Roberta Flack

A chart-topping singer with one of the most beautiful and emotive voices in pop music, Roberta Flack enjoyed considerable success in the 1970s with such stirring R&B ballads as "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and "The Closer I Get to You," one of several well-loved duets with soul vocalist Donny Hathaway. A music prodigy in her teenaged years, she began recording for Atlantic in 1968 but saw little success until Clint Eastwood used "First Time" in his 1971 film "Play Misty for Me." From there, Flack's polished signature blend of pop, folk and jazz found favor with music audiences and critics alike while scoring a slew of Grammys between 1972 and 1974. Following Hathaway's death in 1979, Flack teamed with Peabo Bryson for the Top 20 single "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love," then returned to the Top 10 with a 1991 duet with Maxi Priest on "Set the Night to Music." Though Flack's later career never repeated the chart heights of her early work from the 1970s, her biggest hits remained among the loveliest of the period, which in turn ensured her status as one of pop's most talented vocalists.