By fitting her classical piano skills into the pop context to support her gravity-defying vocals, *Roberta Flack* became the empress of the “quiet storm” genre of soul. Hits of hers like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Where Is the Love,” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” became radio staples. Born in North Carolina in 1937 to a jazz pianist father and a mother who led choirs and taught music, she was five when the family moved to a suburb of Washington, D.C. The keyboard prodigy was 15 when she accepted a full scholarship to Howard University’s music school. She got her B.A. but her dad’s sudden death forced her to quit grad school. She eked by teaching music, giving piano lessons, and playing accompanist gigs at night. A voice coach urged her to try singing on the D.C. club circuit, resulting a residency at a Capitol Hill nightclub where she developed her trademark delivery and deepened her repertoire. Meeting Atlantic artist Les McCann led to an audition and a contract with that label. Flack debuted in 1968 with her LP First Take, which included British folksinger Ewen McColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” The album and its successor, Chapter Two, were praised but sold weakly until actor/director Clint Eastwood used “First Time” in his 1971 movie, Play Misty for Me. The exposure spurred Atlantic to rerelease the single, which went to No. 1 for six weeks and dominated the airwaves for months, going gold and being named Billboard’s top song of 1972. That success moved Flack far up the ladder, leading to more chartbusting records and enduring duets with such collaborators as Donny Hathaway, Peabo Bryson, and Maxi Priest. Flack enjoyed decades of commercial success and audience affection, including a reprise for “Killing Me” when the Fugees covered it in 1996. She lived in the vaunted Dakota apartment house in Manhattan; her next-door neighbors were John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Roberta Flack was 88 when she passed away on February 25, 2025.—Michael Dolan

Roberta Flack – Feel Like Makin’ Love
Single Released June 10, 1974 on Atlantic
Album: Feel Like Makin’ Love Released March 1975 on Atlantic
_Recorded in New York City in 1974

_Written By:_ Eugene McDaniels

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