Doechii performs at Osheaga 2025 in Montreal.
Charlotte Rainville @jailli
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Roberta Flack, who died on Feb. 24 at age 88, by looking at the singer’s last of three No. 1 hits as a recording artist: the lilting paean to romance, “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” (In case you missed it, here’s a look at her first No. 1, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and at her second No. 1, “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
The year was 1974. President Richard Nixon had resigned and Gerald Ford stepped up to fill the vacancy. Muhammad Ali and George Foreman punched their way through the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire. Stephen King published his debut novel Carrie, while the year also witnessed the birth of future Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio. And alongside various musical moments such as David Bowie launching his Diamond Dogs tour and Dolly Parton releasing the Jolene album, Roberta Flack set a record as the first female solo artist to reign at No. 1 on the Hot 100 within three consecutive years, 1972-1974, with “Feel Like Makin’ Love.”
Flack first donned the Hot 100 crown with breakthrough hit “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” featured on her now platinum-certified 1969 debut album for Atlantic, First Take, and in the 1971 Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me. Coming off the top five pop and R&B chart success of the iconic duets album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, Flack captured the singles throne once again in 1973 with her career-cementing ballad “Killing Me Softly With His Song” from her multiplatinum, similarly titled fourth solo album, Killing Me Softly. Then in 1974 Flack completed the No. 1 trifecta with “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” the first single from the same-titled fifth solo album released a year later.
As has been the case with various songs-turned-classics over the years, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” stemmed from a casual comment that immediately sparked the writer’s imagination. In this instance, veteran singer-songwriter Eugene McDaniels (best known for his 1961 top five Hot 100 hit “A Hundred Pounds of Clay,” as well as the jazz standard “Compared to What”) had invited his assistant Morgan Ames to join him and his family for a mini-vacation at his in-laws’ cabin in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. But after only one day, Ames decided to leave. As relayed in 1993’s The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits, when McDaniels asked why she was departing, Ames told him, “Gotta get back to town. I feel like makin’ love.” To which McDaniels replied, “’See ya!’ And [I] wrote the song. It took me 25 minutes.”
McDaniels and Flack had already collaborated before he brought “Feel” to her attention. She’d covered her mentor Les McCann’s aforementioned McDaniels-penned protest classic “Compared to What” on First Take as well as other McDaniels compositions such as “Reverend Lee” from second album Chapter Two. After McDaniels called her about “Feel,” Flack flew to Los Angeles and rode with him to Lake Arrowhead, where they worked on the song for a few days. Then Flack met up with McDaniels a couple of weeks later at Bell Sound Studios in New York. Hired for the three-hour recording session were noted musicians Bob James (piano), Idris Muhammad (drums), Gary King (bass) and Richie Resnicoff and Hugh McCracken (guitars).
Atlantic’s Joel Dorn, who had produced Flack’s earlier albums, did a remix of “Feel” before the single’s actual release. However, according to The Billboard Book, Flack rejected it. Instead, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake, she created another mix. It’s this version — also marking Flack’s debut as a producer — that was ultimately released.
Right from its opening strains, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” immediately captures the euphoria of being romanced and loved. The track’s mellow, cha-cha vibe subtly underscores the give-and-take inherent in that interplay, while Flack’s ethereal yet measured vocals indelibly outline the simple little moments that can relight Cupid’s flame. As with the song’s second verse, which begins: “When you talk to me/ When you’re moanin’ sweet and low …” then followed by the infectious, sing-along chorus: “That’s the time/ I feel like makin’ love to you/ That’s the time/ I feel like makin’ dreams come true.” Looking back, it’s also interesting to note that “Feel Like Makin’ Love” was released a year after Marvin Gaye’s similarly seductive (and also Hot 100-topping) “Let’s Get It On” signaled a societal shift, as it upended long-held taboos about blatant references to sex in music.
“Feel Like Makin’ Love” replaced John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” atop the Hot 100 on the chart dated August 10, 1974, before being pushed out the next week by Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died.” In addition to topping the Hot 100, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” spent five weeks and two weeks at No. 1, respectively, on Billboard’s R&B and Adult Contemporary charts. Nominated for three Grammy Awards — record of the year, song of the year and best female pop vocal performance — the song would go on to be covered by a who’s who of R&B and jazz artists over the decades, including D’Angelo, George Benson, Johnny Mathis and Gladys Knight & the Pips. (It also preceded Bad Company’s identically titled power ballad “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” which would become a Hot 100 top 10 hit and signature song for the classic rockers the following year.)
