Roberta Flack Biography Quotes 11 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Roberta Cleopatra Flack was born on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. A gifted pianist from childhood, she absorbed classical repertoire alongside the gospel and spirituals that surrounded her in church. Her prodigious ability earned her a music scholarship to Howard University while still in her mid-teens, making her one of the youngest students on campus. At Howard she studied classical piano and voice, honed her ear for harmony and phrasing, and learned the discipline that would later anchor her minimalist, emotionally resonant style.

Washington, D.C. and Discovery
After graduating, Flack taught in Washington, D.C. public schools, balancing the classroom with evening gigs where she accompanied herself on piano. Her residency at Mr. Henry's, a Capitol Hill club, drew a loyal local following and the attention of visiting musicians. Jazz pianist Les McCann heard her there and urged Atlantic Records to audition her. The result was a contract and her debut album, First Take (1969), a spare, intimate set that revealed her quiet command and narrative sensitivity.

Breakthrough and Classic Recordings
Flack's national breakthrough arrived when Clint Eastwood selected her reading of Ewan MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for his film Play Misty for Me. Issued as a single in 1972, it rose to No. 1 in the United States and earned her the Grammy for Record of the Year, establishing her as a leading voice in a new, introspective strain of soul and pop. She followed with Killing Me Softly with His Song, written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. Released in 1973, it topped charts worldwide and won multiple Grammys, making Flack the first artist to win back-to-back Record of the Year awards. Feel Like Makin' Love (1974), written by Eugene McDaniels, became her third U.S. No. 1 single and highlighted her increasing control over production and arrangement.

Partnership with Donny Hathaway
Among the defining relationships of her career was her partnership with Donny Hathaway. Their album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972) showcased a conversational vocal blend that felt both effortless and deeply studied. Where Is the Love, written by Ralph MacDonald and William Salter, became a major hit and earned them a Grammy. Their collaborations continued across the decade, including The Closer I Get to You on Blue Lights in the Basement (1977), one of the era's signature duets. After Hathaway's death in 1979, Flack completed Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway (1980), drawing on material they had begun together; its singles You Are My Heaven, written by Stevie Wonder and Eric Mercury, and Back Together Again helped memorialize a partnership that influenced generations of duet singing.

Artistry and Influence
Flack's artistry is rooted in restraint. Her piano-centered arrangements, precise diction, and conversational phrasing created a spacious, intimate sound that helped define the emerging quiet storm format in the 1970s. Producers and arrangers such as Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin at Atlantic Records provided a supple framework for her voice, but it was Flack's interpretive intelligence, her ability to make a lyric feel lived-in without overstatement, that distinguished her recordings. She drew from classical technique, folk storytelling, jazz harmony, and soul rhythm, a blend that allowed her to move gracefully across genres while remaining unmistakably herself.

1980s to 2000s
Flack continued to add modern standards to her catalog in the 1980s. She recorded the theme song Making Love, associated with Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, which became a pop and adult contemporary success. With Peabo Bryson she released Born to Love (1983), featuring Tonight, I Celebrate My Love, a ballad that achieved international popularity and cemented her status on adult contemporary radio. Later projects included Oasis (1988) and Set the Night to Music (1991), the latter's title track becoming a hit duet with Maxi Priest. Through the 1990s and 2000s she toured widely, curated retrospectives, and recorded selective new work. In 2012 she released Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles, applying her understated touch to classic Lennon-McCartney and Harrison material, demonstrating the interpretive approach that had guided her from the start.

Philanthropy, Mentors, and Collaborators
Throughout her career Flack emphasized music education, reflecting her own beginnings as a teacher. She supported programs that offered instruments and instruction to young people, notably helping to establish a school bearing her name at a public charter institution in the Bronx. Her circle of collaborators and advocates included Les McCann, who championed her earliest recordings; songwriters and producers such as Norman Gimbel, Charles Fox, Ralph MacDonald, William Salter, Eugene McDaniels, Joel Dorn, and Arif Mardin; and celebrated partners including Donny Hathaway, Peabo Bryson, Maxi Priest, and Stevie Wonder. Filmmaker Clint Eastwood's choice of her performance for Play Misty for Me was a pivotal external endorsement that altered the trajectory of her career.

Later Years and Recognition
Flack's later years brought both accolades and health challenges. She remained a touchstone for artists across R&B, jazz, pop, and hip-hop; the 1990s resurgence of Killing Me Softly with His Song through a new interpretation by the Fugees underscored the durability of her repertoire. She continued to appear at tributes and benefit concerts while carefully curating her legacy. In 2016 she suffered a stroke, and in 2022 it was publicly disclosed that she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which affected her ability to sing. Even while performing less frequently, she remained engaged with education initiatives and archival projects that preserved her recordings and documented her collaborations.

Legacy
Roberta Flack transformed the possibilities of popular singing by proving that intimacy, elegance, and narrative clarity could carry the same force as vocal pyrotechnics. Her run of early 1970s hits shifted the center of gravity in soul and pop, while her partnership with Donny Hathaway set a benchmark for duet artistry. By uniting classical poise with folk nuance and R&B feeling, she shaped the sound of quiet storm radio and influenced singers across generations. The precision of her piano, the conversational grain of her voice, and her trust in silence and space became a template for emotionally direct, musically sophisticated performance. Her career, rooted in education and sustained by close collaboration with songwriters, producers, and fellow vocalists, stands as a model of artistry guided by taste and craft.

Our collection contains 11 quotes who is written by Roberta, under the main topics: Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Music - Health - Goal Setting.

Other people realated to Roberta: Janis Ian (Musician), Buffy Sainte-Marie (Canadian), Luther Vandross (Musician)