Donny Hathaway was a popular American soul and R&B singer in the 1970s. Both with his solo material and his series of duets with Roberta Flack, he scored a number of chart-topping hits throughout the decade that showcased his smooth and romantic vocal delivery. Hathaway was born in Chicago, but grew up in St. Louis, where he was introduced to music by singing at church with his grandmother at the age of three. His first forays into the music industry came in the forms of session playing, arranging and producing, and it wouldn't be until 1970 that he would start to become known for his own vocal prowess. His debut album, Everything Is Everything, included "The Ghetto," a popular single that remains an oft-sampled soul classic to this day. A couple of years later, his duets with Flack, such as their Top 10 cover of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend," would become some of the most beloved ballads of the 1970s. After years of struggles with depression and schizophrenia, Hathaway was found dead in 1979, the result of a suspected suicide.
