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If you were wondering why we had a small break last week and teased you with some of the sweet bonus content our subs get (which you can get access to by signing up at www.patreon.com/unsungpod - starting at £4 a month!) it’s because we needed a little time to get our research hats on. This week we’re bringing you another monster episode and the topic is Donny Hathaway.

Donny Hathaway was a remarkable musician. That’s not in dispute. A prodigious talent from a very young age, he transitioned from gospel choir singer to a house songwriter for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records, whilst also working with a number of seminal soul and RnB artists in the late 60s. As the 70s rolled in, he started to explore a solo career and the rest is, as they say, history. From 1970 to 197 he delivered a lot of output in a very short space of time, before mental health issues began to take their toll, sending him off into creative silence for the remainder of the 1970s. 

As far as soul and RnB singers go, Donny is one of the most influential you’ve probably never heard of. A real musician’s musician, so to speak, he garnered a lengthy list of admirers in his lifetime, and an even greater list since his tragic passing in 1979.

On this week’s episode Crag takes on a deep dive into all of his albums before we discuss his posthumous live collection Songs for You, Live! And get to the bottom of whether or not his truly unsung.