Broadcast Host And Singer Santita Jackson to Introduce the Set List
For Streaming Event on May 16 at 3:00pm Eastern
Flack’s First Take Celebrates 50 Years With Deluxe Reissue Out This Summer
Legendary artist and humanitarian Roberta Flack is setting out to use the power of music to help the most vulnerable people during the current coronavirus crisis. She will host a YouTube Listening Party featuring more than a dozen of her favorite and award-winning songs, with donations benefiting Feed the Children, who are dedicated to feeding hungry children.
“Children need us now more than ever,” Flack said. “We want to be sure that people who need food get it. Each of us can give something. Please give help, connect, and sing a mighty song of love, compassion, and care. We're in this together and helping each other. Love is a Song!”
“I am thrilled Ms. Flack – an iconic music artist that I, and many others, have listened to for years – has chosen to support Feed the Children’s mission to provide resources during these difficult times,” said Travis Arnold, president and CEO of Feed the Children. “We want to rally with our neighbors across the country to honor a legend and provide vital food and essentials to the many Americans struggling to support their families through COVID-19.”
Tune in on Saturday, May 16 at 12:00pm PST/3:00pm EST on Rhino's YouTube channel for the Roberta Flack Listening Party. Broadcast host and singer Santita Jackson will introduce each song while Flack, who specially curated the playlist for this event, listens along and answers a selection of submitted questions throughout the live feed. A link to make a donation to Feed the Children will be available during the event and is now live.
Later this summer, Flack will release First Take: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition which includes her No. 1 hit and GRAMMY Award winning song “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” In addition to remastered versions of the album’s eight original songs, the limited edition 2CD/1LP reissue includes three bonus tracks (“Compared To What” single edit, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” single edit, and “Trade Winds”), a live version of “All The Way,” and 12 recordings never heard before including Flack’s performance of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Groove Me,” “On The Street Where You Live,” “Afro Blue,” and “Frankie and Johnny.”
Uncut Magazine praises that it is “a debut of remarkable vision and maturity. As with so much of her music, its power lies in its restraint. And one thing hasn’t changed in 50 years: the harder you listen to her, the more you’re likely to get in return.” First Take: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is available for pre-order now exclusively at SoulMusic.com, and will be released on July 24, 2020.
Flack is not just “an elegant and legendary vocal superstar” (Amazon). She is also a dedicated humanitarian, educational activist and social conscience who established her Roberta Flack Foundation to support aspiring creatives and causes she cares about. Flack experienced the support her foundation aims to foster. As a young girl growing up in rural Black Mountain, North Carolina, she was mentored by her family, teachers, church members, choir directors and many others that helped her realize and actualize her talents and dreams. She has never forgotten these people and has always maintained the importance of nurturing young people in realizing their dreams through education and mentorship, which is the cornerstone of the Roberta Flack Foundation.
At the age of 15, Flack earned a full music scholarship to Howard University – one of the youngest students ever to enter the legendary African-American college. She taught music in Washington, DC area junior high schools before being discovered by jazz pianist and singer Les McCann and signed to Atlantic Records. She is known worldwide for her #1 singles “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (which topped the charts for five weeks) and “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” her hit duets with Donny Hathaway “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You,” and such other hits as “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” (Peabo Bryson) and “Set the Night to Music” (Maxi Priest). Flack remains the first and only solo artist to win the GRAMMY Award for Record of the Year for two consecutive years, and won two other GRAMMY Awards out of her total of 13 nominations. This year she was honored with the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award. Last year Flack was given the prestigious Clark and Gwen Terry Courage Award from the Jazz Foundation of America, and in 2017 was presented with the Town Hall Friend of the Arts Award. She is considered one of the greatest songstresses of our time, effortlessly traversing a broad musical landscape over the years from pop to soul to folk to jazz with a voice the BBC describes as “a molten murmur [that] flexes into a cry as pure as a prayer, heartfelt as a confessional. It is elegantly tender, almost unbearably intimate.”