A timeline of Roberta Flack’s career in 10 essential songs

Roberta Flack used her upbringing as a classically trained pianist to redefine the textural and emotional terms of modern soul music. ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ Flack recruited Donny Hathaway, who like her had studied at Washington’s Howard University, to play piano and arrange vocals for 1970’s “Chapter Two” LP. “Your hair, soft and crinkly / Your body, strong and stately,” Flack sings against a laidback groove, “You don’t have to search and roam / ’Cause I got your love at home.” ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ Flack’s signature tune made a dramatic soul-music odyssey out of a slight folk ditty by Lori Lieberman, who’s said to have based the lyrics on her experience watching Don McLean perform one night at the Troubadour. 1 single and was later covered by D’Angelo on 2000’s “Voodoo.” ‘The Closer I Get to You’ Written by Reggie Lucas and James Mtume — members of Flack’s road band who’d go on to form the group Mtume and create the widely sampled early-’80s hit “Juicy Fruit” — this romantic ballad reunited Flack and Hathaway five years after their joint album. ‘You Stopped Loving Me’ As part of her soundtrack to Richard Pryor’s “Bustin’ Loose,” Flack cut this handsome soul-funk jam written by the up-and-coming Luther Vandross, who’d toured in Flack’s band in the late ’70s.