Donny Hathaway's death is crazy
"Sessions for another album of duets were underway in 1979. On January 13 of that year, Hathaway began a recording session at which producers/musicians
Eric Mercury and
James Mtume were present. Mercury and Mtume each reported that although Hathaway's voice sounded good, he began behaving irrationally, seeming to be paranoid and delusional. According to Mtume, Hathaway said that "white people" were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine, for the purpose of stealing his music and his sound.
[2] Given Hathaway's behavior, Mercury said that he decided the recording session could not continue, so he aborted it and all of the musicians went home.
[2]
Hours later, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York's
Essex House hotel. It was reported that he had jumped from his balcony.
[1 The glass had been neatly removed from the window and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule that Hathaway's death was a suicide. However, his friends were mystified, considering that his career had just entered a resurgence. Flack was devastated and, spurred by his death, included the few duet tracks they had finished on her next album,
Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway."
One of the greatest voices ever.