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Roberta Cleopatra Flack is an American singer who topped the Billboard charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", the latter two duets with Donny Hathaway. Flack influenced the subgenre of contemporary R&B called quiet storm, and interpreted songs by songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and members of the Beatles.
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Dutch director David Kleijwegt made a documentary called Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 28, 2020.
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer, author, and actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life", which spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year. Boone later focused her music career on country music, resulting in the 1980 No. 1 country hit "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". In the 1980s, she recorded Christian music which garnered her four top 10 Contemporary Christian albums as well as two more Grammys. Throughout her career, Boone has appeared in several musical theater productions and has co-authored many children's books with her husband Gabriel Ferrer.
You Light Up My Life is a 1977 American romantic drama film written and directed by Joseph Brooks and starring Didi Conn, Joe Silver, and Michael Zaslow. Laurie (Conn), a talented singer and songwriter, feels obligated to follow her father's borscht belt comedian career. She struggles to get small time acting work in advertising and children's shows with her fellow acting friends in Hollywood and shows marginal talent in standup comedy. Her happenstance meeting with a young director will set the stage for a series of conflicts with her fiancé, father and career decisions.
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. At the time, the couple were lovers, although MacColl was still married to his second wife, Jean Newlove. Seeger sang the song when the duo performed in folk clubs around Britain. During the 1960s, it was recorded by various folk singers and became a major international hit for Roberta Flack in 1972, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Billboard ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972.
"Baby I'm Yours" is a song written by Van McCoy which was a hit in 1965 for Barbara Lewis, the original recording artist. The song was featured in the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County and was included on the soundtrack album. It was also featured in the TV movies The Midnight Hour (1985) and An American Crime (2007), as well as being briefly featured in Baby Driver.
"You Light Up My Life" is a ballad written by Joseph Brooks, and originally recorded by Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack album to the 1977 film of the same title. The song was lip synced in the film by its lead actress, Didi Conn. The best-known cover version of the song is a cover by Debby Boone, the daughter of singer Pat Boone. It held the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for ten consecutive weeks in 1977 and topped Record World magazine's Top 100 Singles Chart for a record 13 weeks.
"Alone Again (Naturally)" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. Recorded in 1972, it became a world wide hit featuring on his second studio album Back to Front.
"Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" is a romantic ballad written by lyricist Gerry Goffin with Michael Masser and recorded by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack for their 1983 album of duets, Born to Love, issued as the lead single. The track—produced by Masser—became a million-selling international hit.
Joseph Brooks, born Joseph Kaplan, was an American composer, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was a prolific writer of advertising jingles and wrote the hit songs "My Ship Is Comin' In", "If Ever I See You Again", and "You Light Up My Life", the last for the hit film of the same name that he also wrote, directed, and produced. In his later years he became the subject of an investigation after being accused of a series of casting-couch rapes. He was indicted in 2009, but killed himself on May 22, 2011, before his trial.
"The Closer I Get to You" is a romantic ballad performed by singer-songwriter Roberta Flack and soul musician Donny Hathaway. The song was written by James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, two former members of Miles Davis's band, who were members of Flack's band at the time. Produced by Atlantic Records, the song was released on Flack's 1977 album Blue Lights in the Basement, and as a single in 1978. It became a major crossover hit, becoming Flack's biggest commercial hit after her success with her 1973 solo single, "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Originally set as a solo single, Flack's manager, David Franklin, suggested a duet with Hathaway, which resulted in the finished work.
"I Gotcha" is a song by Joe Tex. Originally intended for King Floyd, instead Tex recorded it himself in the late 1960s, but did not release it at that time. He decided to re-record it in late 1971 and released it as the B-side of "A Mother's Prayer", the first single from his 1972 album "I Gotcha". Mostly spoken in the form of an early rap song, with few singing passages, "I Gotcha" has the singer admonishing a woman for playing with his affections: "You never shouldn't have promised if you weren't gonna do it".
This article documents the discography of American pop, Christian, and country music singer, Debby Boone. She first recorded with her family, charting twice with her sisters as the Boones on the Billboard AC chart. As a solo artist, Boone has released 12 studio albums and four compilation albums. Boone also placed 15 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart including two Number One songs – "You Light Up My Life" and "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". Boone's You Light Up My Life album and single were both certified platinum.
Roberta Flack is a 1978 album release by American vocalist Roberta Flack: her eighth album release - including her 1972 Donny Hathaway collaboration - Roberta Flack was the parent album of the #1 Adult Contemporary hit "If Ever I See You Again" which also ranked in the Top 40.
The 1972 Atlantic release Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway is a million-selling duet album by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway produced by Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin.
You Light Up My Life (1977) is the first solo album from singer Debby Boone. After the title track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Boone needed to quickly assemble her first solo album. The result was a RIAA-certified platinum album. Joe Brooks produced the album after writing and producing the title track.
Midstream (1978) is the second studio album by Debby Boone. The album's title refers to the change in producers "midstream" on the album. The first seven songs were produced by Brooks Arthur; the remaining five songs were written and produced by Joe Brooks who was responsible for Boone's "You Light Up My Life." Brooks' songs were all written for his film, If Ever I See You Again. On the film's soundtrack, Boone was only featured on the track, "California". Another Midstream track, "When You're Loved," was one of three songs recorded by Boone for The Magic of Lassie soundtrack.
The Best of Debby Boone (1986) is the first compilation album for Debby Boone, collecting ten tracks from her five secular studio albums released by Curb Records from 1977 to 1981.
"Making Love" is a 1982 song written by Burt Bacharach, Bruce Roberts, and Carole Bayer Sager to serve as the theme song for the film of the same name in which, as recorded by Roberta Flack with Bacharach/ Bayer Sager producing, it played under the closing credits: a Top 20 hit single for Flack, "Making Love" was included on the singer's 1982 album release I'm the One.
If Ever I See You Again is a 1978 American romantic drama film about a composer who rekindles his relationship with a former girlfriend. It stars Joe Brooks, who also co-wrote, produced, directed, and scored the film, and Shelley Hack. The film's theme song, "If Ever I See You Again", was a moderate hit for Roberta Flack, reaching #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
References
- ↑ Lifton, Robert K. (2012). An Entrepreneur's Journey: stories from a life in business & personal diplomacy. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-4772-7931-1.
- ↑ Chicago Tribune 29 June 1980 "Roberta Flack: Grammy winner on the road & on the charts" by Lynn van Matre pp.4,13 (Section 6)
- ↑ Vibe Vol. 11 #1 (January 2003) p.40
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 207.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 93.
