Roberta Flack was born in Asheville, North Carolina on February 10, 1939 and started playing piano at an early age. She continued to pursue music and when she was only 15 years old, she received a music scholarship to Howard University. It was there she met Donny Hathaway and the beginning of a longtime friendship and musical association. Roberta became a music teacher in North Carolina until she was discovered by the legendary jazz musician, Les McCann. She was signed to Atlantic Records in 1969 and two years later hit the charts with her first single, You've Got A Friend.Between 1971 and 1991, Roberta Flack scored eighteen singles on the Billboard chart, with a very impressive six Top Ten hits, and with an even more impressive five Gold Records. Two of those Gold records were recorded with Donny Hathaway, Where Is The Love and The Close I Get To You and two more Gold records for her solo work.
This week's Voice Your Choice on Treasure Island Oldies we feature those two Gold solo records for you to make your selection: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song.
The haunting ballad The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face came to prominence in the movie Play Misty For Me starring Clint Eastwood as a disc jockey being stalked by a listener. Now that's a scary concept! I too had a similar experience with a listener in Montreal who managed slip past the securty guard station and got into the radio station in the middle of the night. She showed up at the control room where I was working. I called security and she was quickly escorted out of the building and informed the police would be called on her if she came to the radio station ever again. So I could relate to the movie and the song!
Be sure to come to Treasure Island Oldies and click on the Voice Your Choice button and make your selection. I'll play the winning song in the third segment of this week's show.
