Six Degrees of Donny Hathaway

Marvin Gaye had intense at times dangerous charisma; Curtis Mayfield was righteous and proud; Al Green and Barry White oozed sex appeal; Isaac Hayes possessed that tender, smoky, wounded voice. In the pantheon of 1970s soul men, it is easy to forget about Chicago's Donny Hathaway, a brilliant musical mind and magnetic performer who never saw through his horizonless promise. Raised around Chicago and St. Louis, Hathaway became a sought-after session singer... and musician in the 1960s while attending Howard University. His gigs were so frequent that he left school in 1967. He worked as an in-house producer, songwriter and arranger for Chicago's famed Twinight Records before moving on to fill similar duties at Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records. He stepped out on his own in 1970 with Everything is Everything, a minor hit powered by Hathaway's playful electric piano and effervescent, gospel-influenced range. Over the next few years, his ascension continued. His songs were sweeping and broad, his muses spiritual and eternal. His 1972 milestone Live, featuring a joyous take on Gaye's "What's Going On?" and a wrenching version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," is one of the richest live soul albums ever recorded. That year, he also collaborated with Roberta Flack, a former classmate at Howard, for a classic album of duets. For Hathaway's pensive 1973 album Extension of a Man his last solo studio effort a plain white sleeve is adorned with little more than the title and a ghostly, processed photograph of his head, nothing left but the collar of his shirt, the sweep of his cap and the faint, sad peaks of his face, all fading away. It's a haunting image, given that Hathaway was very a much a lonely man, suffering from severe depression. He would commit suicide six years later.

11750872 By 1969, the Chicago trio the Impressions were already old-timers. Their most enterprising member, Curtis Mayfield, was on the verge of pursuing a solo career and, befitting the changing times, they were slowly taking on a more socially conscious bite to their material. Young Mod's is one of the Impressions' most important records, a transition from the spiritual harmonies of their older material to the funk soul consciousness that would define... them (and Mayfield) over the next decade. The gorgeously intertwined vocals of "Soulful Love" and the celebratory, swinging "Seven Years" indexed their past; the defiant "Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)" and the optimistic, all-together-now "Choice of Colors" represented the sound of the future. A young Donny Hathaway assisted Johnny Pate on the arrangements. By the next year, Hathaway's name would be on the front of the album sleeve, in large, bold letters.

11757630 Of all the great soul duet albums, this has to rank among the very best. Flack and Hathaway knew each other from their time at Howard University, and he had contributed songs and arrangements to her first two albums. Perhaps their familiarity is what lends this session such a special, intimate feel. Recorded in 1971 at the behest of Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler, this collaborative was intended to give both Flack... and Hathaway the career boosts they then needed. Hit covers of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" insured that it did just that. Other highlights include the buoyant "Where is the Love," Hathaway offering a velvety shadow to Flack's delicate vocals, and the nostalgic "Be Real Black For Me" (later sampled by M.O.P. and Scarface). It all closes with the unlikely, seven-minute instrumental "Mood," a chilling duet of piano.

Among modern day soul strivers, Hathaway remains an artist's artist. He's been covered by Aaliyah and Alicia Keys; he's name-checked by the likes of Beyonce, John Legend and Justin Timberlake; and he's mentioned in song lyrics (a rare thing) by Amy Winehouse and Prince. While piano-playing stars like Legend and Keys might be the more literal heirs to Hathaway's style, few seem to channel his chalky, controlled croon quite like Anthony Hamilton.... Released in 2005, Soulife is a stunning collection of tracks that Hamilton recorded in the mid to late 1990s. With its raw, earthy textures and Hamilton's proud but restrained singing, it's an overlooked gem of modern soul. Hamilton's best songs float freely between the sacred awe of gospel and the profane groove of R & B, and he aspires toward that rare feeling of Hathaway, the balance between the ecstasies of love, friendship and uplift and the agonies waiting within all of us.

Hathaway remains a much-loved source for hip-hop producers ("Magnificent Sanctuary Band") as well as a nice namedrop for rappers, presumably because it sounds cool when things rhyme with "Hathaway." Fellow Chicagoan Common has tried his best to follow in Hathaway's footsteps, juggling the pressures of individual needs, troubles and vanities with larger dreams of community and salvation. Released in 1997 and inspired by his experiences as a new father, One Day was... Common's self-conscious "soul" record. The Lauryn Hill-backed single "Retrospect for Life" was stitched together using parts borrowed from Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, while on "Stolen Moments, Pt. 2," he rapped about the necessity of keeping soul music near in case of emergency: "But what could get me halfway calm was this Donny Hathaway song." In this case, however, a missing tape of Hathaway's soothing songs is part of the emergency.

Donny wasn't the only talented Hathway. His wife, Eulaulah, is a classically trained singer and two daughters, Kenya and Lalah, have picked up where their late father left off. Kenya is currently a back-up singer on American Idol despite the lumps it takes, the show has done quite a bit to bring Hathaway's music back to the public. Lalah debuted as a solo artist in the late 1980s to little sustained fanfare.... She spent much of the 1990s, like her father, as a jazz and R & B session musician and songwriter, particularly as one of guitarist Joe Sample's trustiest collaborators. She reemerged in 2004 with the smooth, lush Outrun the Sky, and in 2008 she released the mature, polished and much-praised Self Portrait, a reintroduction of sorts. And so the name lives on.