• Share |
• 
• 

Classy, smooth and sophisticated are the adjectives that come to mind for Roberta Flack. For four decades, the American R&B singer and pianist has been sharing her hits like "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Set the Night to Music", "Where is the Love" and, most notably, 1973's "Killing Me Softly with His Song".

This Sunday the 72-year-old will be killing Bangkok softly with that beautiful voice. We gave her a call.

What have you been up to?

I'm working on a new album that I'm very excited about - all Beatles songs. Hopefully we'll be able to finish it by the end of this year and it should be out in time to be considered for a Grammy.

Which of your songs in particular do you like best?

I tend to agree with my fans. If they like any of the songs I sing, those are the songs I love.

I love all of them. I like ballads. I love songs with stories, nice melodies and good endings. And in particular I love songs that talk about love - good love, bad love, sad love. I love songs about love that people can understand and relate to.

Have any of the cover versions of "Killing Me Softly" appealed to you?

Yeah, I love the Fugees' version, but not as much as I do mine, of course!

I don't particularly like cover songs. It's all about uniqueness and originality. When I hear people sing "You are the Sunshine of My Life" I think, "Oh, this is good, but it's not as good as the way Stevie Wonder did it."

But, again, it's nice to have people love your song very much they want to sing it.

What is it about the Beatles that you like?

Their songs! They're all great musicians, and if you listen to the lyrics, they still make sense to all of us these days. And they're all classics. John Lennon was a great songwriter.

Will we hear some Beatles music this Sunday?

Definitely - you'll also be hearing all the hits and all your favourite songs. It's going to be a gorgeous concert.

Double Grammies

See Roberta Flack on Sunday at 8pm at the Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld. Seats are Bt1,500 to Bt6,000 at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.