Hot 100
“Feel” doubled as the title track of Flack’s fifth studio album. Released in 1975, the self-produced nine-track project also featured the Stevie Wonder-penned “I Can See the Sun in Late December.” And while the album reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 11 on Top Jazz Albums, it peaked at only No. 24 on the Billboard 200. Also of note: by the year of the album’s release, the only other women who had achieved three No. 1s on the Hot 100 were Cher, Connie Francis and Helen Reddy. But Reddy was the only other one to have done it in consecutive years, and Flack beat her to the achievement by four and a half months.
Flack went on to release another seminal album, 1977’s Blue Lights in the Basement. The set included the Grammy-nominated crossover hit “The Closer I Get to You” with Hathaway. That was followed three years later by her ninth studio album, Roberta Flack featuring Donny Hathaway. Originally intended as a second duets album by the pair, the project only features the posthumous vocals of Hathaway, who had died a year earlier.
By the mid-‘80s, however, Flack’s chart prominence was waning. Her last studio release was a Beatles cover album, 2012’s Let It Be Roberta. And while she had begun touring again in 2008, a stroke in early 2016 ended her performing career. Six years later, a spokesperson confirmed the singer had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). She died peacefully at 88 on Feb. 24, with no official cause of death disclosed.
Over the course of her innovative, multi-genre career, Flack scored a total of 18 Hot 100 hits and landed four albums in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 album charts, as well as more than two dozen charting hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. A four-time Grammy winner, she received the lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy in 2020 and the Jazz Foundation of America in 2018. Her additional accolades include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Flack also never forgot her early beginnings as a teacher: She established the Roberta Flack Foundation in 2010 to help young people fulfill their dreams through education/mentorship and wrote the 2023 children’s book, The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music.
Osheaga has a knack for booking budding superstars right as they blow up. Last year, it was Chappell Roan. This year, it was Doechii.
The Grammy-winning, Florida-born rapper took the stage on the first night of the Montreal music festival on Friday (Aug. 1), and it felt like a star-making performance. The Killers headlined the mainstage, but unlike Chappell Roan, who played for 40,000 people at 3:30 in the afternoon last year, Doechii did have the honor of closing out the festival on the secondary Forest Stage.
Her set was pushed back slightly to start at 10:10 p.m., meaning she was the final performer of the night before the noise curfew at 11 p.m. And for those who wanted to catch both acts, The Killers made it easy by playing their belt-along favorite “Mr. Brightside” as their first song and packing the first hour of their two-hour, 9:10 p.m. set with hits.
Doechii’s stage set was decked out to fit her Swamp Princess persona, covered in greenery and a large, elevated swampy platform for her to stand on. The crowd was packed in, so the fans stuck at the back still had a visual feast. “I look good from the nosebleeds,” she rapped from her 2025 hit “Nosebleeds,” and this show proved it.
Doechii performs at Osheaga 2025 in Montreal.
Charlotte Rainville @jailli
For a full hour, Doechii kept the energy up. She rapped a mile a minute, all live with almost no reliance on a backing track. She showed off her full skill set, from pure hip-hop to sung R&B/pop hooks, and comedic banter to thought-out stagecraft. She brought unbridled charisma, taking time to dance and twerk and show off some vogue moves as well. She showed off a reverence for classic hip-hop, rapping over Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.,” and later screaming over a distorted guitar sample — almost veering towards nu-metal. She showed she can do it all.
The audience stayed captivated, rapping along and matching her energy throughout. It was Doechii’s first time in Canada, and you could tell she was impressed by the reaction. “As an artist, you can get so much hate and negativity,” she said. “Then you go out in real life and see your real fans.”
She took some time to thank her gay fans, her female fans, and the fans who brought their boyfriends. “If your boyfriend hates female rappers, then leave him immediately,” she said.
Seeing all the phones out, she seized her moment. “Ya’ll can’t be scared to stand up for what you believe in, you can’t be scared to say what matters,” she said. “Free Palestine.”
Doechii performs at Osheaga 2025 in Montreal.
Charlotte Rainville @jailli
Doechii broke out her biggest hit, the Billboard Hot 100 top-10 charting “Anxiety,” and thanked all her fans for streaming it. The “Somebody That I Used To Know” sampling song is a bit of an outlier in her catalogue, but it’s a viral TikTok favourite, and she’s found a way to fit it perfectly into her set. After playing the song, she thanked Gotye for approving the sample.
