Remembering Donny Hathaway (October 1, 1945-January 13, 1979) #Donny70 http://t.co/z5kZgzLWmt pic.twitter.com/0TKUjgCm5K
— Ivan Orr (@iorr03) October 1, 2015
On October 1, 2015 what would have been the 70th birthday of Donny Hathaway was recognized and celebrated all over the GFMverse. You can see by the number of retweets and favorites (many from folks I don’t follow and who don’t follow me) that the reverence for Donny is far and wide and deservedly so. As we have chronicled on these pages Donny Hathaway was the consummate musician.
I chose the to title this post An Actual Legacy because when we examine Donny Hathaway that’s exactly what the takeaway is… During Donny’s lifetime he didn’t rule the charts, wasn’t on the cover of every magazine a couple times a year, and on and on. No, Donny Hathaway blessed us with some incredible music that has stood the test of time and with each year someone from a new generation discovers Donny and comes to understand that what Donny Hathaway left us with is the standard. That’s An Actual Legacy.
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
