A public memorial service bursting with music, including planned performances by Stevie Wonder and a surprise one by Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, celebrated the life and legacy of the Grammy-winning singer and pianist Roberta Flack.
Flack, whose intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recording artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died last month at age 88.
She’s best-known for her transformative covers of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song.
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Both were expertly handled by Hill at the ceremony held Monday afternoon (Tuesday AEDT) at New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church.
Wonder followed the set and the Rev. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy.
Flack “put a soundtrack to Black dignity,” Sharpton said.
As many said in their tributes, Flack’s musical genius stemmed from her ability to seamlessly move between soul, jazz, gospel and beyond.
Here are some highlights:
For the memory of a singing legend, a historic location
Flack’s memorial was open to the public at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a historic Harlem institution. Founded in 1808, it is one of the oldest Black Baptist churches in the US.
The church was decorated for the ceremony with stunning white and yellow bouquets. Seats filled quickly.
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At centre, a screen showed a young Flack at the piano and played highlights of her career. Later, it would broadcast music industry legends paying tribute to Flack, including Clive Davis,Dionne Warwick, India.Arie and Alicia Keys.
It was a fitting location for such a celebration: 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 ceremony detoured from a program handed out to attendees. It featured a powerful quote from Flack on the back that Arie would include in her message.
“Remember: Always walk in the light,” Flack once said. “If you feel like you’re not walking in it, go find it. Love the Light.”
Celebrating a life in music — through music
“Her existence was a form of resistance,” Hill said in her speech, holding back tears.
Hill’s appearance was unexpected but fitting. In the 1990s, her hip-hop trio the Fugees did a masterful take on Flack’s cover Killing Me Softly With His Song. It won the group a Grammy, two decades after Flack took home the record of the year trophy for the song.
“I adore Ms. Roberta Flack,” she said. “Roberta Flack is legend.”
She 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 but certainly received one with roaring applause, 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, accompanied only by a harpist. Then he 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 of Ashford & 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.
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“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 to celebratory shouts and cheers.
A legendary artist remembered
“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.
Choir performances including a rousing rendition of Amazing Grace came in between a video recollection of Flack’s life and scripture readings.
“The reason we’re here is because she made a difference,” Sharpton said.
“And we should all ask ourselves when it comes our time, will they pack a church for you? If Roberta were here tonight, she would tell you, ‘Don’t just praise me, emulate me.'”
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.
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