1977 Roberta Flack – 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 consecutive top-ten album on the chart and reaching number five on the R&B albums chart. On February 27, 1978, the album received a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments over 500,000 copies.

The album features the single “The Closer I Get to You”, a duet with best friend and fellow soul musician Donny Hathaway, which became the biggest hit from the album, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching #1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. The collaboration with Hathaway would be one of his final singles released in his lifetime before his death in 1979.

The Blue Lights in the Basement track “After You” would be the first of several Michael Masser compositions Flack would record (with the 1983 Peabo Bryson duet “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” becoming a million-seller): in 2008 Flack would cite “After You” as one of her favorite recordings