Donny Hathaway

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Record label of the single The Closer I Get to You , 1978

Donny Hathaway (born October 1, 1945 in Chicago , Illinois ; † January 13, 1979 in New York ) was a Grammy- winning American soul singer , musician, and songwriter who became famous primarily for his duets with Roberta Flack . Two of them, Where Is the Love (1972) and The Closer I Get to You (1978), reached the top 5 on the US charts and went gold . In addition, Hathaway's composition This Christmas (1970) is one of the most popular and most covered Christmas songs in the United States.

Life

Donny Hathaway grew up in St. Louis , Missouri . At the age of three he sang in the church choir, and in childhood he learned to play the piano . Thanks to his outstanding piano playing, he received a scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC in 1965. After three years, he left the university to work as a songwriter, musician and producer. In the late 1960s, Hathaway was a producer on Curtis Mayfield 's Curtom Records label. There he recorded his first single I Thank You Baby in 1969 .

In 1970 his first album Everything Is Everything was released , on which he delighted the critics primarily with his unique voice. His second self-titled album was another commercial and critically acclaimed success. After his next album with partner Roberta Flack , he first recorded some soundtracks, including the theme for the series Maude . Another duet with Roberta Flack followed in 1978: The Closer I Get to You . During his own career, Hathaway continued to produce albums by other artists.

Over the course of his career, Donny Hathaway suffered increasingly from depression and had to seek treatment several times. His friendship with the duo partner Roberta Flack also suffered from Hathaway's state of health, so that the two only wanted to record an album together again after six years. While the recording sessions were in progress, Hathaway was found dead on January 13, 1979, on the sidewalk under the window of his room at the Essex House Hotel in New York . His duets with Flack, You Are My Heaven and Back Together Again were in the charts posthumously in 1980, the latter even reaching the British Top 3. The accompanying album Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway , apart from these two duets, only contains solo recordings by Flack.

In 2008, Rolling Stone listed Hathaway 49th of the 100 best singers of all time .

Hathaway's daughter, Lalah Hathaway , followed her father into show business and to date has won five Grammys for her R&B recordings.

Discography

Studio albums

year Title
music label 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US R&B R&B
1970 Everything Is Everything
Atco 332 		- US73 (25 weeks)
US 		R&B33 (10 weeks)
R&B
First published: July 1, 1970
Producers: Donny Hathaway, Ric Powell, King Curtis
1971 Donny Hathaway
Atco 360 		- US89 (21 weeks)
US 		R&B6 (25 weeks)
R&B
First published: April 2, 1971
Producers: Donny Hathaway, Arif Mardin , Jerry Wexler
1972 Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
Atlantic 7216 		- US3
gold
gold

(39 weeks)US 		R&B2 (26 weeks)
R&B
First published: May 6th 1972
with Roberta Flack
chart entry in UK only in June 1980
Producers: Arif Mardin, Joel Dorn
1973 Extension of a Man
Atco 7029 		- US69 (13 weeks)
US 		R&B18 (15 weeks)
R&B
First published: June 18, 1973
Producer: Arif Mardin
1980 Roberta Flack Featuring
Donny Hathaway
Atlantic 16013 		UK31 (7 weeks)
UK 		US25th
gold
gold

(24 weeks)US 		R&B4 (26 weeks)
R&B
First publication: November 1979
Roberta Flack feat. Donny Hathaway
Producers: Eric Mercury, Roberta Flack

Live albums

year Title
music label 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US R&B R&B
1972 Donny Hathaway Live
Atco 386 		- US18th
gold
gold

(38 weeks)US 		R&B4 (34 weeks)
R&B
First published: April 1971
A-Side: The Troubadour, LA
B-Side: The Bitter End , NYC
Producers: Arif Mardin , Jerry Wexler
1980 In Performance
Atlantic 19278 		- - R&B68 (5 weeks)
R&B
First published: September 1980
Recordings: The Troubadour, LA,
The Bitter End and Carnegie Hall , NYC
Producer: Arif Mardin
2004 These Songs for You, Live!
Rhino 78075 		- - R&B78 (2 weeks)
R&B
First published: June 8, 2004
Recordings: The Bitter End and Carnegie Hall, NYC /
University of California and The Troubadour, LA

More live albums

  • 2014: Live at the Bitter End 1971 (2 LPs; Atco / Rhino 541097)

Soundtrack

year Title
music label 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US R&B R&B
1972 Come Back Charleston Blue
Atco 7010 		- US198 (2 weeks)
US 		-
First published: June 1972
Supervisor : Quincy Jones

Compilations

year Title
music label 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US R&B R&B
1978 The Best of Donny Hathaway
Atco 107 		- - R&B51 (4 weeks)
R&B
First published: September 1978
1990 A Donny Hathaway Collection
Atlantic 82092 		- US193 (1 week)
US 		-
First published: April 24, 1990

