Roberta Flack DJ Spinna Remix
“Killing Me Softly With His Song”, Roberta Flack‘s smash hit soul single, written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, turns 50 this year. Atlantic Records, her label since her debut in 1969, turns 75 this year. To celebrate, they have both come up with a remix of the song, which spent five weeks at number one in 1973 and earned her three Grammy Awards in 1974, among them for single of the year and song of the year. House and hip hop producer, DJ, and artist DJ Spinna, who has worked with Stevie Wonder, Sergio Mendes, and Roy Ayers, among many others, has provided a remix of this classic.
Usually not really a fan of remixes of legendary recordings, simply because most of them don’t do justice to the original, DJ Spinna elegantly swirls around Roberta’s voice with necessary reservation, but still using snyth pads and a tentative house beat which thankfully don’t obscure the vocal. It really works well and gives this classic a new drive.
The documentary “American Masters: Roberta Flack”, premieres in the US today at 9pm on PBS, including interviews with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Clint Eastwood, Yoko Ono, Angela Davis, Eugene McDaniels, Joel Dorn, Peabo Bryson, and many more.