Editing Roberta Flack (section)

===1970s===
Flack's second album, ''Chapter Two'', appeared in 1970 and marked the start of her collaboration with Hathaway as arranger, accompanist and backing singer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/roberta-flack-obituary-singer-who-fused-soul-jazz-and-folk-q6gsbmfmt |website=thetimes.com |title=The Times Register: Obituary Roberta Flack |date=25 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> In 1971, Flack participated in the legendary [[Soul to Soul (film)|''Soul to Soul'' concert film]] by [[Denis Sanders]] which was headlined by [[Wilson Pickett]] along with [[Ike & Tina Turner]], [[Santana (band)|Santana]], [[The Staple Singers]], [[Les McCann]], [[Eddie Harris]], [[The Voices of East Harlem]] and others.  The U.S. delegation of musical artists featured in the film was invited to perform for the 14th anniversary of the March 6 [[Independence Day (Ghana)|Independence Day]] of [[Ghana]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/soul-to-soul|title=Soul to Soul (film review)|magazine=[[Time Out London]]|access-date=March 29, 2017|archive-date=March 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329234921/https://www.timeout.com/london/film/soul-to-soul|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Rousing 'Soul to Soul'|first=Howard|last=Thompson|author-link=Howard Thompson (film critic)|date=August 19, 1971|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=990CEED81238EF34BC4152DFBE66838A669EDE}}</ref> The film was digitally reissued on DVD and CD in 2004 but for unknown reasons Flack refused permission for her image and recording to be included . Her [[a cappella]] performance of the traditional spiritual "[[Oh, Freedom|Oh Freedom]]", retitled "Freedom Song" on the original [[Soul to Soul (soundtrack)|''Soul to Soul'' LP soundtrack]], is only available in the VHS version of the film.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Soul to Soul World Catalog Search Results|oclc=840123917}}</ref>

Flack's [[cover song|cover version]] of "[[Will You Love Me Tomorrow]]" hit No. 76 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] in 1972. Her Atlantic recordings did not sell particularly well, until actor/director [[Clint Eastwood]] used a song from ''First Take'', "[[The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face]]", written by [[Ewan MacColl]], for the soundtrack of his directorial debut ''[[Play Misty for Me]].''

Atlantic rush-released the song as a single and it became the biggest hit of 1972,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/roberta-flack-obituary-singer-who-fused-soul-jazz-and-folk-q6gsbmfmt |website=thetimes.com |title=The Times Register: Obituary Roberta Flack |date=25 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> spending six consecutive weeks at No. 1 and earning Flack a million-selling [[Music recording certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Murrells|year=1978|title=The Book of Golden Discs|edition=2nd|publisher=[[Barrie and Jenkins]] Ltd|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/312 312]|isbn=0-214-20512-6|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/312}}</ref> "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" finished the year as [[Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972|''Billboard'']]'s top song of 1972. The ''First Take'' album also went to No. 1 and eventually sold 1.9&nbsp;million copies in the United States.  Eastwood, who paid $2,000 for the use of the song in the film,<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGilligan |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick McGilligan (biographer)|year=1999 |title=Clint: The Life and Legend |publisher=[[Harper Collins]] |isbn=0-00-638354-8|page=194}}</ref> remained an admirer and friend of Flack's ever after. The song was awarded the [[Grammy Award for Record of the Year]] and Song of the Year in 1973. In 1983, Flack recorded the end music to the [[Dirty Harry]] film ''[[Sudden Impact]]'', at Eastwood's request.<ref name="ALLMUSIC" />
[[File:Roberta Flack - Cash Box 1972.png|thumb|left|Flack on the cover of ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'', April 22, 1972]]
In 1972, Flack began recording regularly with [[Donny Hathaway]], scoring hits such as the Grammy-winning "[[Where Is the Love (Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song)|Where Is the Love]]" (1972) and later "[[The Closer I Get to You]]" (1978), both of which became million-selling gold singles.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/> Flack and Hathaway recorded several duets together, including two LPs, until Hathaway's death in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/02/24/roberta-flack-dead-killing-me-softly-singer-grammy-winner/10819924002/|title=Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer of hit 'Killing Me Softly,' dies at 88|first=Melissa|last=Ruggieri|website=Usatoday.com|date=February 24, 2025 |access-date=February 24, 2025}}</ref> After his death, Flack released their final LP as ''Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway.''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sisario |first1=Ben |title=Roberta Flack's 11 Essential Songs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/arts/music/roberta-flack-songs.html |access-date=February 24, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=February 24, 2025}}</ref>

