File:Roberta_Flack_1976.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
Roberta Flack was an American female vocalist whose career spanned from 1968 to 2022. Born on February 10, 1937, she passed away on February 24, 2025. Her musical output included genres such as soul, jazz, pop, adult contemporary, house, pop soul, and quiet storm. Notable works associated with her include "Killing me softly," "Green Piano," "Oasis," and "The Best of Roberta Flack."
Flack’s music has been categorized under tags including female vocalists, 70s, and rnb. She maintained an official website and had 194,000 social media followers. On Last.fm, her music recorded 8,199,429 plays from 970,577 listeners. Her bibliography includes four to five works, and she is referenced by 1,173 other encyclopedia articles. A quote attributed to her states, "I hope that one day we will be seen for the people we are, not for our race, gender, age or nationality."
Synthesized by Vinony from 23 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Died
- 2025
- Works
- 4
Top works
- Killing me softly
- Green Piano
- Oasis
- The Best of Roberta Flack
via Open Library + Wikidata
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Female
- Origin
- United States
- Active from
- 1937-02-10
- Active to
- 2025-02-24
Discography
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 970,577
- Total plays
- 8,199,429
Tags
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist. She performed ballads that incorporated elements of R&B, jazz, folk, and pop, and her work has been associated with the development of the quiet storm radio format. Flack achieved commercial success with singles including "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", and "Feel Like Makin' Love". She was the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Antioxidant activity applying an improved ABTS radical cation decolorization assay
· 1999 · cited 21,345x
- On enantiomorph-polarity estimation
· 1983 · cited 6,984x
- Mutational landscape determines sensitivity to PD-1 blockade in non–small cell lung cancer
· 2015 · cited 6,935x
- Comparison of Beck Depression Inventories-IA and-II in Psychiatric Outpatients
· 1996 · cited 4,902x
- The Immune Landscape of Cancer
· 2018 · cited 4,776x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “I sang it about soldiers, then, later, about gay men. It touches me deeply every time. I used to perform this song at Mr Henry’s and people would be totally silent. I knew it moved them.”
- “I didn’t try to be a soul singer, a jazz singer, a blues singer – no category…My music is my expression of what I feel and believe in a moment.”
- “I hope that one day we will be seen for the people we are, not for our race, gender, age or nationality.”
- “I know what it is to go over the same songs over and over again, and to try to make them perfect. It’s interesting and it’s hard and it’s difficult at the same time…You have to stay on top of things.”
- “To be moved, to be moved constantly by your own songs. You need it to be in tune with them, and I don’t mean in tune musically, but I mean in tune with the lyrics of the songs, with the words of the songs, and with the meaning. You need to be in tune with all of that, and that takes a little bit of doing.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- Roberta Cleopatra Flack , ( 1937-02-10 ) February 10, 1937, Black Mountain, North Carolina , U.S.
- Died
- February 24, 2025 (2025-02-24) (aged 88), New York City, U.S.
- Other name
- Rubina Flake
- Occupations
- Singer songwriter musician
- Spouse
- Steve Novosel ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1966 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1972 )
- Relatives
- Rory Flack (niece) Bernard Wright (godson)
- Genres
- Jazz soul R&B
- Instruments
- Vocals keyboards
- Works
- Full list
- Years active
- 1968–2022
- Labels
- Atlantic (1968–1996) Angel / Capitol (1997) RAS / 429 / Sony/ATV (2011–2018)
- Website
- robertaflack .com
via Wikipedia infobox
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, folk, and pop and 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 in consecutive years.
Flack frequently collaborated with Donny Hathaway, with whom she recorded several hit duets, including "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You". She was one of the defining voices of 1970s popular music and remained active in the industry, later finding success with duets such as "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Peabo Bryson (1983) and "Set the Night to Music" with Maxi Priest (1991). Across her decades-long career, she interpreted works by songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and members of the Beatles. In 2020, Flack received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Roberta Flack” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.