Little GirlDonny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway

Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer and songwriter. Born in Chicago, he was raised in St. Louis by his grandmother. He attended Howard University and studied music after received a fine arts scholarship.

He found work as a songwriter, session musician and producer for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records in Chicago in 1968. The following year he signed with Atco Records and released his first single of note, “The Ghetto, Pt.1”, which appeared on his critically acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything. However, it was his third album, Duets with Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack, that really established him. Hathaway also wrote the now popular Christmas song, “This Christmas”, which has been performed by Chris Brown, Stevie Wonder, and Diana Ross.

At the peak of his career, Hathaway started suffering from severe bouts of depression which sometimes interfered with his life and often required hospitalization. It was discovered that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was prescribed medication. The effects of his illness affected the friendship between he and Roberta Flack and the pair did not release additional music until the successful release of “The Closer I Get To You” in 1978.