Roberta Flack's 11 Essential Songs

New York Times

24-02-2025

At a New York concert in 1997, Roberta Flack referred to her voice as a 'blessed instrument.' For generations of listeners it was just that, a spellbinding force that could be cool, or luxurious, or swell with suggestive power, often in the same song.
Flack, who died on Monday at 88, began her career as a schoolteacher with a solid grounding in both classical music and Black church singing. She ended up one of the supreme voices of the 1970s, scoring multiple No. 1 hits that established her as a star of interpretive pop-soul, capable of stunning radio listeners and critics alike.
She was a master of the revelatory reinvention. Her first hit, 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,' was originally a folk ballad by Ewan MacColl. Peggy Seeger's 1957 recording of it is a brisk, warbling take with arpeggiated acoustic guitar — a classic example of the kind of carefree-songbird tunes from the early folk revival. In Flack's hands it is slow, stirring eroticism, with a controlled range of vocal dynamics that moves from whisper-delicate to a kind of power that feels like a carnal memory.
She did it again in 1973 with 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' — originally by Lori Lieberman, another folkie — which Flack transformed into a hypnotic meditation. Two decades later, Lauryn Hill and the Fugees shifted its shape again with their own remake.
With those tracks, Flack became the first artist to take record of the year at the Grammy Awards two consecutive times, with 'The First Time' winning in 1973 and 'Killing Me Softly' in 1974.
Those are just two of Flack's most familiar recordings, in a career that also included hit collaborations with singers like Donny Hathaway and Peabo Bryson, and later explorations into jazz standards. Here are 11 of her essential tracks.
Though it would take nearly three years for this track from Flack's debut album to become a hit — a placement in Clint Eastwood's movie 'Play Misty for Me' was the catalyst — it introduced all the elements of Flack's greatness as a vocalist and an interpreter. Turning a folk ballad by Ewan MacColl into a rich, amorous incantation, Flack controls her voice with delicate restraint, letting it swell from a near-whisper to just enough of a cry to reveal a deep passion within. It went to No. 1 and became the top song of 1972.
Her first single was a protest song. Written by Gene McDaniels, and earlier recorded by Les McCann — the jazz pianist who discovered Flack and brought her to Atlantic Records — 'Compared to What' has a right-on soul-jazz groove and lyrics like 'The president, he's got his war/Folks don't know just what it's for.' Flack's rhapsodic vocal flights offered a sign of her potential.
Another stunning example of Flack's interpretive power, and of her role in curating a new pop songbook in the 1970s. She paints this modern standard — made famous with lachrymose sweetness by the Everly Brothers — with soft blue notes and an expertly calibrated range of vocal dynamics.
By the time Flack released her cover of this Shirelles' classic, in late 1971, Carole King (who wrote the song with Gerry Goffin) had already done her own slowed-down version on her megaselling LP 'Tapestry.' But Flack's performance is still striking, a haunting showcase for her voice as well as her delicate and entrancing piano arrangement.
In 1971, Flack performed at an Independence Day festival in Ghana, along with Ike and Tina Turner, the Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett and Santana. Her a cappella version of the spiritual 'Oh Freedom' is a heart stopper, both a moaning prayer and a taste of rapture. The soundtrack has long since fallen into obscurity; it was never released on CD in the United States and is unavailable on streaming services.
Donny Hathaway, a gifted and troubled singer and songwriter, was one of Flack's most important collaborators, writing early tracks and arranging the songs on her second album. In 1972 they collaborated on a joint LP, 'Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway,' that became a blueprint for '70s romantic soul. 'Where Is the Love,' a No. 1 R&B hit that remains in constant radio rotation, is a perfect duet, a tale of romance lost that still feels like a bonbon.
Another surprising song choice that Flack fully remade into a giant, signature hit. She encountered Lori Lieberman's folky original while on a plane, then reworked the chord structure and added a soaring interlude, transforming the tune into a soulful odyssey. She tried it out at a concert with Quincy Jones, who told her, 'Ro, don't sing that daggone song no more until you record it,' as Flack once recalled. The recording became her second No. 1 hit, and got another boost when the Fugees remade the track in 1996.
Flack produced her sixth studio album herself, under the name Rubina Flake, with a smooth touch that comes through clearly on this sensuous title track, her third No. 1 hit. The album was delayed by months of strained recording sessions, and was a relative flop upon its eventual release in early 1975.
Not written as a duet, this song nonetheless reunited Flack and Hathaway for another gauzy crossover hit, which went No. 1 R&B and No. 2 on the Hot 100. Before Hathaway's death in 1979, the two had begun recording another duets LP, which was released the following year as 'Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway.'
Flack found a new partner for romantic duets in Peabo Bryson, whose smooth baritone was radio gold but struck many critics as a bit too squeaky-clean, especially in his appearances on Disney soundtracks. 'Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,' written by Goffin and Michael Masser, was the lead single from their joint album 'Born to Love,' and reached the Top 20.
On 'Roberta,' an album of jazz and soul standards, Flack delivered this unorthodox but captivating take on 'Angel Eyes,' a boozy tale of lost love that's long been associated with Ella Fitzgerald. The song drips with pungent blue notes, but Flack — singing over a jazz combo at a ponderous tempo — finds a way to luxuriate in the melody, bending the lyrics enough to make any fan perk up.