B-Side Bangers: Donny Hathaway
It can be quite hard talking about some of the music legends we’ve lost over the years, particularly the ones who’ve perished in ways that were anything but peaceful. Unfortunately, 1970s R&B icon Donny Hathaway was one of them.
With a voice that can never be compared, Hathaway started off strong with four back-to-back albums to kick off a new decade in rhythm & blues that saw the official introduction of an R&B category at the GRAMMYs and solo debut years by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Minnie Riperton, Parliament and Funkadelic — this was before the latter two joined forces to become Parliament-Funkadelic! Much like Mayfield (type 2 diabetes; 1999) and Riperton (breast cancer; 1979), we lost Donny far too soon due to a strenuous inner battle he was having with depression stemming from mental illness. He would sadly commit suicide on January 13, 1979 after going six years without a follow-up album to his fourth and final LP, Extension of a Man.
Today (October 1), he would’ve been celebrating his milestone 80th birthday as his superstar daughter, Lalah Hathaway, made note of on social media.
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From his fan-favorite collaborative album with fellow R&B star Roberta Flack, to the Live album that would be his only solo effort to go Gold, Donny Hathaway was able to fit a lot of amazing work into a short period of time. However, he still has a few gems in the catalog that definitely could use some limelight. As many music fans celebrate the life of a certified soul legend today, we decided to show good ol’ Donny Pitts how much he will forever be missed by putting you all on to his best deep cuts. Granted, a career as short as Hathaway’s doesn’t provide us much to work with, but we sonically enjoyed the process of finding out.
We worked our way through his grand debut with Everything Is Everything, the self-titled sophomore effort, the Gold-certified Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway and the aforementioned Extension of a Man and came up with a selection we think you’ll all agree with. In addition to compilation CDs, posthumously-released live albums and his contribution to the 1972 film soundtrack for Come Back, Charleston Blue, you’ll definitely get your Donny fix from this set of songs.
We still miss you, king.
