Lalah Hathaway is now an independent artist and flexing her musical freedom by releasing her first live album titled Lalah Hathaway Live! on October 30th in conjunction with her company Hathaway Entertainment and Entertainment One Music.
“I had wanted to do a live album pretty much for my whole career but was always met with resistance and nay-sayers,” Lalah revealed. “I’ve had conversations with past record companies where I spilled my heart out to them about doing a live album, and they would say, ‘Well, we don’t think this is going to work, or we don’t see a need to do a live album. ‘ Now, I’m at a point in my life, where I do what I want to. It’s OK for me to be on a Kendrick Lamar record or record with Kirk Whalum or Snoop Dogg, and then go sing background on a Nancy Wilson album. Now I call the shots as an independent artist.”
The two-time Grammy winner recently recorded the album at the Troubadour nightclub/theater in L.A: two sold-out shows with patrons including Patti LaBelle, Anita Baker, and UK singer Daley.
Forty-three years ago, her father, the late Donny Hathaway, recorded his live album Donny Hathaway Live! at the same venue, so this project means a lot to Lalah. “I grew up listening to ‘Donny Hathaway Live’ and remember falling asleep at night to its beautiful songs and music,” said Hathaway. “To now make a live album in the same place where my father made his live album was surreal. It was special. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It is important for me to have ‘LaLah Hathaway Live’ in my catalog,” she told Eurweb.
She’s already released two live singles, the Anita Baker cover “Angel” and “Little Ghetto Boy,” a song her father recorded.
Will the live shows ever come to TV? “We’re talking to some folks," she said. "It will absolutely be presented where people can see it; I just don’t know how they will see it, or when.”
After listening to the tracks above, sounds like some great stuff! Preorder Lalah Hathaway Live! on iTunes above.
