You’ll Never Guess Who Wrote Donny Hathaway’s Black Holiday Anthem: ‘This Christmas’

If you were asked to name the most popular Christmas songs among Black America, Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas,” would be one that would come to mind. If you are Black, you know nearly every word or at least the hook.

While Hathaway’s vocals are unforgettable, there’s a minor detail that has gone unknown about his famous song: The year was 1967. Nadine McKinnor, a Chicago postal worker, loved checking out all the homes dressed in Christmas decorations as she made her rounds during her postal route. In a recent interview with WGN Chicago, she said a melody, the melody got stuck in her head as she worked.

Creating melodies was nothing new. At the time, McKinnor was a 25-year-old woman, who loved writing holiday jingles in her spiral notebook while she delivered Christmas catalogs. The former postal worker told WGN she called those jingles “homemade poetry turned into songs.”

This particular song was inspired by events that took place during her childhood and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song,” according to the New York Post.

While McKinnor’s then boyfriend was working on renovations for both her home and Hathaway’s office, he suggested she present the song to Hathaway.

This can only be defined as a “God job” as she likes to put it.

“There’s Donny Hathaway, music genius, with his first single out and I get to meet him because the man whose working in his office with the décor is working at our house with the décor,” McKinnor said in an interview with WGN Chicago.

After performing the lyrics to Hathaway, the rest is history.

“This Christmas” didn’t initially make waves on the charts after its release in 1970, but overtime it quickly became a holiday favorite, especially in Black households.

McKinnor, now 83, lives in Lawndale, California and shares the legacy of her songwriting skills with her two sons, Michael and Steven.

The song has been covered over 300 times by artists ranging from The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Chris Brown, Usher, Stevie Wonder and more, according to the Recording Academy.

Hathaway unfortunately committed suicide at the age of 33 at the JW Marriott Essex House in New York City, but his song lives, especially during this time of the year.