Roberta Flack Honored by The Grammys
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Roberta Flack Honored by The Grammys
With Emotional All-Star Performance
Led by Lauryn Hill
That Became a Highlight of the Awards Show
Roberta Flack
With Her Songs: The Atlantic Albums, 1969–1978
8CD Retrospective Celebrates Legendary Singer’s
Atlantic Years with Newly Remastered Versions
Of Her First Eight Studio Albums
Arrives Today, Ahead of What Would Have Been Her 89th Birthday
AVAILABLE HERE
The In Memoriam to Roberta started with Lauryn Hill and Jon Batiste performing “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which kicked off a medley of some of Roberta’s hit songs. Leon Bridges and Alexia Jayy then joined Batiste for “Compared to What.” Lalah Hathaway and October London followed with “The Closer I Get To You,” one of many songs that Roberta released as a duet with Donny Hathaway, Lalah’s father. John Legend and Chaka Khan took the stage next for “Where Is the Love,” another song Roberta and Donny recorded. Hill went on to sing “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and then launched into Roberta’s arrangement of “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” As she called up her Fugees’ bandmate Wyclef Jean to the stage, they closed out the set with the Fugees’ version of “Killing Me Softly with His Song” with all the performers on stage and everyone in the arena on their feet, dancing, and singing along.
USA Today ranked the performance as their No. 1 pick of the Awards ceremony, saying it was “…a stirring ensemble performance dedicated to Roberta Flack and led by Ms. Lauryn Hill. Wrapping the audience around her finger with an expert performance of ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,’ Hill laid bare the raw emotion that infused magic into Flack’s lyricism. …the moment melted from somber to elated as Flack’s clear and present influence on the room came into view.”
And Vanity Fair noted, “(Flack’s) music was so central to that tribute. It seems like her legacy is strongest through her influence on the hip-hop generation now. …This is real music and real artistry …this feels like what the Grammys should be about.”
More praise from the media, including Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Essence, Variety, and NBC News, marked the “emotional,” “stirring,” and “soulful” performance as a “standout”’ and “highlight” of the show, and one of the best In Memoriam segments of all award shows.
It was a fitting celebration and tribute to Roberta, a ground-breaking icon whose music will live on and on.
In 2020, Roberta was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy and at the ceremony, such stars as Khalid, Lizzo, Ana DuVernay, Demi Lovato, Alicia Keys, Chick Corea, and Ariana Grande visited with Roberta to pay their respects. “It was overwhelming and breathtaking to be there,” Roberta said. “When I met (those) artists and so many others in person and heard from them that they were inspired by my music, I felt understood.’
She was also the first solo artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in consecutive years, for “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (1973) and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (1974), and she won two other Grammy Awards out of her total of 13 nominations.
Roberta’s legacy continues today, with Rhino releasing a new Roberta Flack collection, With Her Songs: The Atlantic Albums, 1969–1978. It arrives days before what would have been Flack’s 89th birthday on February 10. The collection is the first retrospective release since she passed away in 2025. A celebration of her acclaimed tenure with Atlantic Records, the 8CD set presents newly remastered versions of her first eight studio albums.
With Her Songs spans Roberta’s Atlantic debut First Take through her self-titled 1978 album, covering a period when she emerged as one of the most commercially and critically successful artists of the 1970s. Roberta recorded multiple Top 40 hits and sold millions of albums with the label, building a catalog that moved fluidly between soul, jazz, folk, and pop.
With Her Songs includes eight newly remastered studio albums: First Take (1969), Chapter Two(1970), Quiet Fire (1971), Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972), Killing Me Softly (1973), Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975), Blue Lights in the Basement (1977), and Roberta Flack (1978).
Together, they chart a sustained period of creative momentum, from the intimacy of First Takeand Chapter Two to Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, a landmark collaboration that produced the Grammy-winning hits “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get To You.” That success continued with her next two albums, Killing Me Softly and Feel Like Makin’ Love, whose title tracks both went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. More hits followed as her initial run with the label concluded with Blue Lights In The Basement and Roberta Flack.
With Her Songs follows renewed activity around Roberta’s catalog, including last year’s release of Killing Me Softly and Feel Like Makin’ Love in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio. Arriving during Black History Month 2026, the new collection revisits a decade in which—a classically-trained pianist and Howard University alumna—achieved sustained mainstream success as a Black female artist.
WITH HER SONGS: THE ATLANTIC ALBUMS, 1969-1978
Disc One: First Take (1969) Disc Two: Chapter Two (1970) Disc Three: Quiet Fire (1971) Disc Four: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972) Disc Five: Killing Me Softly (1973) Disc Six: Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975) Disc Seven: Blue Lights In The Basement (1977) # # #
