What was Donny Hathaway cause of death?

Publish date: 2024-05-03

Hathaway, the grandson of Drusella Huntley, was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was reared in the Carr Square housing project in St. Louis, Missouri, by his grandmother Martha Pitts, also known as Martha Crumwell. At the age of three, Hathaway started learning the piano and singing in the church choir with his grandmother, a famous gospel singer. Vashon High School awarded him a diploma in 1963.

The following year, Hathaway attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he studied music on a fine arts scholarship and met Roberta Flack. He belonged to the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Howard. While there, Hathaway and drummer Ric Powell created a jazz trio, but in 1967, shortly before earning a degree from Howard, Hathaway left for job offers in the music industry.

While at Howard, Hathaway formed a jazz trio with drummer Ric Powell, but she left before finishing her degree in 1967, after obtaining work offers in the music industry.

In Chicago, Hathaway worked as a songwriter, session musician, and producer for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records. He worked on projects with the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, the Impressions, and Curtis Mayfield himself, and arranged songs for the Unifics (“Court of Love” and “The Beginning of My End”). He began recording thereafter becoming a “house producer” at Curtom. In 1969, Hathaway released his first song under his own name, “I Thank You, Baby,” a duet with singer June Conquest.

They also recorded a duet called “Just Another Reason,” which was issued as the B-side. Former Cleveland Browns president Bill Futterer, who pushed Curtom throughout the southeast as a college student in 1968 and 1969, was befriended by Hathaway and has recognized Hathaway’s impact on his later efforts.

What was Donny Hathaway’s cause of death?

His body was discovered outside New York’s Essex House, below his 15th floor hotel room, on January 13, 1979. His death was determined to be a suicide. He was only 33 at the time.

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