Roberta Flack’s pensive version of Bridge Over Troubled Water, from her 1971 album Quiet Fire, so impressed another rising star that he sent her a fan letter. “Dear Roberta,” wrote Elton John, “I have never heard anything this beautiful in years ... ”
Flack, who has died aged 88, must have seemed both familiar and fascinatingly different to the young English songwriter. Like John, she was a classically trained pianist who had gravitated to pop. But she was North Carolina born, and had taught in high school before having her first hit at the age of 34. Her career was founded on her ability to sell a song using reticence and reserve, qualities that defined her from the early smash singles, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song, to her final album, a collection of Beatles covers released in 2012.