More compilations

  • 1972: The Most Beautiful Songs of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (2 LPs, Split Album ; Atlantic 60031)
  • 2010: Original Album Series (box with 5 CDs; Atlantic 8122 79837 6; release: February 26th)
  • 2011: Flashback with Donny Hathaway (Atlantic 528200)
  • 2013: Never My Love: The Anthology (box with 4 CDs; Atco / Rhino 8122 79654 3; release: November 11th)

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks [↑]: treated together with the previous entry;
[←]: placed in both charts
UK UK US US R&B R&B Dance Dance
1969 I thank you baby - - R&B45 (2 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: February 1969
as June and Donnie, with June Conquest
Authors: Curtis Mayfield , Donny Hathaway
1970 The Ghetto
Everything Is Everything 		- US87 (8 weeks)
US 		R&B23 (11 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: October 1969
Authors: Leroy Hutson , Donny Hathaway
1971 You've Got a Friend
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 		- US29 (12 weeks)
US 		R&B8 (13 weeks)
R&B 		-
First publication: May 1971
with Roberta Flack
Author and original: Carole King , 1971
You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin'
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 		- US71 (6 weeks)
US 		R&B30 (6 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: October 1971
with Roberta Flack
Authors: Barry Mann , Cynthia Weil , Phil Spector
Original: The Righteous Brothers , 1964
1972 Little Ghetto Boy (Live)
Donny Hathaway Live 		- - R&B25 (7 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: March 1972
Authors: Earl DeRouen, Edward Howard
Giving Up
Donny Hathaway 		- US81 (5 weeks)
US 		R&B21 (7 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: April 1972
Author: Van McCoy
Original: Gladys Knight & the Pips , 1964
I thank you - US94 (5 weeks)
US 		R&B41 (5 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: March 1972
with June Conquest
Reissue of I Thank You Baby
Where is the love?
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 		UK29 (7 weeks)
UK 		US5
gold
gold

(13 weeks)US 		R&B1 (13 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: May 1972
with Roberta Flack
Grammy (Pop Vocal Duo)
Authors: Ralph MacDonald , William Salter
I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know
Extension of a Man 		- US60 (6 weeks)
US 		R&B20 (10 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: September 1972
Author: Al Kooper
Original: Blood, Sweat & Tears , 1968
1973 Love, Love, Love
Extension of a Man 		- US44 (9 weeks)
US 		R&B16 (11 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: June 1973
Authors: JR Bailey, Ken Williams
Original: JR Bailey, 1972
Come Little Children
Extension of a Man 		- - R&B67 (9 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: December 1973
Author: Donny Hathaway
1978 The Closer I Get to You
Blue Lights in the Basement 		UK42 (4 weeks)
UK 		US2
gold
gold

(20 weeks)US 		R&B1 (19 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: January 1978
with Roberta Flack
Authors: Reggie Lucas , James Mtume
1980 You Are My Heaven
Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway 		- US47 (11 weeks)
US 		R&B8 (17 weeks)
R&B 		-
First published: January 1980
with Roberta Flack
Author: Stevie Wonder
Back Together Again
Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway 		UK3 (11 weeks)
UK 		US56 (8 weeks)
US 		R&B8 (14 weeks)
R&B 		Dance6 (21 weeks)
Dance
First publication: April 1980
with Roberta Flack
Authors: Reggie Lucas, James Mtume
Don't Make Me Wait Too Long
Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway 		- - -[Dance: ↑]
both songs as album tracks in the dance charts
with Roberta Flack
Author: Stevie Wonder

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

  • 1970: Thank You Master (For My Soul) (Release: June)
  • 1970: Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) (Release: August)
  • 1970: This Christmas (released December)
  • 1971: Magnificent Sanctuary Band (released May)
  • 1971: Put Your Hand in the Hand (release: July)
  • 1972: I Thank You (with June Conquest; release: March)
  • 1972: Come Back Charleston Blue (with Margie Joseph ; release: July)
  • 1973: Magdelana
  • 1978: You Were Meant for Me (release: August)
  • 2013: Never My Love (released April 20)
  • 2015: Don't Turn Away

Trivia

  • The US rock band Fall Out Boy dedicates the song What a Catch, Donnie to Donny Hathaway . The track was released on the album Folie à Deux from 2008.
  • Prince named Hathaway's song Someday We'll All Be Free (1973) as one of 55 songs that inspired him musically

literature

  • Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 283f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.ascap.com/press/2014/1203-top-holiday-songs-100-years
  2. ↑ biography on soulwalking.co.uk; Retrieved December 4, 2012
  3. ↑ http://www.musicvf.com/Roberta+Flack+%2526+Donny+Hathaway.art
  4. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Roberta-Flack-Featuring-Donny-Hathaway-Roberta-Flack-Featuring-Donny-Hathaway/release/6086526
  5. ↑ 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 9, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: UK Billboard Hot 100 Billboard 200 Billboard R&B albums (from 1999)
  7. ↑ a b c d e gold / platinum database US
  8. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
  9. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4 .
  10. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7 .
personal data
SURNAME Hathaway, Donny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pitts, Donnie (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American soul musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 1979
Place of death new York