and his voice.
Given Hathaway's behavior,
Mercury said that he
decided the
recording session
could not continue,
so he aborted it
and all of the
musicians went home.
Hours later,
Hathaway was found dead
on the pavement
below the window
of his
15th-floor room
in New York City's
Essex House hotel
at 160 Central Park South.
It was reported that he
had jumped from
his balcony.
His hotel room door
was locked from
the inside
and the window glass
carefully removed.
There were no signs
of a struggle,
leading investigators
to rule that
Hathaway's death
was a suicide.
Flack was devastated and,
spurred by his death,
included the
few duets t
hey had finished
on her next album,
Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway
(1980).
According to Mercury,
Hathaway's final recording was
"You Are My Heaven",
a song Mercury
co-wrote with
Stevie Wonder.
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