The true highlight of the set was “Denial Is a River.” The song, which features Doechii rapping with her internal monologue, took on a whole new call-and-response dimension with fans chanting along to every word.
It felt like she was still just getting started when, midway through the next song, the beat cut out. “F— that, they cut me off!” she yelled. She put her thumbs down, inciting the crowd to boo, then threw her hands up. “Whatever,” she said, walking off the stage.
Unfortunately, Osheaga has a hard 11 p.m. noise curfew. It’s clear the next time she’s back, she’ll have to have a longer headliner-length set.
Doechii performs tonight (Aug. 2) at Lollapalooza in Chicago, where she’s teased a special guest. If Osheaga was anything to go by, her set will likely be all over social media soon.
This article originally appeared on Billboard Canada.
Olivia Rodrigo was joined by surprise guest Weezer during her headlining set at Lollapalooza 2025.
On Friday (Aug. 1), the 22-year-old pop superstar made her debut on the second day of the Chicago music festival at Grant Park. Toward the end of her evening set, she surprised the crowd by inviting Weezer to join her on stage.
In a fan-captured video on TikTok, Rodrigo shared with the crowd that Weezer was the first band she ever saw live.
“You always remember your first concert. It’s a very, very special moment,” the “Drivers License” singer said. “I remember my first concert. It was a very memorable night. I watched this incredible band and I am so over the moon, because that incredible band is actually here tonight to play a few songs. Will you please say hello to Weezer?”
Weezer then joined Rodrigo for performances of their classic hits “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So,” both from the group’s 1994 self-titled album. She played guitar and harmonized alongside frontman Rivers Cuomo during the collaboration. Check out clips from the performances here and here on X.
This marked Weezer’s first Lollapalooza performance since they headlined alongside Widespread Panic in 2005.
This isn’t the first time Rodrigo has brought out surprise guests during her recent festival appearances. She recently invited David Byrne onstage at New York’s Governors Ball to perform Talking Heads’ 1983 hit “Burning Down the House,” and welcomed The Cure’s Robert Smith at this year’s Glastonbury Festival to perform “Friday I’m In Love” and “Just Like Heaven.”
During her Lolla set on Saturday, Rodrigo opened with “Obsessed” and “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl,” and also performed hits including “Driver’s License,” “Traitor,” “Bad Idea, Right?” and “Love Is Embarrassing.”
The Chicago festival continues Saturday (Aug. 2) with headliners Rüfüs Du Sol and TWICE, followed by closers Sabrina Carpenter and A$AP Rocky on Sunday.
Kelly Osbourne is paying tribute to her father, Ozzy Osbourne, just days after his funeral.
On Friday (Aug. 1), the 40-year-old TV personality shared an NSFW photo on her Instagram Story in memory of the rock legend, who passed away on July 22 at the age of 76.
The outdoor image featured a beautiful display of purple flowers arranged to spell out “Ozzy F—ing Osbourne,” set beside a serene pond surrounded by a rolling hill and trees.
In a second post, Kelly shared a heartfelt clip from The Osbournes, the MTV reality series that aired from 2002 to 2005. The snippet shows Ozzy lying in bed with his wife, Sharon Osbourne, offering words of wisdom.
“Listen, all you got to worry about is getting through today,” the Black Sabbath frontman says. “That’s all you got to worry about.”
Just days earlier, Kelly attended her father’s funeral procession in his hometown of Birmingham, England, where fans flooded the streets to pay their respects. Sharon, along with Ozzy’s other children — Aimeé and Jack — laid flowers at the Black Sabbath Bridge, which had been covered with tributes from mourners.
Shortly after Ozzy’s passing, Kelly posted another emotional tribute to her Instagram Story on July 24. “I feel unhappy I am so sad,” she wrote. “I lost the best friend I ever had,” the Fashion Police alum added, along with a heartbroken emoji. Her words echoed lyrics from Black Sabbath’s ballad “Changes,” which she and her father released as a duet in 2003.
Ozzy Osbourne died at age 76, just weeks after performing his final concert. His family confirmed the news in a joint statement. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” they wrote. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Just a month before his death, Kelly had honored her dad on Father’s Day with an Instagram post that included a slideshow of Ozzy spending time with her young son, Sidney, whom she shares with fiancé Sid Wilson.
“Happy Father’s Day daddy,” she wrote at the time. “I love you more than anyone or anything in the world! I am so proud to be your daughter and Beyond honored to watch you be the best #Papa in the world to my son!”
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