February 26th, 2025

Remembering the indelible Roberta Flack

Roberta Cleopatra Flack was born on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, to parents Laron Flack, a U.S. Veterans Administration draftsman, and Irene Flack, a church organist.

At the age of nine she took an interest in playing the piano. Growing up in a large, musical family, she often accompanied the choir of Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church by playing hymns and spirituals on piano. She also enjoyed going to the “Baptist church down the street” to listen to contemporary gospel music including songs performed by Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke.

Ms. Flack excelled at classical piano and by age 15, Howard University awarded her a full music scholarship. She graduated at 19 and became a music teacher.

In the late 1960s she changed her focus from classical to pop. Her professional singing career began when she was hired to perform regularly at Mr. Henry’s Restaurant, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.  American jazz pianist and vocalist Les McCann attended one night and later wrote in the liner notes of what would be her debut album First Take. “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known. I laughed, cried, and screamed for more. … She alone had the voice.” McCann arranged an audition for her with Atlantic Records, during which she played 42 songs in three hours for producer Joel Dorn.

In November 1968 she recorded 39 song demos in less than 10 hours. Three months later, Atlantic recorded Ms. Flack’s First Take. Ms. Flack became quite popular on Black radio stations. Her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, folk and pop contributed to the birth of the “Quiet Storm” radio format. Her commercial success included the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” She became the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year two years in a row.

Even with the commercial success, Roberta Flack did not become a household name until actor/director Clint Eastwood chose a song from First Take, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” written by Ewan MacColl, for the soundtrack of his directorial debut Play Misty for Me; it became the biggest hit of the year for 1972, spending six consecutive weeks at No. 1 and earning Flack a million-selling Gold disc. It finished the year as Billboard’s top song of 1972. The First Take album also went to No. 1 and eventually sold 1.9 million copies in the United States. Eastwood, who paid $2,000 for the use of the song in the film, remained an admirer and friend of Ms. Flack’s for life. In 1983 she recorded the closing song to the Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact, “This Side of Forever,” at Eastwood’s request.

From 1966 to 1972, she was married to Steve Novosel. Ms. Flack was the aunt of professional ice skater Rory Flack. She was also the godmother of musician Bernard Wright, who died of injuries he sustained after being hit by a car on May 19, 2022.

For 40 years, Ms. Flack had an apartment in The Dakota building in New York City that was next door to the apartment of Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon. Lennon referred to her as “Aunt” Roberta.

Ms. Flack was a member of the Artist Empowerment Coalition, which advocates for artists to have the right to control their creative properties. She was also a spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx in New York City ran an after-school music program called “The Roberta Flack School of Music” to provide free music education to underprivileged students in partnership with Ms. Flack, who founded the school.

Three years ago, it was announced by a spokesperson that Ms. Flack had been diagnosed with ALS and had retired from performing due to the disease, making it “impossible to sing.”

Her longtime friend and colleague Dionne Warwick issued the following statement: “Losing friends, especially ones that feel more like family as I’m experiencing, hearing of my dear friend — Professor Roberta Flack. We now say Rest in Peace and receive the loving award the Heavenly Father has for her. I’ll miss our conversation about the journey through music we would have, as well as the love of the music we have been able to share. You will be missed, dear friend.”

Ms. Flack died on February 24 at the age of 88. Initial reports stated that she died at home among her family. However, her manager, Suzanne Koga, stated she died from cardiac arrest on her way to a hospital in Manhattan. Roberta Flack left the world with a treasure trove of great music. May she rest in peace.

Roberta Flack