Artist:Lalah Hathaway
Song:Somethin'
Album:Lalah Hathaway
As the daughter of soul legend Donny Hathaway, one would think that singer Lalah Hathaway would be a surefire success. I'm sure that's what Virgin Records thought when they signed her. But that never happened and Lalah now records for her own label. She was born Eulaulah Hathaway Dec. 16, 1968 in Chicago. Of course her dad was soul legend Donny Hathaway. Her mom is session singer Eulaulah Hathaway. Lalah is a childhood nickname. Her sister Kenya Hathaway is also a singer. So Lalah grew up with the label First Daughter of Soul. That is very difficult to live up to. The name only goes so far. Lalah learned piano at the American Conservatory of Music. She started writing songs while attending the Chicago Academy for the Arts. And she attended Berklee in Boston. Lalah released her 1987 debut single Inside the Beat on Alllegiance Records with Capitol distribution. It went nowhere but Virgin A&R director John Brown liked Lalah enough to sign her to a record deal. On the 1990 album Lalah Hathaway, she worked with top producers. Somethin' was the third single. The song was written by David Foster and Brenda Russell and Brenda recorded it on her 1983 album Two Eyes. The song was produced by Andre Fischer who is best known for producing Chaka Khan. He produced three songs on the album. Angela Winbush was among the other producers. Four singles reached the R&B charts. But they didn't cross to pop so the album didn't sell. It's available as a budget CD. After Lalah's 1994 album A Moment did worse, Virgin released her. Since then she has recorded for Mesa/Bluemoon, GRP, Concord owned Stax Records and currently she writes and records for her own label. She released her latest album in 2024. She has won five Grammys including one for her 2013 performance of Somethin' on jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy's album Family Dinner. Unfortunately, that album is not available so I can't post the video. Here's the video for Somethin' by Lalah Hathaway.
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