Lalah Hathaway

Lalah Hathaway

Lalah Hathaway is a singer from Chicago, United States, working in contemporary R&B, jazz, quiet storm, R&B and soul. She is the daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway.

Early career

She studies at Berklee before signing to Virgin Records. Her self-titled debut album, Lalah Hathaway, appears in 1990 and produces four R&B hits, including the top five single “Heaven Knows”.

Later solo work and collaborations

Her 1994 follow-up, A Moment, performs less strongly and she leaves Virgin Records. She then works with a number of established artists, including Take 6, Mary J. Blige and Marcus Miller, contributing as a writer, producer and background vocalist.

In 1999 she records The Song Lives On with jazz pianist Joe Sample. The album becomes a radio staple on jazz and smooth R&B stations and reaches the top of the jazz charts.

Return to solo recording

She returns with her own project in 2004. A cover of Luther Vandross’s “Forever, For Always, For Love” becomes her biggest hit in several years, topping the Urban AC chart and reaching the Top 40 of the mainstream R&B chart. Later that year she releases Outrun the Sky, her first solo album in a decade, and it also reaches the Top 40 on Billboard’s mainstream R&B chart.