Yoko Ono and John Lennon from Roberta Flack’s Collection

In 1976, singer Roberta Flack purchased an apartment in the Dakota building at 1 West 72nd Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was the first (and for decades, the only) black person to reside in the cooperative apartment complex. 

Her seventh floor, Central Park-facing unit [see below] shared a wall with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and the three became friends. 

Their son, Sean Lennon recalls "I was very blessed that I grew up with the coolest neighbour in the world. At first, I didn't even think of Roberta as this incredible artist and musician, she was just this really cool neighbour. We used to call her Aunt Roberta, and we were very close."

Flack performed at John and Yoko’s One-to-One Concert in 1975, covered Ono’s song "Goodbye Sadness" for the first Ono tribute album, Every Man Has a Woman in 1984, and appeared in Yoko Ono’s music video for "Bad Dancer" [see below].

Roberta Flack sold her apartment in 2018, and died in 2025, at the age of 88. Her estate has recently begun to sell some of her belongings, including the above John and Yoko books, bags, cards, and invitations.