February 3, 2010



Backstage at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, soul icon Roberta Flack soaked up the adoration earned by her legendary status. As she talked with Spinner in the hallway, her duet partner on the night, Maxwell, walked by. "Can I get more sugar?" he asked as he leaned over a rope to hug her and kiss her on the cheek.

A moment later, Lady Gaga, rushing by with a full enoturage, called out, "Roberta!" "I just had my picture taken with her, she asked for it, so I feel honored," Flack told Spinner. "I love her. She's so talented."

Yes, Flack, who was afforded this sort of love when her song 'Killing Me Softly' was resurrected by the Fugees, is clearly back in her element in the spotlight.

Fresh off her sterling Grammy performance, she is turning her attention now to the biggest-selling band of all time. "I'm doing a Beatles album for Sony, which will be out on the 21st of April," she says. "All Beatles covers -- they did 1,088 songs so I'm gonna do about 14 of them."

She said the record is coming together quickly. "I've finished about eight, so we're on our way," she says. "I have 'Here, There and Everywhere,' 'Here Comes the Sun,' 'Come Together,' 'Eleanor Rigby,' 'Let It Be,' 'Hey Jude.'"

In an interview last year with the San Francisco Gate, Flack told the paper she used to live in the same building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono and has a long history with these songs. "On every holiday and every special occasion that Yoko could think of, she was always sending me little personal [gifts]. She is a lovely person, very misunderstood," Flack said. "I did a lot of their songs when I was starting to make the transition from being a classical pianist to playing pop tunes in a restaurant and a club. I played a lot of Beatles songs for my newfound audience because they were so melodic."

And what will the album be called? "I don't know. Any suggestions?" she asked. "Somebody said call it 'Let It Be,' 'Roberta Flack, Let It Be' or 'Roberta Does the Beatles.' All of that is so commercial, I can't think about that. I'm too busy trying to figure out if I can sing 'Oh Darling,'" she said before singing a verse for us. The answer is yes, she can sing it.



http://www.spinner.com/20...k-beatles/

I'm MORE intrested in the shelved live album she recorded with Donny Hathaway that she refuses to release

They recorded over 1000 songs? Could that be right? Could be an interesting album.

Harlepolis said:

Their 2nd album that got rejected?

daPrettyman said:

2nd album?

I only know of their "live album" that Rhino was supposed to release at the same time of Donny's [b]These Songs for You, Live![/i] album(in fact, its liner notes talked briefly about it).

But Roberta(being the one who owns the rights for those recordings) refused to give them up to be released.

Although I'm tired of covers album,I'm gonna check this one out.It could be interesting.

SoulAlive said:

Wasn't her last studio self-titled album from the mid-90s a "covers album" too?

Harlepolis said:

Gotcha. I, for some reason, thought u meant they had another studio album that was scheduled to be released.

Maybe Roberta doesn't need the money? Maybe she doesn't want to pay Donny's estate to release the recordings?

VinnyM27 said:

she must be joking

NDRU said:

I think she meant the Beatles recorded that many songs.

daPrettyman said:

well they didn't, not even close. I wonder if she picked a large random number meaning "they recorded a lot of songs"

NDRU said:

I wouldn't be surprised with Roberta. She always has been a little "out there".

She's exagerating. I'll listen to this...

Harlepolis said:

I'm not sure.Haven't bought anytime from her in a long time.

SoulAlive said:

I believe it was. It had a really good cover of "It Might Be You" from Steven Bishop on it.
http://www.rhapsody.com/r...ck/roberta

daPrettyman said:

The whole album is good SoulAlive, you might wanna pick it up, I think you'll dig it.

Harlepolis said:

I'll check it out