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Killing Me Softly: The Roberta Flack Story

Documentary profile of Roberta Flack, telling the story of the emergence of a different kind of soul singer, set against the turbulent backdrop of America's Civil Rights movement.

Roberta Flack's Grammy Award-winning song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was America's biggest selling single of 1972. The following year her gentle, pure voice charmed middle America once again when Killing Me Softly with His Song reached the top of the charts and ran off with another Grammy for single of the year. In the early 70s Roberta Flack was one of the most successful pop stars in the world.

But Flack was no overnight sensation. She didn't have a hit single till she was 35 years of age. Nor was her success a traditional African-American rags-to-riches story. She came from the black middle class that had been born out of the self-contained hub of segregated America. She studied classical music at Howard University, America's top black university, and probably would have pursued a classical career had that door been open to her in 50s America. Instead, she taught music in Washington's public school system for 10 years while she struggled for her break.

In those race-conscious times, she also had her detractors. While she was singing duets of black consciousness with soul singer Donnie Hathaway, she was married to her white bass player. Also, they said she sounded too white; the gospel-infused voices of Aretha Franklin and James Brown, which came out of the dominant Baptist church, were what real soul singers sounded like. What those critics didn't understand was that there are many musical traditions within black America and Roberta Flack came from the more restrained Methodist one where they sang hymns rather than gospel.

This is the story of the emergence of a different kind of soul singer, set against the turbulent backdrop of America's Civil Rights movement. Contributors include Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Cissy Houston, Imani Perry, professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, musician and critic Greg Tate, musicologist Fredera Hadley and film-maker and critic John Akomfrah.

1 hour

Last on

Fri 9 Jun 2023 22:00
BBC Four

Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Roberta Flack

    Killing Me Softly

  • Aretha Franklin

    I Say A Little Prayer

  • Roberta Flack

    First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

  • Roberta Flack

    Go Up Moses

  • Aretha Franklin & Southern California Community Choir

    Climbing Higher Mountains

  • Roberta Flack

    Come Ye Disconsolate

  • Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

    The Sacrifice

  • Roberta Flack

    I Never Dreamed You'd Leave By Summer

  • The Impressions

    People Get Ready

  • Leonard Cohen

    Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye

  • Marvin Gaye

    What's Going On?

  • Marvin Gaye

    Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

  • Roberta Flack

    Compared to What?

  • Roberta Flack

    Tryin' Times

  • Roberta Flack

    First Time I Ever Saw Your Face

  • Leonard Cohen

    Suzanne

  • Janas Ian

    At Seventeen

  • Roberta Flack

    Reverend Lee

  • Donny Hathaway

    The Ghetto Part 1

  • Donny Hathaway

    Be Real Black for Me

  • Roberta Flack

    Mood

  • Roberta Flack

    Feeling that Glow

  • Roberta Flack

    Feel Like Making Love

  • Roberta Flack

    River

  • Smokey Robinson

    Quiet Storm

  • Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson

    Tonight I Celebrate My Love

  • Public Enemy

    Fight the Power

  • Grandmaster Flash

    The Message

  • Mariah Carey

    Emotions

  • Fugees

    Killing Me Softly

  • Roberta Flack

    Angelitos Negros

Credits

Director Mike Connolly
Executive Producer Ed Stobart
Production Company Alleycats TV

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