New York: Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning artist known for her soulful ballads “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, passed away on Monday at the age of 88, her publicist confirmed.
“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,” her publicist, Elaine Schock, said in a statement. No cause of death was disclosed.
A classically trained pianist, Flack defied traditional musical categories, blending elements of jazz, soul, pop, and R&B to craft a unique sound that left an enduring mark on the music industry.
Roberta Flack, the silky-voiced Grammy-winning singer whose sultry ballads 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' topped the charts in the 1970s, died on Monday at the age of 88 https://t.co/uvlup5I8Bg pic.twitter.com/WGmktIw9qj
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 24, 2025
A Trailblazing Career
In 2022, Flack revealed that she had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive condition that affects nerve cells and leads to paralysis. This diagnosis marked the end of her singing career.
Over the course of her career, Flack won four Grammy Awards, including two consecutive Record of the Year honors for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in 1973 and “Killing Me Softly with His Song” in 1974—a first in Grammy history. In 2020, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to music.
“In more than a half-century of making music, she’s established herself as one of the most distinctive song stylists in the pop arena,” National Public Radio wrote about Flack in 2020.
With 20 studio albums and several chart-topping hits throughout the 1970s, Flack became one of the most influential voices of her era. While she co-wrote some of her music, she primarily saw herself as an interpreter of songs, using her voice to bring lyrics to life.
“When Flack sings a song, she caresses each cadence, considering and intensifying them, the better to realize the full meaning of the lyric,” The Guardian observed in 2020.
From Musical Prodigy to Global Icon
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, she grew up in a musical household as one of four children.
Encouraged by her mother, a church organist, Flack began playing piano at the age of nine. Her childhood passion for music led her to write The Green Piano, an autobiographical children’s book about her first piano, which her father salvaged from a junkyard and painted green.
A gifted student, Flack graduated from high school at 15 and earned a full scholarship to Howard University, where she majored in music. Though she initially aspired to become a concert pianist and opera singer, financial hardships following her father’s passing led her to take a teaching job in Washington, D.C.
Balancing her career as a schoolteacher by day and a nightclub performer by night, Flack’s breakthrough came when jazz musician Les McCann discovered her at Mr. Henry’s club in Washington and helped her secure a record deal with Atlantic Records.
As an African American woman in the South, Flack faced racial segregation and sexism in the predominantly male-dominated music industry of the 1970s. Yet, she rose to prominence, breaking barriers with her distinctive voice and emotive delivery.
Rise to Fame and Chart-Topping Hits
Flack’s debut album, First Take (1969), initially flew under the radar until actor and director Clint Eastwood featured “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The song soared to No. 1 on the charts, earning Flack her first Grammy and cementing her place in music history.
Her success continued with “Killing Me Softly with His Song” in 1973 and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974, both of which became No. 1 hits.
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Flack collaborated with various artists throughout her career, including Peabo Bryson, Maya Angelou, and Donny Hathaway. She and Hathaway’s hit single “Where is the Love” became a top 10 success and won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo in 1973. Their musical partnership produced other beloved duets, such as “The Closer I Get to You.”
“A great collaboration is one in which the combination of two talents creates something unique and meaningful that neither could have without the other,” Flack told Forbes in 2021.
Legacy and Final Years
Flack continued to perform throughout the 1980s, touring with jazz legend Miles Davis and even performing for Nelson Mandela in 1999. That same year, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Beyond her music career, she worked with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, composed film soundtracks, and released the album for the 1981 Richard Pryor movie Bustin’ Loose.
In 2006, Flack founded the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School in New York, providing music education to underprivileged children. In 2019, she launched the Roberta Flack Foundation to support both music education and animal welfare.
Following a stroke in 2016, Flack retired from touring in 2018. In January 2023, PBS released a documentary about her life, American Masters: Roberta Flack.
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“I’ve always tried to express myself musically from a place of complete honesty in the hope that each person can find his or her own story when they listen in a way that helps them to feel their own truth,” Flack told Forbes.
Flack was married to jazz bassist Steve Novosel from 1966 to 1972.
Her profound influence on music continues to resonate, inspiring generations of artists and fans alike.
