Biography/History of
Lalah Hathaway
 Ask her
to describe her voice and she might say it feels like, sounds like,
soul. But when it comes to defining the essence of music, itself, Lalah
Hathaway can go on and on…
“Music is so textured and layered,” she says, “and it is an absolute
entity in my life. It’s three-dimensional, it’s tangible, and when I
die, I’ll say goodbye to it, just as I will to everyone standing around
my bed.”
In the four years since she’s blessed the people with a set of songs,
she’s been “working, writing music and living a very, simple life. Many
people think that you’re just lounging between albums, but that time for
me was about trying to find a place to land that will give you the
opportunity to create something artful, something mindful,” Lalah notes.
With SELF PORTRAIT, (Stax Records/Concord Music Group), her fifth studio
album, including the Joe Sample duet, and on which she co-wrote and
co-produced, Hathaway is poised to express who she is, where she is,
today, at this very moment. For starters, she is an artist, of course,
but she’s also a devoted daughter, culture junkie and a good friend,
even. But not necessarily in that order.
“This album is like a movie of my life over the last couple of years,”
she says. “The portrait I see of myself is of a very confident, smart
woman who is extremely funny, independently wealthy and well-traveled –
all things that I am to a small degree, she laughs. “Every day, I
realize that I’m walking toward the woman I’m going to be. She’s there.
I can see her. “
Leading the 12-song collection is “Let Go,” a dance-oriented, up-tempo
number she produced with Rex Rideout and wrote alongside Rahsaan
Patterson. And just as the title suggests, the song is about
acknowledging and releasing whatever’s not working to make room for the
next experience. “I’ve had to let go of quite a few things, quite a few
situations and a couple of mindsets,” she admits about the origins of
her first single. “Every so often, I have to remind myself to just let
some stuff go – from people and relationships to an old pair of jeans.”
While it might seem that “On Your Own,” which re-teams her with Rideout
and Patterson, is inspired by a past heartbreak, in fact, the idea for
the song came to her in a dream. “My father was singing to me and
telling me that I could make it on my own,” she reflects. Keeping in
step with the theme of family, she journeys back to her childhood with
“Little Girl,” which she co-produced with Rideout and penned with
Patterson and Sandra St. Victor. When she reminisces about growing up
under the watchful eye of her mother, she’s always felt the presence of
her father in her life.
On “That Was Then,” which she produced with Rideout and written with St.
Victor, Hathaway recalls her former self and how much she didn’t know
way back then. “I called Sandra in Amsterdam on a Tuesday and said, ‘I
don’t know what to write,’” she says. “She was there, helping me craft
the melody, by Friday. She’s a baaad girl.” Closing out the album is the
Hathaway-produced, “Tragic Inevitability,” a song that stands out for
her because of its fluidity. “My friend told me that she got some love
while listening to this song, which horrified me and made me happy at
the same time,” she remembers. “The track was sent to me by two cats
from Amsterdam, Wiboud Burkens and Manuel Hugas, whom I met with Sandra.
I just wrote the words that came to me.” As she sings about the things
that will no longer be, you might actually feel soothed because, after
all, the only constant is change. Life is funny that way.
Born to Donny Hathaway, one of the most influential soul artists of the
seventies, and Eulaulah Hathaway, an accomplished musician in her own
right, the Chicago native first put pen to paper, “with the music,” as a
10th grader. Later, as a student at Berklee College of Music, she
recorded her self-titled debut in 1990, which spawned the hits “Baby
Don’t Cry,” “Heaven Only Knows” and “I’m Coming Back.” She returned four
years later with A Moment, followed by the much-lauded The Song Lives
On, her duet album with Joe Sample in 1999, the same year she began
growing her now-signature, cinnamon-hued ‘locs. By 2004, she’d deliver
her fourth album, Outrun the Sky, garnering Hathaway her first number
one single, the Rex Rideout-produced cover of
Luther Vandross’ Forever, For
Always, For Love, which was also featured on the critically-acclaimed
Vandross tribute album of the same name.
Although she has created a space for herself, it’s not surprising that
Hathaway remains connected to her late, great father and his classic
sound. “I am his daughter,” she says, softly, “and that’s the truth of
who I am, every day. When I was 15, and then, 20, I didn’t get why
people were asking me how I felt about him and his music. But when I
turned 25, I began to understand. Like my father, I want to leave a
legacy of music that makes people really feel something, whether it be
happiness, sadness, grief or heartache. I also want them to appreciate
my humor which I know can be difficult to interpret in a song.”
In the meantime and between album projects, Hathaway – who’s recorded
collaborations with Marcus Miller, Meshell Ndegéocello and
Mary J. Blige, among them – keeps her
creativity nourished by taking to the global stage and contributing her
voice to Daughters of Soul, a musical mélange founded by comrade, Sandra
St. Victor, and featuring Nona Hendryx, Joyce Kennedy as well as Indira
and Simone, daughters of Chaka Khan and Nina Simone, respectively.
So, how does she hope her latest offering will be received?
“I don’t necessarily want to fit into what’s happening now,” she says of
today’s marketplace, “but I want to stand with it, on my own thing. I
would really love it if people need the record. I put a lot of myself
into this album, so I hope people can hear me and understand who I am.”
Biography courtesy of
ThinkTank Marketing
Lalah Hathaway Videos
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Listen to Music
"Let Go" - QT Hi
"Let Go" - WM Hi
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