Released in 1975, ''Feel Like Makin' Love'' is

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...

's fifth solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

and sixth overall, when counting her duet album with

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger whom ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto", "This Christmas ...

, ''

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway The 1972 Atlantic release ''Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway'' is a million-selling duet album by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway produced by Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin. Flack and Hathaway were both solo artists on the Atlantic roster who'd enjo ...

'' from 1972. It was the first album produced by Flack herself, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake. The album's title cut had been issued as a single in June 1974 affording Flack her third #1 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, after which success

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

signed Flack to a new five year contract - reportedly the most lucrative ever signed by a female recording artist. The ''Feel Like Makin' Love'' album had reportedly by September 1974 already accrued enough advance orders from retail outlets to guarantee gold status upon the album's release, which was expected in November 1974.''Fort Lauderdale News'' 21 September 1974 "Roberta Flack Does New Album: Bessie Smith film next" by Mary Campbell p.9B In fact, the album would not be ready for release until March 1975 having taken fourteen months to record. Although Flack had self-produced the "Feel Like Makin' Love" single, she had begun recording the album with her regular producer

Joel Dorn Joel Dorn (April 7, 1942 – December 17, 2007) was an American jazz and R&B music producer and record label entrepreneur. He worked at Atlantic Records, and later founded the 32 Jazz, Label M, and Hyena Records labels. He called himself "T ...

: unhappy when Flack recruited "Feel Like Makin' Love" co-writer

Gene McDaniels Eugene Booker McDaniels (February 12, 1935 – July 29, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter. He had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s, reaching number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart with " A Hun ...

as an additional producer, Dorn had withdrawn from Flack's album (Dorn would, in fact, end his seven-year association with Atlantic Records) and after Flack and McDaniels proved unable to establish an agreeable working relationship Flack was left to produce her album alone.''High Fidelity'' May 1978 "Inevitably, Roberta Flack" by Leida White pp.121-124''Los Angeles Times'' 10 May 1978 "Roberta Flack Producing Her Own Albums" by Dennis Hunt pp.IV-1, IV-24 - IV-25 Although Flack had worked closely with Joel Dorn in the recording of her previous albums the singer found the task of producing an entire album by herself an arduous challenge: (Roberta Flack quote:)"I made a lot of mistakes. It was a very hard time for me. There were days when I just cried and cried. But you press on. You press on." Upon the belated release of the ''Feel Like Makin' Love'' album Flack admitted that Atlantic Records were discontented with the time and expense spent on the album: (Roberta Flack quote:)"the igh price tagis misleading. Some material I recorded will be used on my next two albums

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

I will be able to finish...very quickly and ost efficiently - in fact Flack's next album: ''

Blue Lights in the Basement ''Blue Lights in the Basement'' is the sixth studio album by American singer Roberta Flack released by Atlantic on December 13, 1977. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the US ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her third to ...

'', would not be ready for release until December 1977 - thirty-three months after the release of the ''Feel Like Makin' Love'' album. Despite its reported heavy advance orders, ''Feel Like Makin' Love'' would become Flack's first album to not be certified gold.

Track listing

Personnel

* Roberta Flack – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, arrangements (3, 5) * Bob James – keyboards *

Leon Pendarvis Leroy Leon Pendarvis (born 1945) is an American session musician. He plays keyboards and is a background vocalist. He is also an occasional guitarist. The artists he has worked with over the years include Bonnie Raitt on her ''Streetlights'' albu ...

– keyboards, arrangements (1, 5, 7, 8) *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", "Slip ...

– keyboards * Harry Whitaker – keyboards, arrangements (3) * Keith Loving – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Hugh McCracken Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

David Spinozza David Spinozza is an American guitarist and producer. He worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album ''Walking ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Richie Resnicoff – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Stuart Scharf Stuart Scharf (1941 – November 8, 2007) was an American composer, guitarist, and record producer. Scharf grew up in Crown Heights and attended Winthrop Junior High School. Scharf graduated, with honors, from CCNY in 1962 (mathematics majo ...

– fretted instruments, arrangements (4, 9) * Anthony Jackson – electric bass * Gary King – electric bass *

Alphonse Mouzon Alphonse Lee Mouzon (November 21, 1948 – December 25, 2016) was an American jazz fusion drummer and the owner of Tenacious Records, a label that primarily released Mouzon's recordings. He was a composer, arranger, producer, and actor. He ga ...

– drums *

Idris Muhammad Idris Muhammad ( ar, إدريس محمد; born Leo Morris; November 13, 1939 – July 29, 2014) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He had an extensive career performing jazz, funk, R&B, and soul music and recorded with musicians such a ...

– drums *

Ronnie Zito Ronald "Ronnie" Zito (born February 17, 1939) is an American jazz drummer. Early life Zito was born in Utica, New York, into a musical family including his brother Torrie Zito. He began playing drums at the age of 10 and at age 14 took a year a ...

– drums * David Carey – percussion,

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian American, Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan virtuoso and philanthropist. His compositions ...

– congas, percussion, arrangements (2, 6) * Phil Kraus – percussion,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

* Arthur Jenkins –

kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and pl ...

, arrangements (2) * James Vass – flute *

Joe Farrell Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...

– oboe * Karen Sargent – oboe *

Jo Armstead Josephine Armstead (born October 8, 1944), also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike ...

– backing vocals *

Patti Austin Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter. Music career Austin was born in Harlem, New York, to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist. She was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island. Quincy ...

– backing vocals *

Betty Buckley Betty Lynn Buckley (born July 3, 1947) is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American T ...

– backing vocals *

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Dorough became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''School ...

– backing vocals * William Eaton – backing vocals, arrangements (2) * Janice Gadson – backing vocals * Lani Groves – backing vocals *

Rhetta Hughes Rhetta Hughes (born Dallas, Texas, June 15, 1939, died June 3, 2019) was an American soul singer and musical theatre and occasional screen actress. Music and acting career 1960s and before Although Hughes sang from a young age into adulthood ...

– backing vocals * Lesley Miller – backing vocals * William Salter – backing vocals, arrangements (2, 6) * Maeretha Stewart – backing vocals *

Deniece Williams Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler; June 3, 1951) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs " Free", " Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two ''Bill ...

– backing vocals

Production

* Roberta Flack – producer, album design * Leon Pendarvis – associate producer * Gene McDaniels – co-producer * Antisia Music, Inc. – co-producers * Scharf / Dorough, Ltd. – co-producers * Frederick Wilkerson – vocal production * Louise Fleming – production assistant * Jim McCurdy – engineer, remixing * Stephen Y. Scheaffer – engineer * John Struthers – assistant engineer * Harry Yamick – engineer * Lou Stovall – album design, cover artwork

References

{{Authority control Roberta Flack albums 1975 albums Albums produced by Joel Dorn Atlantic Records albums