On her own, Flack scored her second No. 1 hit in 1973, "[[Killing Me Softly with His Song]]" written by [[Charles Fox (composer)|Charles Fox]], [[Norman Gimbel]] l, and [[Lori Lieberman]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Pond |first=Steve |title=Singer's Career Was Softly Killed By Bad Luck And Insecurity |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HJkRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6439%2C710421 |access-date=November 18, 2020 |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] |date=June 12, 1997 |page=C5 |archive-date=March 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314155605/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HJkRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6439%2C710421 |url-status=live}}</ref> "Killing Me Softly" was awarded both [[Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year]] and [[Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female]], at the 1974 [[Grammy Awards]]. Its [[Killing Me Softly (Roberta Flack album)|parent album]] was Flack's biggest-selling disc, eventually earning [[double platinum]] certification. In 1974, Flack released  "[[Feel Like Makin' Love (Roberta Flack song)|Feel Like Makin' Love]]", which became her third and final No. 1 hit to date on the Hot 100 and her eighth million-seller. She produced the single and her [[Feel Like Makin' Love (album)|1975 album of the same name]] under the pseudonym Rubina Flake.<ref name="Time 1975">{{cite magazine|title=Music: What Ever Happened to Rubina Flake?|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917444,00.html|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=August 22, 2015|date=May 12, 1975|archive-date=May 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503115710/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917444,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1974, Flack sang the lead on a [[Sherman Brothers]] song, "Freedom", which featured prominently at the opening and closing of the movie ''[[Huckleberry Finn (1974 film)|Huckleberry Finn]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA642965125&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00253499&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon~e9b51202&aty=open-web-entry|title=MGM's Huckleberry Finn Musical That Never Reached the Screen, Part 2.|first=R. Kent|last=Rasmussen|date=September 22, 2020|journal=Mark Twain Journal|volume=58|issue=2|pages=129–202|access-date=February 24, 2025|via=go.gale.com}}</ref> In the same year, she performed "When We Grow Up" with a teenage [[Michael Jackson]] on the television special ''[[Free to Be... You and Me]]'',<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bishop|first1=Katie|title=Hearing 'Free To Be... You And Me' For The Very First Time|url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/soundcheck/articles/250830-free-be-you-and-me-very-first-time|access-date=February 24, 2025|work=Soundcheck|date=November 15, 2012}}</ref> and a year later in 1975 performed two [[Johnny Marks]] songs, "To Love And Be Loved" and "When Autumn Comes", for the animated Christmas special ''[[The Tiny Tree]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=nbc&p=178&item=B:17761|title=Bell System Family Theatre: The Tiny Tree (TV)|website=Paleycenter.org|access-date=February 24, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/depatie-frelengs-the-tiny-tree-1975/|title=DePatie-Freleng's 'The Tiny Tree' (1975) |date=December 24, 2014|website=Cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> "Blue Lights in the Basement (1977) included a chart-topping duet with Hathaway on "The Closer I Get to You", and in 1978 they began working on on a second album of duets, which was half-completed when Hathaway, a [[paranoid schizophrenic]] who suffered mood swings and bouts of depression, took his own life in 1979. Flack, devastated, completed the album and it was released in 1980 as "Roberta Flack featuring Donny Hathaway".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/roberta-flack-obituary-singer-who-fused-soul-jazz-and-folk-q6gsbmfmt |website=thetimes.com |title=The Times Register: Obituary Roberta Flack |date=25 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref>