Roberta Flack was a singer who had No. 1 hits with “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love.”
- Died: February 24, 2025 (Who else died on February 24?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Manhattan at the age of 88.
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Roberta Flack’s legacy
Flack was a powerhouse of early ‘70s radio, with an unforgettable string of hits. In addition to her three Hot 100 chart-toppers – which came in 1973, ’74, and ’75 – she had other 1970s popular tracks like “Where Is the Love,” and “The Closer I Get to You,” her duets with Donny Hathaway, and “If Ever I See You Again.” She was the first person ever to win back-to-back Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, winning in 1973 and 1974 for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” And her popularity didn’t end with the 1970s. She had another major hit in 1983 when she dueted with Peabo Bryson on “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love.”
Flack grew up in North Carolina, playing piano with the choir at her African Methodist Episcopal Zion church and listening to the gospel singers at a nearby Baptist church. She was classically trained in piano and voice at Howard University, graduating at 19 and teaching music as a young graduate. She eventually sang at nightclubs in the evenings, developing a repertoire that included jazz, blues, pop, and folk. It was there that she was discovered, playing at a club in Washington D.C. Within months, her debut album, “First Take,” had been recorded and released.
Though she sang a style of music that could have left her pigeonholed as a soft rock singer, Flack defied the label. Her early career in D.C. venues gave her a genre-mixing stylistic breadth that allowed her to bring jazz phrasings to pop songs and meld a folk sensibility with her R&B sounds. Her tracks were hits on pop radio as well as R&B, adult contemporary, and dance stations, and several of her records were Top 10 jazz hits. Thoughtful and deliberate, her best songs can mesmerize a listener, just as she described being taken by a singer’s performance in “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” A faithful 1996 cover by The Fugees, with Fugees’ fly Lauryn Hill on vocals, also won a Grammy Award, and Flack and The Fugees performed the track together in later years.
Flack’s fans included Clint Eastwood, who called the singer after hearing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” The actor-filmmaker was working on his directorial debut, “Play Misty for Me,” and he wanted to use the song in his 1972 tale of an obsessed fan stalking a radio DJ. He promised he would specifically use it in “the only part of the movie where there’s absolute love.” Flack was willing, but she wanted to re-record the track and pick up the tempo, thinking it was too slow. Eastwood disagreed, and the song – as originally recorded – became an integral part of the classic thriller.
Flack continued recording and touring through the 1980s and ‘90s, slowing down somewhat afterward, though she released an album in 2012, and a single in 2018. She was a spokeswoman for the ASPCA and an advocate of artists’ rights to creative control over their music. After suffering a stroke in the 2010s, Flack was diagnosed with ALS in 2022, at which point she retired from performing.
Notable quote
“To me, music is everything. It’s the language of emotion, expression, and connection. It reaches across race, age, religion, borders and time to connect us.” — from a 2020 interview for AARP
Tributes to Roberta Flack
Full obituary: The New York Times
