Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly' Grammy Winner, Dies at 88

Legendary vocalist and virtuoso pianist Roberta Flack, who owned the early '70s with the Grammy-winning hits "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song," died Monday at 88.

Her manager and friend Suzanne Korga confirmed the cause of death to be cardiac arrest, but the singer had announced she was battling ALS in 2022. At the time, she said via press release it was "impossible to sing and not easy to speak."

Her death was announced in a statement that read, "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."

Flack rose to prominence when Clint Eastwood used her recording of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in his 1971 directorial debut "Play Misty for Me," about a stalker. At the time, the song was two years old. It went on to hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 and to win the Grammy for Record of the Year.

Her follow-up, the Donny Hathaway duet "Where Is the Love," hit no. 5 and won her the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.

Flack's 1973 single "Killing Me Softly with His Song" matched her first big hit's successes, achieving pole position and winning her the Record of the Year Grammy for the second year running. She also won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for the song.

Across 18 studio albums, three live sets, the soundtrack for the film "Bustin' Loose" (1981), and five compilations, she amassed a total of 11 Top 40 and 20 R&B hits, most memorably with "You've Got a Friend" (1971) and "The Closer I Get to You" (1978) with Hathaway, the no. 1 smash "Feel Like Makin' Love" (1974), "Making Love" (1982), "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" (1983) with Peabo Bryson, and 1991's "Set the Night to Music" with Maxi Priest.

Her Afrocentric recordings and smooth delivery made her a rare artist able to blend the personal with the political and yet to make it accessible for the mainstream. Her work had a profound influence on other artists, including her duet with Hathaway "Be Real Black for Me" being sampled by Scarface for the single "On My Block" (2002).

Born February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, she was musical from her early childhood, singing in church and drawing inspiration from Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke, among others.

She told The New York Times in 1970, “I’ve been told I sound like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Odetta, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, even Mahalia Jackson. If everybody said I sounded like one person, I’d worry. But when they say I sound like them all, I know I’ve got my own style.”

She mastered the piano to the extent she won a scholarship to Howard University at just 15, one of the youngest students ever to attend the historic institution.

A teacher first, her musical career was slow-growing and local to where she lived in Washington, D.C., at first. Les McCann discovered her performing jazz music, which led to her signing by Atlantic Records. Her debut album, "First Take," was reportedly recorded in 10 hours.

Though critically acclaimed, the album languished until the surprise success of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

Considered one of the most important interpreters of popular music of her era, Flack received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Flack was married to and divorced from bassist Steve Novosel. She is survived by her son Bernard Wright.