The choirboy from Carr Square who arranged his own soul

Donny Hathaway was singing in a church choir at three years old. He had been born in Chicago, but it was in the Carr Square housing project of St. Louis that his grandmother raised him. She was a professional gospel singer, and alongside the choir he studied piano.

A fine arts scholarship took him to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where his roommate, the drummer Ric Powell, would end up launching his career. In 1967, just before completing a degree, Hathaway and Powell left Howard when job offers arrived from the music business, among them Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records in Chicago. There Hathaway worked as a songwriter, session musician and producer, arranging hits for the Unifics and taking part in projects by the Staple Singers, Aretha Franklin and the Impressions.

Spotted by the producer King Curtis, he signed to Atco Records, and his first single of note, “The Ghetto, Pt. 1”, was co-written with his old Howard roommate Leroy Hutson. It appeared on his debut album, Everything Is Everything, which he co-produced with Powell while arranging every cut himself. A duets album with his label mate Roberta Flack followed, and with her he recorded “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You”. Elsewhere he was known for his renditions of “A Song for You” and for “This Christmas”.

Hathaway died on 13 January 1979. He won one Grammy from four nominations, and in 2019 he was honored posthumously with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020 the Dutch director David Kleijwegt premiered a documentary about him, Mister Soul, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Hearing “Love Love Love” or “Where Is The Love” today, you can follow the thread back to a three-year-old in a choir loft.