During the mid-to-late 1970s, Manhattan’s Dakota apartment complex was a massive hub for famous musicians and creatives. The building was legendary for attracting top-tier artistic talent because of its thick, nearly soundproof walls, high ceilings, and strict privacy.
In 1975, Roberta Flack and John Lennon (along with Yoko Ono) moved across the hall from each other.
Their friendship began before they became neighbors
Flack and Lennon had already crossed paths professionally in 1972, when Flack performed at Lennon and Ono’s One to One concerts at Madison Square Garden, which raised money for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
But living so close to one another would help them form a decades-long, close-knit bond. Sean Lennon (John and Yoko Ono’s son) even recalled knowing her as “Aunt Roberta.” Because the apartments shared walls, Flack could hear Sean practicing music, and she encouraged him as he learned to play.
Years later, Flack sang “Imagine”
This bit of context makes her 1992 cover of “Imagine” even more moving. More than a decade after Lennon’s tragic death, Flack performed the iconic song at the Earth Voice Concert in Tokyo, an event created to raise awareness about environmental issues.
“I really am doing this because I feel that I can make a difference,” said Flack. “And I think unless everybody in the world accepts that singular responsibility to make a difference, then things will not get better; they will get worse.” It was a fitting introduction to a song that asks listeners to imagine a more peaceful, unified world.
By then, “Imagine” had become one of the defining songs of Lennon’s solo career. For Flack, though, it was connected to a much more personal chapter of her life. Sharing the performance with soul singer Lisa Fischer, Flack honored her late friend through his music.
A life filled with music and meaningful connections
Flack would go on to release Let It Be Roberta in 2012. This album was devoted entirely to soul-infused, jazz-tinged renditions of several of the Beatles’ best-known songs. This included “Come Together,” “Hey Jude,” and “The Long and Winding Road.”
Still, even though she was putting her own spin on things, she listened closely to Lennon’s original vocals. In particular, she admired the directness of his delivery and tried to embody that quality in her covers.
Flack died on February 24, 2025, at the age of 88, after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in 2022. By the time of her passing, she had won the Grammy for Record of the Year in consecutive years for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” She also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.
She left behind a remarkable musical legacy, but her life was also enriched by the people she knew along the way—including that musically inclined family of three who lived just across the hall at the Dakota all those years ago.
