scriptgirl said:

That's it ...

funkpill said:

Oh hell yes

phunkdaddy said:

Eivets Rednow

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Hold on, here comes your backup...

Fact of the matter is Donny was a model for Stevie's "grown-up" albums for Motown. Stevie is a lot more productive as a songwriter, but the gospel quality, keyboard emphasis and willingness to collaborate (especially with the ladies) are all there. Check Everything is Everything and the eponymous 2nd album. Those are '70/'71 then put on Stevie's.

Marvin's really a big bro to them both. Curtis too.
[Edited 12/7/08 21:21pm]
[Edited 12/7/08 22:06pm]

Mong said:

Why?

PFunkjazz said:

Man do I disagree with this. If you listen to Stevie from the beginning, you hear Gospel in Stevie's delivery Way before Donny hit the scene. In fact, Stevie used to sing in the Church choir growing up. Even after he was thrown out for singing secular music, he still was tutored by His Motown big brothers and sisters to inject gospel into his vocal stylings.
As for a willingness to collaborate, that was always there. He was 11 when he signed to Motown, so that's basically all he did as he grew. In fact, he collaborated so much, that it spawned his desire to be independent. Check "Where I'm Coming From".
When it comes to keyboards, Stevie is a pioneer. He was playing Organ on His first album. According to one of his former bass players, Michael Henderson, Stevie played the first Clavinet back in 1965! Motown had a Moog synthesiZer in the 1960s. Stevie's use of the Moog and the Arp synthesizers from "Music Of My Mind" on plus his recordings in studios other than Motown's as well as his and Marvin's "Declaration Of Independence" From Motown's 1960s model were the primary reasons for Stevie's "Grown up" sound .
I think Donny Hathaway's vocal stylings inspired Stevie to stretch more as a vocalist. Any other influence is usually Grossly overstated, IMO. Stevie has said that they influenced one another. Check Donny's cover of Stevie's "Superwoman" recorded on May 6, 1972, 2 months after Stevie released it on March 1972's "Music Of My Mind". There was mutual respect and influence on both sides.

manray10 said:

Not sure why the disagreement is so vehemently stated since I specified "a model" not "the model". For the purposes of this thread I didn't bother to list the number of influences outside of his family circleStevie used in developing a more mature style: they are many and varied. Suffice to say, Donny's cover of "A Song For You" was recorded while MOMM was in progress and it caused Stevie to rethink his entire approach*. True, they were contemporaries and they had a mutual influence for each other, but Donny was a bit ahead of the curve onf Stevie.


* I'm pulling this from memory, but it's either the Praeger or Lodder book that I'd cite as a reference.
[Edited 12/8/08 5:29am]

I think that this whole discussion is just silly-who is better than who, who is greater than who. It is all subjective, as art is, and people definitely have their favorites. I'm sure that if you had the ability to ask Marvin, Donny or Stevie who is "better" than who, they wouldn't say themselves. They were/are each geniuses in their own right, and 2 of them were taken from here early, but that's about it. They are ALL talented.

PFunkjazz said:

Right!! I possess these two books that are written by authors with their opinions. I've seen books that called Donny a Stevie clone, which I disagree with. To say that Donny's version of "A Song For You" caused Stevie to rethink his ENTIRE approach is another example of folks overstating Donny's influence on Stevie. Once again , the Moog and Arp synthesizers were a bigger influence on MOMM than Donny ,particularly on songs like "Love Having You Around", "Seems So Long","Girl Blue", "Keep,On Running", "Happier Than The Morning Sun" and of course , ""Superwoman" which Donny covered. Also songs like "Visions" were actually written in 1970. "Ribbon In The Sky" in 1968. Stevie referred to Donny in a 1996 interview and said that they influenced one another. I see more of a vocal influence from Donny as opposed to a musical one, primarily because of Stevie's use of synthesizers which were not prominent on Donny's early albums. Just my opinion.
is a stretch.

kenlacam said:

manray10 said:

Let me clarify, because I see I misstated some things.
I don't know why I capitalized "entire" when referencing MOMM and the vord "vocal" got dropped in my posts. Somehow, the gospel keyboard emphasis that I'm crediting Donny with got interpolated as commanding a bank of sythesizers. That was never Donny's suit. His influence on Stevie was primarily with vocals, but also with imbuing a gospelish tone on electric piano. Donny could probably play a more churchy piano solo than Stevie, but he had a wealth of personal and psychological problems that hindered him from having a consistent and productive discography.

All said, I think we're more in agreement than opposition.

I definitely think, they were all cross influenced by each other , though I think early Marvin Gaye was more of a vocal influence to Stevie than anyone else. Just check out "Heard it Through the Grapevine" or "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" it has that open mouth gospel like vocal Stevie is famous for. Also if you want to look for a Donny Hathaway like performance from earlier in Stevie's career, check out "Sylvia" from Down To Earth Album. Theres something chilling soulful and tender about the delivery that evokes songs like "I Know Its You". I think Stevie who can assimilate musical styles easily, has a Donny Hathaway style that he can do, like "Golden Lady" sounds similar to "Love Love Love"

To answer the threads original question, I mean its all up to personal taste, but even if Stevie retired after Songs In; he would be still more relevant than Donny, not just vocally, but everything else, such as arragements, his use of sythesisers which influenced a generation(the 80's). I will agree that Donny could be more soulful than Stevie though, only because Stevie still has pop sensibilities which was ingrained from Motown; but that is what makes him so popular, because he knew (at least back in the day) the perfect mix of pop and soul. This thread does make me wanna put on some Donny though =D

I'd say that Donny was THE most SOULFUL vocalist I've ever heard.

2 be honest:I never heard of Hathaway untill a few years ago when a lot of R&B
artists mentioned his name (I don't know if Prince mentioned him?).
Maybe I've heard some of his songs as a child but nothing from what I've heard here sounds familiar 2 me.

Maybe he was more succesfull in the U.S. than in Europe??
Also the fact that Marvin & Stevie had the chance 2 make music 4 a longer period
must have made a big difference.

Everyone knows Stevie & Marvin but if I would ask about Donny..well, a lot won't know who he is. Also the fact if someone,like me,grew up with
Stevie's music on the radio makes a big difference.
I have great memories from his music,while I don't have that with Donny.

Anyway,I guess the man must have done something special and should be
respected 4 that.

Stevie's has the disadvantage of being alive If he'd died in 1977, there would be absolutely no tarnish on his career.

I don't like the idea of ranking these guys, they're all great and in different ways. Marvin was maybe the most sensual, a great performer, Donnie had the purest voice, Stevie was the musical genius.

Stevie's the one I listen to the most, but I don't see how any of them could really be much better than they were.

It's a hard to say. Donny didn't fulfil his potential, he died too young!!
Stevie is brilliant a true genuis. Marvin's "Whats Going On" Album is probably the one of the best and most relevant albums of all time. And then there is Donny with some of the most heartfelt songs ever, like "Some Day we' ll All Be Free". In fact they should play that song on January 20th when Obama's becomes America's 44th President.

whatsgoingon said:

That's it in a nutshell:

Stevie - genius
Marvin - consistent master of diverse topics
Donny - tragic master of soul

Nobody's greater than the other really though I'd prefer MARVIN but there's COOL qualities and GREAT qualities about ALL THREE.