On January 13, 1979, Donny Hathaway committed suicide after jumping out of a New York apartment at the Essex Hotel. He was only 33 years old. His death ended a decade of creativity laid by the Chicago-born, St. Louis native, who was at one time Roberta Flack's duet partner, and another, his own arranger, writer, singer, producer and conductor. Share your thoughts on brother Donny as we celebrate his life in the 30th anniversary of his tragic death.

Wow, 30 years. Where has the time gone? I remember the day this happened. I was 15 years old and shocked that someone would jump out of a window. Donny was a great talent. It's a shame he didn't get help from someone rather than ending his own life. Think of all the great music he could've made.

Don't depress me. Great talent lost.....

Timmy84 said:

I remember that day. It happened over the weekend, I remember cause there was a story about his death, in the Sunday paper. As a young child, having heard his music played all through the house, I felt like I had lost a member of the family.

I remember it too

Totally shock

I don't remember that day, I was born after that.

I have a lot of respect for his memory so I never bring it up, but isn't there some sort of rumor about his death not being a suicide?

Cinnie said:

Just that, "Unsung" proved that it's likely he DID commit suicide.

Timmy84 said:

The fuck is "Unsung"?

Cinnie said:

TVone documentary.

Cinnie said:

You probably don't have TV-One, lol. He was featured on a documentary called "Unsung" on that channel.

Timmy84 said:

lol

Timmy84 said:

Well maybe I need to watch "Unsung" then...I thought that it was said that him committing suicide was questionable too.

missfee said:

Some people questioned it but the narrator said "unfortunately the number one cause for schizophrenics' deaths was suicide" and some others said that Donny had told people he had thoughts of suicide. There's a picture of Donny in that special, when the picture scrolled down, there was a book or a paper of sorts and the word on it in black was "SUICIDE".

Timmy84 said:

Whoa, thats creepy. I need to catch this episode the next time it airs.

very sad

Timmy84 said:

I don't have TV period.

Graycap23 said:

The fuck you laughin' at?

Cinnie said:

For real?

Incredible talent that was very conflicted inside. There have always been rumours as to what drove him to suicide. Some were quite, shall we say,
controversial, especially for back then - nowadays, such a rumot may not fly well in the African-American community, but oh well...
R.I.P. Donny Hathaway
No one will ever sing "A Song For You" or "This Christmas" better than you.

In that TV ONE UNSUNG special, Donny Hathaway's wife made a point about still discussing Donny's legacy 30 years after his passing. One of his daughters, Donnita, mentioned Donny's desire to see his music last. And it has. His musical genius was too powerful to be silenced by death.

God Bless his soul! God rest his soul!

In the immortal words of Roberta Flack,

"Donny Hathaway Lives"

Amen!

manray10 said:

You got that fucking right.

So sad...Donny is one of my favorite artists period, I always listen to one of his songs everyday.

Cinnie said:

that.....

Donny Hathaway is well respected, but still under credited 4 the influence he had on R&B... I mean, he even influenced Stevie Wonder, and U can hear it in many of Stevie's early '70s albums.

Great writer... beautiful voice. He was a foundation 4 future singers, and a legend, with the songs he left us with, that have stood the test of time.