Roberta Flack, the celebrated singer and pianist who won multiple Grammys and whose heartfelt style distinguished her as a leading artist in the 1970s and a lasting influence, passed away on Monday at the age of 88.
Her publicist, Elaine Schock, announced that she died peacefully at home with family. Flack had revealed in 2022 that she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which had taken away her ability to sing.
Relatively unknown until her early 30s, Flack rose to prominence after Clint Eastwood featured “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” in a memorable love scene between himself and Donna Mills in his 1971 film, “Play Misty for Me.” The gentle, hymn-like song, highlighted by Flack’s delicate soprano voice and soft instrumentation, reached the top of the Billboard chart in 1972 and earned her a Grammy for record of the year.
Flack recalled in a 2018 interview with The Associated Press, “The record label wanted to speed it up, but [Eastwood] wanted it exactly as it was. Its use as the theme for his movie greatly increased its popularity and it really took off.”
In 1973, she achieved similar success with “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” making her the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for record of the year.
Jazz musician Les McCann discovered her in the late 1960s. He noted that “her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.” Trained as a classical pianist, Flack’s versatility allowed her to deliver both passionate gospel performances reminiscent of Aretha Franklin and more introspective interpretations.
To her many fans, Flack represented a sophisticated and courageous figure in both the music industry and the social and civil rights movements of the era. She counted among her friends figures like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis, whom Flack visited in prison during Davis’s trial for murder and kidnapping, charges for which she was later acquitted. Flack performed at Jackie Robinson’s funeral, the first Black player in Major League Baseball, and participated in Marlo Thomas’s feminist children’s project, “Free to Be … You and Me.”
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina, to musician parents, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia. A childhood gospel enthusiast, Flack’s exceptional piano skills earned her a full scholarship to Howard University at the age of 15.
Flack’s other successes from the 1970s included the comforting “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and two duets with her close friend and fellow Howard University alumnus Donny Hathaway, “Where Is the Love” and
“The Closer I Get to You.” Their collaboration ended tragically when Hathaway suffered a mental breakdown during the recording of a duets album in 1979 and later died from a fall from his Manhattan hotel room.
Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of their million-selling “Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway” album in 2022, Flack told Vibe, “We were deeply connected creatively. He could play and sing anything. Our musical synergy was unmatched before or since.”
While she never quite replicated her initial success, she did have a hit in the 1980s with Peabo Bryson on “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” and in the 1990s with Maxi Priest on “Set the Night to Music.” The Fugees’ Grammy-winning cover of “Killing Me Softly” in the mid-90s brought Flack renewed attention, leading to a performance with the hip-hop group.
In total, Flack received five Grammys (three for “Killing Me Softly”), eight additional nominations, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, with tributes from John Legend and Ariana Grande.
“I love that connection to other artists because we understand music, we live music, it’s our language,” Flack shared with songwriteruniverse.com in 2020. “Through music we understand what we are thinking and feeling. No matter what challenge life presents, I am at home with my piano, on a stage, with my band, in the studio, listening to music. I can find my way when I hear music.”
In 2022, Beyoncé honored Flack, along with Franklin and Diana Ross, as heroines in the Grammy-nominated “Queens Remix” of “Break My Soul.”
Flack was briefly married to Stephen Novosel, an interracial relationship that caused friction with their families. She also had a son, singer and keyboardist Bernard Wright. For many years, she resided in Manhattan’s Dakota apartment building, on the same floor as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who became a close friend and wrote liner notes for Flack’s album of Beatles covers, “Let It Be Roberta.” She dedicated a significant amount of time to the Roberta Flack School of Music in New York, which primarily served students aged 6 to 14.
Before her music career took off, Flack taught music in D.C.-area junior high schools for several years, while also performing in clubs. Although she sometimes sang backup, her own shows at the famous Mr. Henry’s in Washington attracted celebrity guests like Burt Bacharach, Ramsey Lewis, and Johnny Mathis. The club owner, Henry Yaffe, even converted an apartment above the club into a private studio called the Roberta Flack Room.
“I wanted to be successful, a serious all-round musician,” she told The Telegraph in 2015. “I listened to a lot of Aretha, the Drifters, trying to do some of that myself, playing, teaching.”
Flack signed with Atlantic Records, and her debut album, “First Take,” which combined gospel, soul, flamenco, and jazz, was released in 1969. It included a love song by English folk artist Ewan MacColl called “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which he wrote in 1957 for his future wife, singer Peggy Seeger. Flack was familiar with the song and used it while working with a glee club during her teaching years.
“I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, D.C. It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education. I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. (Flack starts singing a Supremes hit) ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!” she told the Tampa Bay Times in 2012.
“You have to do all sorts of things when you’re dealing with kids in the inner-city,” she said. “I knew they’d like the part where (‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’) goes ‘The first time ever I kissed your mouth.’ Ooh, ‘Kissed your mouth!’ Once the kids got past the giggles, we were good.”
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