Donny Hathaway: This walking R&B powerhouse was dubbed “a major new force in soul music” by talent authorities Rolling Stone when he crooner belted out “The Ghetto, Part I” with Atlantic Records in 1970. He also scored in duo, especially with Roberta Flack, as they won a Grammy for the 1973 cut, “Where is the Love”. The father of beloved jazz/R&B singer Lalah Hathaway, Donny’s promising career was cut short when he began suffering from delusions and paranoia that “white people” were trying to hook him up to a machine in order to steal his music when. THe elder Hathaway’s body was found outside the luxury Manhattan hotel, The Essex House, in 1979 and was quickly ruled a suicide.
