Donny Hathaway is the eponymous second studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by American soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 artist Donny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway

Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...

, released on April 2, 1971 on Atco

Atco Records

ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...

. The majority of songs featured on the collection were covers of pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

, gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 and soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 songs that were released around the same time. The most prominent of the covers were Hathaway's inspired rendition of Leon Russell

Leon Russell

Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....

's "A Song for You

A Song for You

"A Song for You" is a soulful love song written and originally recorded by rock singer-songwriter and pianist Leon Russell for his first solo album 'Leon Russell', which was released in 1970 on Shelter Records. A slow, pained plea for forgiveness and understanding from an estranged lover, the tune...

" and a gospel-inflected cover of Gladys Knight & the Pips

Gladys Knight & the Pips

Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...

' "Giving Up". This was the second of three studio albums Hathaway released during his lifetime before his suicide in 1979.

Track listing

1. "Giving Up" (Van McCoy
   Van McCoy
   Van Allen Clinton McCoy was an accomplished musician, music producer, arranger, songwriter, and orchestra conductor. He is known best for his 1975 internationally successful song "The Hustle", which is still played in dance halls and on radio to this day more than thirty years since his death...
   
   ) (6:20)
2. "A Song for You
   A Song for You
   "A Song for You" is a soulful love song written and originally recorded by rock singer-songwriter and pianist Leon Russell for his first solo album 'Leon Russell', which was released in 1970 on Shelter Records. A slow, pained plea for forgiveness and understanding from an estranged lover, the tune...
   
   " (Leon Russell
   Leon Russell
   Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
   
   ) (5:25)
3. "Little Girl" (Billy Preston
   Billy Preston
   William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
   
   ) (4:47)
4. "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
   He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
   "He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother" is a popular music ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies later that year and again for Neil Diamond in 1970....
   
   " (Bob Russell
   Bob Russell (songwriter)
   Sidney Keith "Bob" Russell, was an American songwriter born in Passaic, New Jersey.In 1968, Russell along with songwriting partner Quincy Jones was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category...
   
   , Bobby Scott
   Bobby Scott (musician)
   Bobby Scott was an American musician, record producer, and songwriter.-Biography:He was born Robert William Scott in Mount Pleasant, New York, and became a pianist, vibraphonist, and singer, and could also play the accordion, cello, clarinet, and double bass...
   
   ) (5:55)
5. "Magnificent Sanctuary Band" (Dorsey Burnette
   Dorsey Burnette
   Dorsey Burnette was an early Rockabilly singer. With his younger brother, Johnny Burnette, and a friend named Paul Burlison, he was a founder member of The Rock and Roll Trio.-Background and early career:Dorsey Burnett was born on December 28, 1932 to Willie May and Dorsey Burnett Sr...
   
   ) (4:24)
6. "She Is My Lady" (George Clinton
   George Clinton (musician)
   George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
   
   ) (5:33)
7. "I Believe in Music" (Mac Davis
   Mac Davis
   Mac Davis is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor originally from Lubbock, Texas who has enjoyed much crossover success...
   
   ) (3:38)
8. "Take a Love Song" (Hathaway, Nadine McKinnor) (4:53)
9. "Put Your Hand in the Hand" (Gene MacLellan
   Gene MacLellan
   Gene MacLellan was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island.Among his notable compositions were "Snowbird", made famous by Anne Murray, "Put Your Hand in the Hand, "The Call", "Pages of Time" and "Thorn in My Shoe"...
   
   ) (3:49)

Personnel

• Donny Hathaway - vocals, keyboards
• Myrna Summers
  Myrna Summers
  Myrna Summers is a Gospel Music singer who has performed professionally for over four decades and is now the Minister of Music at Reid Temple A.M.E. Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland.She has a commanding yet distinctive alto voice....
  
   - background vocals
• Sammy Turner - background vocals
• King Curtis
  King Curtis
  Curtis Ousley , who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk and soul jazz. Variously a bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer...
  
   - tenor saxophone
• Joe Newman - trumpet
• Chuck Rainey
  Chuck Rainey
  Chuck Rainey, is an American bass guitar session musician, known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Donald Byrd, Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, and Aretha Franklin.-Biography:Rainey's youthful pursuits included violin, piano and trumpet...
  
   - bass
• Phil Upchurch
  Phil Upchurch
  Phil Upchurch is an American jazz and R&B guitarist and bassist.Upchurch started his career working with The Kool Gents, The Dells, and The Spaniels before going on to work with Curtis Mayfield, Otis Rush and Jimmy Reed. He then returned to Chicago to play and record with Woody Herman, Stan Getz,...
  
   - guitar, bass
• J.R. Bailey - background vocals
• John Littlejohn -guitar, vocals
• Cissy Houston
  Cissy Houston
  Emily "Cissy" Houston is a Grammy Award–winning American soul and gospel singer. She led a very successful career as a backup singer for such artists as Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Wishbone Ash and Aretha Franklin, and is now primarily a solo artist...
  
   - background vocals
• Judy Clay - background vocals
• Cornell Dupree
  Cornell Dupree
  Cornell Luther Dupree was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis and Steve Gadd, appeared on David Letterman, and wrote a book on soul and blues guitar: Rhythm and Blues Guitar ISBN 0-634-00149-3...
  
   - guitar
• Interdenominational - vocals
• Jack Jennings - percussion
• Morris Jennings - drums
• Steve Novosel - bass
• Sylvia Shemwell - background vocals
• Myrna Smith
  Myrna Smith
  Myrna Yvonne Smith was an American songwriter and singer, who co-wrote many of the songs for Carl Wilson's 1981 solo album Carl Wilson, as well as a few of the songs on his 1983 solo album Youngblood...
  
   - background vocals
• Ivory Stone - background vocals
• Deirdre Tuck Corley - background vocals
• Lillian Tynes - background vocals
• Ronald Bright - background vocals
• Al Jackson, Jr. - drums