The great Roberta Flack, who passed away at age 88, is known for many beautiful songs, including “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” She had a voice that could intimately convey emotion and authenticity unlike any other.
But Flack wasn’t just a great singer, she was also a skilled pianist and music educator. Born to musicians, Flack was classically trained on piano at age 9, and then offered a full scholarship at age 15 to Howard University.
Upon graduating, Flack taught music in junior high schools as her day-job, while performing in clubs in the evenings, for many years. She later would continue her music education career when she founded the Roberta Flack School of Music in New York in 2007.
Flack had a gift of inspiring students through her love of music and education. To the 2023 graduating class of Berklee, Flack shared this beautiful wisdom:
“To this day, I continue to be a student of music; it finds me everywhere—in the darkest of moments, in the times of fear, and the depths of doubt. . . . It lifts me higher than the sky, warming my heart and opening my soul to love, to dream, and to try. Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Use what you have and share yourselves with the world.”
Maureen McMullan (Berklee’s Senior Concert Producer ’09) so eloquently described Flack’s abilities and accomplishments when she said:
“As an educator, pianist, songwriter, and vocalist, [Flack] shared her brilliance across many realms. As a singular artist, she infused her work and vocal timbre with the beauty of both classical technique and contemporary singing, bringing a depth, precision, and nuance to every note. With each song, she poured the richness of love, joy, pain, and resilience into a soundtrack that transcended time and genres.”
I am forever grateful to Roberta Flack for sharing her many musical talents, knowledge, and passions with the world, and inspiring so many of us through the decades. Here is a piano cover of my favorite Roberta Flack song, one that she is perhaps best known for: