Legendary pop/R&B vocalist, Roberta Flack, whose intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, topped music charts in the 1970s, died on Monday.
Flack died on Monday morning at home surrounded by her family. She was 88.
“We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025. She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator. No cause of death was cited,” a statement from her Rep, Elaine Schock read.
Flack, who was divorced from Stephen Novosel in 1972, is survived by her son and musician Bernard Wright.
Musically gifted from a young age, Flack won a scholarship to Howard University at just 15 with plans to pursue a classical music career.
Upon graduating, Flack taught at schools in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., and began performing in clubs, both as a pianist for other vocalists and as a singer herself. Attention from fellow musicians led to a contract with Atlantic Records, who released her debut album, “First Take”, in 1969.
The album sold well but Flack credited her 1970 appearance, guest-starring on The Third Bill Cosby Special with “the biggest break of my career”.
When Clint Eastwood used her version of Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 movie “Play Misty For Me,” Flack’s popularity soared.
The string of albums that followed — Chapter Two, Quiet Fire, Killing Me Softly, Feel Like Makin’ Love and an album of duets with Donny Hathaway, made her one of the decade’s most popular singers.
In 1971, DownBeat Magazine named her the year’s best female vocalist, breaking Ella Fitzgerald’s 18-year streak.
She earned eight Grammy nominations and four wins during this period, and remains the only solo artist to win the Grammy for record of the year two years in a row: in 1973, for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and in 1974, for “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
