Obituary
At the age of 88. I hope those more steeped in her glorious soul music will post some suitable clips. The First Time Ever I Saw His Face is so beautiful, even recalling it in my mind, the calm and pace of her voice swells.
Roberta Flack
by 14 Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/24/roberta-flack-soul-and-rb-icon-behind-killing-me-softly-dies-aged-88
From there :
“…by 15 she was admitted to Howard University to study music on a full scholarship, one of the youngest students to be accepted in the school’s history.
At 19, the new Howard graduate aspired to be an opera singer, before taking up a teaching post in North Carolina. Alongside this work, Flack started performing in nightclubs during evenings and weekends, weaving elements of classical, blues, folk, Motown and pop”
Not just a talent show hopeful with a nice voice, but a professional who really knew her repertoire.
Terrific voice.
Probably one of the greatest cover versions ever.
Here’s her fantastic version of Gene Mc Daniel’s Compared To What
That’s the one. Just fabulous.
Haven’t heard that in long, long time. It’s superb. Her singing is so precise and measured. Cool and soulful but never showy.
Her performance is fabulous on this track. Also a shining example of a drummer ( Ray Lucas ) who gracefully builds their part through a track to add urgency and, erm, groove.
This seems apt.
Hadnt heard this wonderful version before.
The first records I ever bought from a shop, on the same day, were Papa Was A Rolling Stone and First Time Ever I Saw His Face.
Her voice was pitch perfect, both musically and emotionally.
Discovered today that Roberta Flack was John and Yoko’s next door neighbour at the Dakota building for many years, and she even babysat Sean occasionally.
I can’t find a clip on YouTube, bit her performance on Pebble Mill in 1994 of “Killing Me Softly” that was on the recent BBC “40 Hidden Music Treasures” program was superb.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00240wr/40-hidden-music-treasures-at-the-bbc
Its at about 1hr 48 mins in.
For anyone unfamiliar with her work, I cannot recommend highly enough that you investigate her back catalogue – for example there’s a five CD ‘Original Album Series’ set that includes her debut, and which will cost you less than a couple of large coffees but show you why she was the best black soul singer of her generation. The album she made with Donny Hathaway can be yours for the cost of one sandwich from Pret. That’ll demonstrate how the two of them made gorgeous music you can lose yourself in, probably the best ever duo of their generation.
Another (younger) soul/RnB singer just died in a car accident yesterday: Angie Stone. If you haven’t hear anything else by her, you’ve probably heard this one: