isham jones wrote a song for you leon russell or donny hathaway.
who wrote a song for you leon russell or donny hathaway?
isham jones
during the "mad dogs and englishmen" tour, shelter records released his 1970 solo album, "leon russell", which included the first recording of "a song for you". this has become one of his best-known songs, with versions released by more than 40 different artists, including billy eckstine, the carpenters, ray charles, peggy lee, willie nelson, helen reddy, whitney houston, elkie brooks, amy winehouse, donny hathaway, and christina aguilera. both the carpenters and the temptations named an album after the song. another song from the same album, "delta lady", was covered by bobbie gentry under the title "delta man" on her 1970 album "fancy". leon russell album had a number of guest vocalist and accompaniment: chris stainton, bonnie bramlett, greg dempsey, bob dylan, marc benno, eric clapton, mick jagger, keith richards, george harrison, ringo starr, joe cocker, and merry clayton. leon russell's "a song for you" was added to grammy hall of fame for the 2018 grammy hall of fame class.
leon russell
despite becoming the first roberta flack album since "quiet fire" (1971) to not yield a top 40 hit, "...featuring donny hathaway" provided flack with a substantial commercial comeback following the underperformance of her precedent 1978 self-titled album, with "...featuring donny hathaway" becoming a certified gold album. also both the duets on "...featuring donny hathaway" reached the r&b chart top ten peaking at #8, with "back together again" reaching #3 in the uk: "back together again" had been written by james mtume and reggie lucas, members of flack's back-up band who had previously written the 1978 flack/ hathaway hit "the closer i get to you", while "you are my heaven" was a stevie wonder co-write (with album producer eric mercury). wonder also contributed the song "don't make me wait too long", providing the track's whispered rap: issued as a third single "don't make me wait..." was not a major mainstream hit, but issued on a 12" single with "back together again" afforded flack her first disco chart hit single with a #6 peak.
roberta flack featuring donny hathaway