R&B Singer Roberta Flack, Known For Song “Killing Me Softly,” Dies At 88

R&B vocalist Roberta Flack passed away on Feb. 24 at 88. A representative said, “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, Feb. 24, 2025.”

The statement continued, “She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.” Flack was catapulted into fame with her hits “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” The former song became a hit in 1971, two years after its release, when Clint Eastwood used it in his directorial debut, Play Misty for Me. In 1974, she released the song “Where Is the Love,” which dominated boththe pop and R&B charts.

Flack was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and was musically inspired by the gospel work of Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke. Starting her studies on piano at age nine, she attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., on a full scholarship at just 15 years old.

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An inspirational African American woman, Flack’s skill and talent were impossible for the music industry to ignore. Her career saw six top-ten hits and ten top-ten R&B singles. Across her career, she won five Grammys (three for “Killing Me Softly”) and eight other nominations, eventually being awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2020.

She once told Time, “One of the hassles of being a black female musician is that people are always backing you into a corner and telling you to sing soul. I’m a serious artist. I feel a kinship with people like Arthur Rubinstein and Glenn Gould. If I can’t play [20th-century orchestral composer Bela] Bartok when I want to play Bartok, then nothing else matters.”

In 2020, Flack told Songwriter Universe, “Through music, we understand what we are thinking and feeling. No matter what challenge life presents, I am at home with my piano, on a stage, with my band, in the studio, listening to music. I can find my way when I hear music.”

Flack suffered several years of health problems, including a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which made it impossible for her to sing.