@celebrity.death.s: He was a soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. Hathaway, the son of Drusella Huntley, was born into an African American family in Chicago, Illinois on October 1st 1945 and was raised by his grandmother, Martha Pitts, also known as Martha Crumwell, in the Carr Square housing project of St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Vashon High School in 1963.Hathaway then studied music on a fine arts scholarship at Howard University in Washington, D.C Hathaway worked as a songwriter, session musician, and producer for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records in Chicago. Hathaway signed to Atco Records, then a division of Atlantic Records, after being spotted for the label by producer/musician King Curtis at a trade convention. He released his first single of note, "The Ghetto, Pt. 1 His second LP, Donny Hathaway, consisted mostly of covers of contemporary pop, soul, and gospel songs. His third album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway was an album of duets with former Howard University associate and label mate Roberta Flack, His final studio album, Extension of a Man came out in 1973 with two tracks, "Love Love Love" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" reaching both the pop and R&B charts. In 1967, Hathaway married Eulaulah Vann. The two met while attending Howard University where both were studying music. They had two daughters, Eulaulah Donyll (Lalah) and Kenya Canc'Libra. During the peak of his career, Hathaway began experiencing severe bouts of depression and exhibiting unusual behavior. In 1971, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia for which he was prescribed various medications. At one point, Hathaway was prescribed fourteen different medications that he was to take twice a day. From 1973 to 1977, Hathaway's mental instability wreaked havoc on his life and career and required several hospitalizations. The effects of his depression and severe mood swings also drove a wedge in his and Flack's friendship; On January 13, Hathaway began a recording session with producers/musicians Eric Mercury and James Mtume. Each reported that although Hathaway was singing fine, he began behaving irrationally, seeming to be paranoid and delusional. According to Mtume, Hathaway said that white people were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine for the purpose of stealing his music and his voice. Hours later, Hathaway was found dead on the pavement below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York City's Essex House hotel at 160 Central Park South. It was reported that he had jumped from his balcony. The glass had been neatly removed from the window and there were no signs of a struggle, leading investigators to rule that Hathaway's death was a suicide

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Thursday 15 August 2024 22:56:41 GMT