It wasn't love at first sight on the charts, but when Roberta Flack's ballad "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was crowned the No. 1 song on the charts three years after its release, it became a timeless breakup anthem.
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was originally a folk song written in 1957 by Evan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his third wife. At the time, MacColl was still married to Jean Newlove.
Throughout the 1960s, it was recorded by many pop and folk singers, including the Kingston Trio, We Five, Gordon Lightfoot and The Chad Mitchell Trio, but it didn't become a major international hit until Flack made her own version. The 1972 version of the ballad won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards, as well as crowned the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single of that year.
Flack released the song in 1969 for her debut album, First Take, for Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me, specifically the love scene between Eastwood and actress Donna Mills. The singer knew the song from the Joe & Eddie cover, which was released in 1963 for their album, Coast to Coast. "When you express your feelings about the first time you ever see a great love, you don't rush the story," she told Songwriter Universe in 2020.
Flack was born in North Carolina and grew up in Virginia with her parents, Laron Flack, a jazz pianist and U.S. Veterans Administration draftsman and Irene Flack, a church organist and choir director. Her introduction to music happened at church, where she played the piano and sang. At 15 years old, she won a full scholarship to Howard University, becoming one of the youngest students to ever enroll there and eventually became the assistant conductor for the university choir. In college, she met Donny Hathaway, another musician who would eventually become her collaborator.
Before becoming a professional singer-songwriter, Flack taught in many middle schools in the Washington, D.C. area. In the summer of 1968, she performed at a benefit concert and caught the attention of Les McCann, who helped her audition and sign with Atlantic Records. The jazz and R&B singer released eight studio albums in the span of 10 years, including her hits "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "Feel Like Makin' Love."
American singer Roberta Flack in 1971.Anthony Barboza/Getty Images
In total, she released 17 studio albums, with her most recent being Let It Be Roberta in 2012. When she was 80 years old, Flack recorded "Running" for the closing credits for the 2018 documentary 3100: Run and Become. She continued to perform into her 80s until she was diagnosed with ALS and could no longer sing. She died on Feb. 24, 2025, of cardiac arrest on the way to a hospital in New York City. She was 88 years old.
Though she had multiple hit songs and records throughout her career, nothing will ever top "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."
"I wish more songs I had chosen had moved me the way that one did," she admitted to The Telegraph in 2015. "I’ve loved every song I’ve recorded, but that one was pretty special."
Related: 1970 No. 1 Hit Became a Beloved Breakup Anthem
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