Donny Hathaway — Music Videos

A Singer and a Complete Musician

Donny Hathaway was an American singer, pianist, songwriter and arranger whose recordings joined gospel intensity to the harmonic detail of jazz and soul. His warm voice could make a simple phrase feel newly discovered, while his keyboard playing gave songs a distinctive rhythmic and emotional shape. He was equally persuasive in a carefully arranged studio performance and in an extended live setting, where the response of the band and audience became part of the music.

From The Ghetto to A Song for You

Work as a session musician and producer preceded his solo recordings for Atco. The Ghetto introduced a socially grounded, rhythmically insistent approach before the 1970 album Everything Is Everything. His self-titled 1971 album included a deeply personal interpretation of Leon Russell's A Song for You. A celebrated live album and the recordings made with Roberta Flack revealed further dimensions of his phrasing, musicianship and ability to communicate within a duet.

An Enduring Vocal Standard

Although his recording career was brief, the catalogue covers far more than ballad singing. It includes instrumentally driven grooves, expansive arrangements and performances that draw openly on church music. His influence can be heard in later soul singers' attention to feeling, timing and the expressive weight of a single line. Listening to the records also reveals an arranger and instrumentalist whose contribution extends well beyond an exceptional voice.