Roberta Flack - 1937 - 2025

  by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 17 / 4 / 2025

Legendary soul singer Roberta Flack died surrounded by her family in New York City on 24 February at the age of 88. Famous for hits ‘Killing Me Softly’ and ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, North Carolina-born Roberta broke many professional boundaries and was “a proud educator” as well as a musician. Clint Eastwood was an early fan of Roberta's music and he used her version of ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ in the 1971 film ‘Play Misty For Me’ which he directed and starred in. This led to wide acclamation of Roberta and the ballad won a Grammy for record of the year in 1973. The followiong year she repeated this success with ‘Killing Me Softly’ which made her the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record. This song went on to be covered by hip-hop group The Fugees in the mid-1990s and later featured in the 2002 hit film ‘About A Boy’ in a scene where Hugh Grant sings it on stage. After a brilliantly successful career, sadly Roberta Flack announced in 2022 that she had motor neurone disease and was no longer able to sing. She had won four Grammys and was honoured in 2020 with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Perhaps more importantly, she had been a huge role model for generations of female singers – and this always meant a great deal to her. As her friend and manager Suzanne Koga has commented, “Roberta was a wonderful person, a great performer and a true inspiration to so many. She will be hugely missed.”

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