Roberta Flack, who was John Lennon's neighbor, performed his signature song years after his death.

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.

Source: yahoo.com/Heather Wake

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