A star-studded public memorial service was held for the Grammy-winning singer and pianist Roberta Flack with a performance from Stevie Wonder, a surprise visit from Lauryn Hill, and a eulogy by the Rev Al Sharpton.
Flack’s songs The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly with His Song made her a global star in the 1970s and beyond. Flack, an influential performer with an intimate vocal and musical style that ranged easily between soul, jazz and gospel, died last month at 88.
Her celebration of life memorial was open to the public at the Abyssinian Baptist church in New York and live-streamed at robertaflack.com and on YouTube. The church, founded in 1808, is one of the oldest Black Baptist churches in the US.
The church was decorated for the ceremony with stunning white and yellow bouquets and filled quickly beforehand. At center, a screen showed a young Flack at the piano and played highlights of her career.
It was a fitting location: Flack grew up with church gospel and her mother played organ at the Lomax African Methodist Episcopal church in Arlington, Virginia. As a teen, she began accompanying the church choir on piano.
The program featured a powerful quote from Flack, which became a message that was repeated by many of the speakers of the day.
“Remember: always walk in the light,” it read. “If you feel like you’re not walking in it, go find it. Love the Light.”
“Many of us are here today because she has touched not just our hearts but she also touched our souls,” said the Rev Dr Kevin R Johnson, the senior church pastor who led the service.
Music greats such as Clive Davis, Dionne Warwick, India Arie, Peabo Bryson and Alicia Keys sent video messages speaking to Flack’s remarkable career.
Former vice-president Kamala Harris sent a statement that was read: “Ms Flack broke down barriers, paved paths of opportunity, and fully embodied the words my mother often said to me, ‘You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.’ As an activist and Grammy-award winning singer, her legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.”
The actor Phylicia Rashad remembered first seeing Flack perform when she was a student at Howard University – to an audience that grew rapt by her quiet, steady voice.
Flack lived comfortably with her genius and without having to proclaim it to people, Rashad said.
“She wore that like a loose fitting garment and lived her life attending to that which she cared for most: music, love and humanity,” Rashad said.
Hip-hop legend Hill’s appearance was unexpected but fitting. In the 1990s, Hill’s hip-hop trio the Fugees did a masterful take on Flack’s cover Killing Me Softly with His Song, which introduced much of the world to Hill’s gift.
“Her existence was a form of resistance,” Hill said, holding back tears. “I adore Ms Roberta Flack,” she said. “Roberta Flack is legend.”
Hill then launched into a cover of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face followed by Killing Me Softly with His Song with the Fugees’ Wyclef Jean – and Wonder joining in on harmonica.
A legend who needed no introduction, Wonder followed up.
“The great thing about not having the ability to see with your eyes is the great opportunity of being able to even better see with your heart. And so I knew how beautiful Roberta was, not seeing her visually but being able to see and feel her heart,” Wonder said.
He performed his song If It’s Magic, then sat at the piano to sing with the harpist a song he wrote for Flack, I Can See the Sun in Late December.
“I love you, Roberta. And I will see you,” Wonder said at the end.
Earlier, songwriter and performer Valerie Simpson played piano and sang an extended take of Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing interspersed with recollections of her friend.
“But that voice. Aw, she’d just grab you in the heart. And then when she touched the keys, she knew how to dig down deep,” Simpson said.
Simpson recalled being tapped to perform in Chicago for her 2018 Broadway debut and how she told Flack she wasn’t sure if she could act.
“She looked at me and said, ‘Girl, where’s the script? Bring it over here. We’re going to work on this thing. We’re going to do this,’” remembered Simpson.
New Orleans singer and piano player Davell Crawford performed a soulful version of Flack’s song Just When I Needed You Most to extended shouts and cheers.
Flack leaves behind a rich repertoire of music that avoids categorization. Her debut, First Take, wove soul, jazz, flamenco, gospel and folk into one revelatory package, prescient in its form and measured in its approach.
She will likely be remembered for her classics. Those include her dreamy cover of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, written by English folk artist Ewan MacColl for his wife Peggy Seeger. It marked the beginning of Flack’s mainstream success when it was used in a love scene between Clint Eastwood and Donna Mills in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me.
But most will think of Killing Me Softly with His Song when Flack’s name comes up in conversation. She first heard Lori Lieberman’s Killing Me Softly with His Song while on a plane and immediately fell in love with it. On tour with Quincy Jones, she covered the song, and the audience fell in love with it, too, as they’d continue to for decades.
