Roberta Flack won the 1973 Grammy Award for Record of the Year with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
The song was written by British folk singer Ewan MacColl and first recorded in the 1950s. Flack’s slow, intimate interpretation appeared on her 1969 debut album, First Take, but it became a major hit after appearing in the 1971 film Play Misty for Me.
Its success demonstrated how a quiet, sparsely arranged performance could become a mainstream pop record. Flack’s version reached number one in the United States and became one of the era’s signature romantic recordings.
Flack also won Song of the Year in 1973, although the songwriting award went to MacColl. This distinction is often overlooked: Flack won Record of the Year for the recording, while MacColl was credited for composing the song.