Donny Hathaway Biography
1 October 1945, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 13 January 1979, New York City, New York, USA. Originally schooled in the gospel tradition, this versatile artist was raised in St. Louis and majored in musical theory at Howard University in Washington DC. He performed in a cocktail jazz trio before gaining employment as a producer with Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records label. A duet with June Conquest, "I Thank You Baby", became Hathaway's first hit in 1969. The same year he was signed by Atlantic Records for whom he recorded several imaginative singles, including "The Ghetto" (1969) and "Love, Love, Love" (1973). His crafted compositions were recorded by such acts as Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler, but Hathaway is best remembered for his cool duets with Roberta Flack. Their complementary voices were honed to perfection on "Where Is The Love" (1972) and "The Closer I Get To You" (1978), both of which reached the US Top 5. Why this gifted musician should have taken his own life remains unexplained, but on 13 January 1979, Hathaway threw himself from the fifteenth floor of New York's Essex House hotel. The following year, the singer achieved a posthumous hit in the UK with another Roberta Flack duet, "Back Together Again", which reached number 3. Hathaway possessed a truly beautiful effortless voice.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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