Roberta Flack - Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway (1980)

“Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway” is Roberta Flack's ninth album. It was intended as the second duets album to feature Donny Hathaway and her. Hathaway only recorded two songs ("You Are My Heaven" and "Back Together Again") for this album before his suicide. Flack finished the rest of the record on her own.
The combination of Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack undeniably ranks atop the all-time great duet parings in the history of R&B. Any opportunity to have one guest on the other's recordings brought out a sensual energy not to be denied, similar to the magnetic duets between Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye for Motown during the '60s. This seven-song session didn't yield any timeless classics à la "The Closer I Get to You," but Flack's distinct and beautiful voice brings a level of class to this outing that few of her contemporaries were able to achieve. Two Stevie Wonder-penned compositions, "You Are My Heaven" and "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long," bring Wonder's unique arrangements together and give this album a more uptempo feel than most of the prior work of Flack and Hathaway, both as solo artists and as a team. Near the end, the album's climatic piece, "Back Together Again," helps to conclude the album on an upbeat note before breaking it down again into a soft, gentle finale of calm, familiar waters. The realization that these tracks are some of the final recordings Hathaway would appear on before his tragic death brings an element of melancholy to the listening experience.


01.  "Only Heaven Can Wait (For Love)"  (Flack, Eric Mercury)  - 4:03
02.  "God Don't Like Ugly"  (Gwen Guthrie)  - 4:34
03.  "You Are My Heaven"  (Eric Mercury, Stevie Wonder)  - 4:10
04.  "Disguises"  (Stuart Scharf)  - 2:24
05.  "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long"  (Stevie Wonder)  - 7:45
06.  "Back Together Again"  (Reggie Lucas, James Mtume)  - 9:45
07.  "Stay With Me"  (Gerry Goffin, Michael Masser)  - 3:47

Credits
Roberta Flack - vocals, piano
John Tropea - guitar
Gwen Guthrie - vocals
Donny Hathaway - vocals, piano
Luther Vandross - vocals
Hiram Bullock - guitar
Ronnie Foster - keyboards
Eric Mercury - vocals
Hubert Eaves III - synthesizer
Reggie Lucas - guitar
Eluriel Tinker Barfield - bass
Errol Bennett - percussion
Ray Chew - keyboards
Basil Fearrington - bass
Anthony Jackson - bass
Raymond Jones - keyboards
Brenda White-King - vocals
Howard King - drums
Eleanore Mills - vocals
Jeff Mironov - guitar
Jocelyn Shaw (Jocelyn Brown) - vocals
Ed Walsh - synthesizer
Harry Whitaker - keyboards
Stevie Wonder - vocals, all instruments on "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long"
Engineer – Howard Lindeman
Engineer [Assistant] – Bobby Warner, Gary Olazabol, Joe Lopes, Pat Martin, Paul Northfield
Mastered By – Jack Adelman
Producer – Eric Mercury, Roberta Flack

Notes
Recording studios: Atlantic Studios, New York, N.Y. / RCA Recording Studios, New York, N.Y. / The Hit Factory, New York, N.Y. / Power Station, New York, N.Y. / Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada / Crystal Industries Inc., Los Angeles, California
Illustration [Album Cover] - Hélène Guetary
Genre - R&B/Soul
Duration Time - 36:41
© 1980 Atlantic Records