1972 Sleeper Hit Went No. 1 54 Years Ago Today
Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" hit No. 1 on the charts 54 years ago today!
On April 15, 1972, Flack's soulful version of the folk song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 almost three years after it was initially released-ultimately spending six weeks in the top position.
Despite being released on Flack's debut album First Take in 1969, the song didn't achieve mainstream success until it was re-released as a single on March 7, 1972.
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" became a major international hit for Flack, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Billboard also ranked it as the number-one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972.
Before it was a hit, however, the song was written in 1957 by British singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger. Throughout the 1960s, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was recorded by several folk-pop singers, including the Kingston Trio, We Five, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Gordon Lightfoot, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
Flack, however, discovered it from a gospel folk-duo called Joe & Eddie. After teaching the song to a high school glee club, Flack began regularly performing it when hired as resident singer for a club in 1968.
When she finally recorded it for First Take, Flack's rendition came out much slower than Seeger's original, running more than twice the song's original two-and-a-half minute length.
"When you express your feelings about the first time you ever see a great love, you don't rush the story," Flack told Songwriter Universe in 2020.
Flack's version was also chosen by Clint Eastwood for his 1971 directorial film debut, Play Misty for Me, for a love scene featuring himself and Donna Mills.
"Here the scenario: I'm in my house in Virginia. My mom was living with me at the time. The phone rings and she says 'Roberta, it's Clint Eastwood,'" Flack recalled of her conversation with the actor. "I thought somebody was playing a joke."
"He really surprised me. I didn't faint but I came pretty close because I mean this was a big thing," she continued. "The conversation went like this: 'I'd like to use your song in this movie I'm doing. It's called Play Misty For Me. It's about a disc jockey and it has a lot of music in it. I'd use it in the only part of the movie where there's absolute love.'"
"I said okay. We discussed the money. Of course I was shocked. I gulped and said okay," she added. "He said 'Anything else?' And I said, 'I want to do it over again. It's too slow.' He said, 'No, it's not.'"
The success of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" launched a career that would include classics like "Killing Me Softly With His Song," "Feel Like Makin' Love" and duets like "Where Is the Love," "The Closer I Get to You," and "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love."
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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 12:00 AM.