Though his recording career was quite brief, Donny Hathaway has continued to be one of the most influential soul artists of the last four decades. The longevity of and increase in his popularity is due in large part to the rare combination of gifts he possessed. He was a talented songwriter with the ability to write songs that provided, in a secular format, the depth of the most heartfelt Gospel music; and he was a remarkable song stylist who defined (or redefined) nearly every song he touched in his brief career. His death by an apparent suicide was news in 1979, but it has loomed ever larger since then, and one wonders whether his already strong influence on R&B would have been truly singular if he had lived through the entirety of his creative cycle...Read Full Biography
Just vote below to let us know your picks! For this vote, we're only including his solo songs (we're including "For All We Know" because he performed it solo, even though it was on an album with Roberta Flack). You can vote for as many songs as you want. Then check back next week when we post the three top songs!
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Classic Soul Triple-Play is a new SoulTracks feature that spotlights three songs from some of our favorite all time artists. We need your help choosing the songs for our next one, honoring the great Donny Hathaway.