R&B legend Roberta Flack, celebrated for her timeless hits like The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song, has passed away at the age of 88.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of the incredible Roberta Flack, who passed away peacefully this morning, February 24, 2025, surrounded by family,” her representatives shared in a statement. “She shattered barriers, set records, and was a dedicated educator.”
In 2022, Flack revealed that she had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, which prevented her from singing.
Born in North Carolina and raised in Arlington, Virginia, Flack began her journey as a classically trained pianist. She earned a full scholarship to Howard University at just 15 years old. While teaching during the day, she played piano for opera singers at night, occasionally performing pop standards between sets.
“Even while studying classical music, I was immersed in doo-wop and R&B with my peers,” she once said. “I’ve always been surrounded by music—Bach, Chopin, and Schumann on one side, and rhythm and blues on the other.”
Her big break came when musician Les McCann discovered her singing in a jazz club. “Her voice moved me like nothing else,” he later recalled.
Flack’s career soared in the early 1970s when her rendition of Ewan MacColl’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was featured in Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The song became a major hit, winning Grammy Song of the Year in 1973.
She made history by winning the same award the following year for Killing Me Softly With His Song.
In 1974, she topped the charts again with Feel Like Makin’ Love, after which she shifted her focus to studio work and philanthropy.
Throughout the 1980s, Flack toured extensively, collaborating with musical icons like Donny Hathaway and Miles Davis. In 1991, she returned to the charts with Set the Night to Music, a duet with Maxi Priest.
In 2012, she released Let It Be Roberta, an album covering classic Beatles songs.
Roberta Flack, who was previously married to American jazz musician Stephen Novosel, devoted a significant part of her life to the Roberta Flack School of Music in New York.
Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson once commended her as “socially conscious and fearless in her convictions.”
In 2020, just a year after experiencing a stroke, Flack was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her remarkable contributions to music.
“This is an incredible and humbling honor,” she remarked at the time. “Throughout my career, I’ve aimed to tell stories through my music. Receiving this award reassures me that my peers have truly listened and appreciated what I’ve shared.”
Her most famous song, Killing Me Softly With His Song, reached a new generation when The Fugees, fronted by Lauryn Hill, released their Grammy-winning version. The group later performed it live with Flack, and their rendition became a global hit in 1996.
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