Donny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway（1945年10月1日－1979年1月13日）是一位非裔美国灵魂乐大大师，他最著名的是和Roberta Flack的合作演唱。Donny Hathaway出生在芝加哥，在圣路易斯长大，在1964年靠弹钢琴赢取了Howard大学的艺术类奖学金，并在三年后离开了大学。
 
他后来开始写歌、伴奏，并为The Staple Singers, Jerry Butler and Aretha Franklin当过制作人。他的第一首单曲是和June Conquest一起合作的“I Thank You Baby”，接下来是较有影响力的（尽管还不算太大）“The Ghetto, Pt. 1”，他的首张LP《Everything Is Everything》评论一般，他的第二张同名专辑与接下来与Roberta Flack对唱的专辑都受到了好评。他接下来也出了一些歌曲，但因为情绪不好的原因，出歌速度在70年代中期渐渐慢了下来，在70年代末他重新和 Roberta Flack合作了一首单曲《The Closer I Get to You》，之后更多的作品都是以对唱的方式出现，但Hathaway在1979年却意外的从纽约城旅馆15层楼高他的房间跳楼自杀。
 
Donny Hathaway的Donny Hathaway‘s Live专辑对很多的艺人都产生了影响，包括India Arie和Stevie Ray Vaughan，这张短短的现场专辑还包括了著名的R&B大师Willie Weeks（贝斯吉它）和Cornell Dupree（吉它）。
by Steve Huey
Donny Hathaway was one of the brightest new voices in soul music at the dawn of the 70s, possessed of a smooth, gospel-inflected romantic croon that was also at home on fiery protest material. Hathaway achieved his greatest commercial success as Roberta Flacks duet partner of choice, but sadly hes equally remembered for the tragic circumstances of his death — an apparent suicide at age 33. Hathaway was born October 1, 1945, in Chicago, but moved to St. Louis when he was very young, and began singing in church with his grandmother at the scant age of three. He began playing piano at a young age, and by high school, he was impressive enough to win a full-ride fine arts scholarship to Howard University to study music in 1964. While in college, he performed with a cocktail jazz outfit called the Ric Powell Trio, and wound up leaving school after three years to pursue job opportunities he was already being offered in the record industry.
Hathaway first worked behind the scenes as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and session pianist/keyboardist. He supported the likes of Aretha Franklin, Jerry Butler, and the Staple Singers, among many others, and joined the Mayfield Singers, a studio backing group that supported Curtis Mayfields Impressions. Hathaway soon became a house producer at Mayfields Curtom label, and in 1969 cut his first single, a duet with June Conquest called I Thank You Baby. From there he signed with Atco as a solo artist, and released his debut single, the inner-city lament The Ghetto, Pt. 1, toward the end of the year. While it failed to reach the Top 20 on the R&B charts, The Ghetto still ranks as a classic soul message track, and has been sampled by numerous hip-hop artists. The Ghetto set the stage for Hathaways acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which was released in early 1970. In 1971, he released his eponymous second album and recorded a duet with former Howard classmate Roberta Flack, covering James Taylors Youve Got a Friend. It was a significant hit, reaching the Top Ten on the R&B charts, and sparked a full album of duets, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, which was released in 1972. The soft, romantic ballad Where Is the Love? topped the R&B charts, went Top Five on the pop side, and won a Grammy, and the accompanying album went gold.
Also in 1972, Hathaway branched out into soundtrack work, recording the theme song for the TV series Maude and scoring the film Come Back Charleston Blue. However, in the midst of his blossoming success, he was also battling severe bouts of depression, which occasionally required him to be hospitalized. His mood swings also affected his partnership with Flack, which began to crumble in 1973. Hathaway released one more album that year, the ambitious Extension of a Man, and then retreated from the spotlight; over the next few years, he performed only in small clubs. In 1977, Hathaway patched things up with Flack and temporarily left the hospital to record another duet, The Closer I Get to You, for her Blue Lights in the Basement album. The song was a smash, becoming the pairs second R&B number one in 1978, and also climbing to number two on the pop charts. Sessions for a second album of duets were underway when, on January 13, 1979, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the 15th-floor window of his room in New Yorks Essex House. The glass had been neatly removed from the window, and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule Hathaways death a suicide; his friends were mystified, considering that his career had just started to pick up again, and Flack was devastated. Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway was released in 1980, and both of the completed duets — Back Together Again and You Are My Heaven — became posthumous hits. In 1990, Hathaways daughter Lalah launched a solo career.