Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway ~ The Closer I Get To You 1977 Soul Purrfection Version

"The Closer I Get To You" was written by James Mtume and Reggie Lucas who first met as members of Miles Davis's band. They both had an interest in creating radio friendly R&B songs even though they were playing progressive jazz for Davis. They left Davis to discover their fortunes as studio musicians but ended up in Roberta Flack's touring band where they honed their songwriting skills. During the sessions for "Blue Lights In The Basement" the duo approached producer Joe Ferla with their demo of "The Closer I Get To You" which was not written as a duet. That happened in the studio as Flack and Hathaway had the same manager and the song needed a second voice. Hathaway had been suffering form chronic depression and had been hospitalized and had to be signed out to bring him to the studio to do his parts a segment at a time, then brought back to the hospital to rest up for the next recording session. Donny was heavily medicated and not well, but he was able to complete laying down his vocals. Lucas and Mtume were invited to join them in the studio and the song stayed simple like the demo they brought which shined the light on the vocalists who were perfectionists and did a stellar job. Lucas has said the Roberta has one of the purest and crystal voices and duetting with Donny allowed him to show his brilliance, even though he was very ill once he sat down at the piano and sang the magic was committed to tape. "It was really an inspiring experience to be around the guy". Issued as a single on February 18, 1978 entering the Hot100 at #86 and it jumped 10 places a week until the week of May 13, 1978 when it peaked at #2 for two weeks unable to dislodge Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" then was thwarted by Wings "With A Little Luck" the following week from reaching the top spot. It did top the R&B chart for two weeks beginning April 1, 1978. This success encouraged Flack to record an album with Hathaway during late 1978 and she recorded two songs with him before he passed away on January 9, 1979.