The thing that seriously pisses me off about Leon Russell is somebody named Donny Hathaway seems to be getting the credit for writing and recording Leon Russell's songs the last few years,and nobody is correcting the people repeating that garbage.
@sneakypete The only connection between Leon Russell and Donny Hathaway that I know of is that Hathaway did a version of Russell's "A Song for You" on his second album, a set of mostly covers called simply
Donny Hathaway. (Some time ago I found that and Hathaway's other albums in a small box issues by Rhino; he was easily one of the best soul performers of the 1970s with marked jazz influences---indeed, he once arranged for Woody Herman as well as for the Impressions, for whose leader Curtis Mayfield he also once served as house keyboardman at Mayfield's label, Curtom.) Hathaway was a potent songwriter in his own right; he hardly needed to seek credit elsewhere---"The Ghetto," from his first album and from a rousing version on his live album,
Donny Hathaway Live, was probably his best composition. You wonder if Hathaway covering "A Song for You" on his second album caused some people to believe he'd written the song, since his version is quite different than Russell's original. After recording what proved his last studio album on his own,
Extensions of a Man, the depression that plagues Hathaway much of his life came full blown; he was rarely able to work again other than playing small clubs and, after one of several hospital stays fighting the condition, recording one more duet with Roberta Flack ("The Closer I Get to You") and tentatively starting a new album with her, when he was found dead on the sidewalk outside his hotel in 1979. (Police and forensics investigators found a) no sign of any struggle on his body; and, b) the window to his room in the hotel was removed almost professionally, leading to the disclosure that Hathaway was a suicide, which puzzled those who knew him and devastated Flack, since Hathaway's career looked like it might begin reviving in earnest.)
Donny Hathaway, "The Ghetto"
! No longer availableDonny Hathaway, "A Song for You"
! No longer available