Song of the Day 12/15: Donny Hathaway, “This Christmas”

Donny Hathaway had a lofty goal when he wrote and sang what’s easily the most soulful song ever to attain the status of a Christmas classic — he wanted it to represent a distinctly African-American expression of the holiday. Sadly, Hathaway died years before it ascended to the yuletide pantheon.

Hathaway started out working for Curtis Mayfield’s record company as an arranger, songwriter and session musician before he began recording in 1969. He recorded and released “This Christmas” the next year, but it made barely a ripple on the charts. Hathaway went on to record a number of hits with Howard University friend Roberta Flack, including “Where Is the Love.” But by the mid-’70s he suffered a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. In 1979, amid a career resurgence after reconnecting with Flack, Hathaway leapt to his death from his 15th-floor apartment balcony.

The song got so little respect on its initial release that Diana Ross recorded it in 1974 and Motown didn’t even release it to the public until 1993, on a Christmas compilation album.

That release came after Hathaway’s version broke big in 1991, when Atlantic Records reissued its classic 1968 “Soul Christmas” compilation album with several songs added, including “This Christmas.” The new exposure turned the tune into a popular cover, especially for R&B artists. It also got a few jazzy treatments, including this one by Spyro Gyra.