Roberta Flack - "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

In appreciation of Black History Month, all of February will feature Black and Mixed Race artists.

Because I have to believe that no matter how many times a heart is broken, no matter how many times it's been trampled and bruised, no matter how often it has been discarded and tossed to the curb by careless hands, that it is never to shattered to be repaired, recycled, and sent back into the ring for another round in this game called love. 

I know I haven't found you yet, but I'm here, learning patience, and looking for you. Hurry if you can, but I'll be here regardless, waiting to be your man. 

Roberta Cleopatra Flack is an American soul singer. She is known for her #1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and "Feel Like Makin' Love", and for "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of her many duets with Donny Hathaway.

Flack was the first, and remains the only, solo artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year on two consecutive years: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" won at the 1973 Grammys as did "Killing Me Softly with His Song" at the 1974 Grammys.

Flack's minimalist, classically trained approach to her songs was seen by a number of critics as lacking in grit and uncharacteristic of soul music. According to music scholar Eric Weisbard, her work was regularly described with the adjectives "boring", "depressing", "lifeless", "studied", and "calculated"; AllMusic's Steve Huey said it has been called "classy, urbane, reserved, smooth, and sophisticated". In 1971, Village Voice critic Robert Christgau reported that "Flack is generally regarded as the most significant new black woman singer since Aretha Franklin, and at moments she sounds kind, intelligent, and very likable. But she often exhibits the gratuitous gentility you'd expect of someone who says 'between you and I.'"

So today, with hope around every corner, I choose Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" as my, maybe today, never say never, foster the spark of love anyplace you can find it, song for an, open your heart even when it hurst, never stop hoping, Love is worth living for, Wednesday, Valentine's Day. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone, here's wishing you Love.