Roberta Flack wasn’t the regular star. The singer took pride in creating music she truly adored, using her classical training to leave the audience breathless.

In the ’70s, the singer had various members of the media scratching their heads. Her music was so unique, they couldn’t quite pin it down. Was it soul, pop, rock, or a blend of all three?

She once said, “One of the hassles (of being a black female musician) is that people are always backing you into a corner and telling you to sing soul. I’m a serious artist. I feel a kinship with people like Arthur Rubinstein and Glenn Gould. If I can’t play Bartok when I want to play Bartok, then nothing else matters.”

That quote is from a 1976 Hamilton Spectator article in which journalist Kathleen Wernick praised Flack as a fiercely independent woman.

Everyone couldn’t get enough of the “Killing Me Softly with His Song” artist

“The only disappointment during the evening came when Roberta Flack did not sing an encore as she received a standing ovation. But then, she had to do another show approximately an hour later…” Those words were written by Mel Bowen of the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 1976 after Flack’s Circle Star Theater performance.

At the beginning of the article, Bowen described Flack’s performance as “thrilling,” adding that her voice never wavered and that she never missed a note.

After winning a Grammy for Record of the Year back-to-back, Roberta was all about recognition, not fame. And she worked tirelessly for it. The artist revealed to the Scrantonian Tribune that she took the year 1974 off because she worked too hard.

“From 1969, I had worked with only one day off here and there. And I was physically tired. I got sick really, nothing major. Just the blahs. The doctor said, ‘You need to rest. Can you rest?”

So, she was forced to relax. Yet, no matter what, one could force her to listen to critiques of her work.

When you’re talented, here comes the critics with no credentials. It would bother most, but Roberta was the type of artist who chose not to listen to criticism. Not because she felt like she was above it; she knew it changed like the weather.

Flack’s hit records and her influence

Flack could not fit in any box, and she inspired other black female artists to break free. From “Killing Me Softly with His Song” to “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “The Closer I Get to You,” not one song in her discography sounds like it was trying to fit in with the times.

She and her music will forever be timeless.

Photo credit: Roberta Flack/ YouTube