Grammy-winning singer Roberta Flack, best known for her hit songs Killing Me Softly with His Song and The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face, has died. She was 88.

Her publicist confirmed the legendary singer’s death on Monday, LBC reports.

“We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,” a statement read.

“She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.”

Flack had previously announced in 2022 that she had motor neurone disease, and could no longer sing.

File/American musician Roberta Flack performs onstage at the Park West Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois, March 30, 1981. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

An icon of soul and R&B, Flack was the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in two consecutive years – in 1973 for The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – and in 1974 for Killing Me Softly With His Song, the LBC report notes.

Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina in 1937, Flack took to music at a young age and by 15 became one of the youngest students to be admitted to Howard University to study music in its history.

Over the course of her career, she worked with artists including Donny Hathaway and Miles Davis, and recorded an album of Beatles covers in 2012, the BBC reports.

In 2020, a year after having a stroke, Flack was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys.

File/1/19/92, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, Memorial service for Dizzie Gillespie at St. John the Divine where Roberta Flack (center) performs. (Photo by Najlah Feanny/Corbis via Getty Images)

“It’s a tremendous and overwhelming honour,” she said at the time.

“I’ve tried my entire career to tell stories through my music. This award is a validation to me that my peers heard my thoughts and took in what I have tried to give.”

More to come…