Roberta Flack started out as a little girl with big dreams and tremendous talent, whose life took unexpected turns. Those turns led to a prolific and storied music career, and whether you are a Baby Boomer, Gen X, or a Millennial, her songwriting and ballads have been a pivotal part of the soundtrack of our lives. 

An ALS diagnosis later in life stilled Flack's voice, and the memory of her dulcet tones is all that is left in the silence. On Monday, Roberta Flack died at the age of 88.

“The world has lost a musical great with the passing of the timeless Roberta Flack. A visionary artist and humanitarian, she created music that transcended genres, cementing her legacy as one of music’s most influential voices. Today, we honor her creative spirit, boundless talent, and lasting impact on music and beyond.” – Harvey Mason Jr., CEO, Recording Academy 

Music transcends language and time, and so will @Roberta_Flack’s legacy. Over her storied career she received four GRAMMYs and 14 nominations, two GRAMMY Hall Of Fame inductions, and a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Roberta Flack, the US singer behind a string of hits including Killing Me Softly With His Song, has died aged 88. “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,” a statement from her spokesperson read. “She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.”

With her graceful presence, genre-crossing versatility and ability to give voice to the full range of love’s highs and lows, Flack is widely considered one of soul and R&B’s greatest ever artists.

John Lennon's scions Julian Lennon and Sean Ono Lennon paid tribute to this beautiful queen and songstress.

The classically trained singer-pianist only belatedly found fame when Clint Eastwood employed her 2-year-old version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 directorial debut “Play Misty for Me.”

That No. 1 pop smash was succeeded by a second chart-topper, 1973’s “Killing Me Softly.” Both performances were acknowledged in back-to-back years with Grammys as record of the year – a feat that wasn’t duplicated until U2 captured the same award in 2001-02.

She reached her peak with the 1974 pop and R&B smash “Where Is the Love,” which claimed the apex of both charts.

In all, Flack’s supple, slow-burning style brought her six top-10 pop hits and 10 top-10 R&B singles, some of them in partnership with vocalist Donny Hathaway.

At the close of the 1970s, Flack's chart-topping dominance was never regained. But she continued to record and partner over a career that spanned more than 50 years.  

Born February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, Roberta Cleopatra Flack came to music early. Her mother Irene was a church choir organist, and Flack began playing the organ at the age of four, before moving on to piano at the age of five. Flack chose to formally train on the piano at the age of nine, and by the time she was 15, Flack had received a full-ride scholarship from Howard University to study music. She was one of the youngest students in the school's history. Flack's dream was to become the first Black classical pianist. Sadly, that career trajectory was cut short with the death of her father. Flack went on to teach in North Carolina and the District of Columbia, while simultaneously performing around nightspots in D.C. Jazz pianist Les McCann happened to see Flack perform one night at a club called Mr. Henry's. McCann was then a crossover star at Atlantic Records and he brought Flack to the attention of the label. Atlantic signed Flack in 1968.

While her 1969 album, “First Take” failed to launch, a single from the album: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” managed to rise above the fray; especially after Clint Eastwood, in his 1971 directorial debut "Play Misty For Me," chose to use the ballad in a pivotal scene.

Flack has inspired a generation of artists. In 1983, Flack partnered with Peabo Bryson, on a ballad, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love." Bryson paid tribute to Flack, calling her an “iconic and divinely gifted artist and friend … She was my greatest inspiration.”

In 1996, the Fugees featuring Lauryn Hill recorded a chart-topping cover of "Killing Me Softly." And a young India Arie invited Flack to duet with her on a television special in the early 2000s.

"When I first started having some success as an artist I was being asked who I'd like to sing with. I got to do a cable TV special and had Roberta Flack as my special guest and we sang 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' as a duet. She was so humble — she really wanted to know why I picked her to perform. I couldn't come up with much of an answer because I couldn't even imagine that Roberta Flack would be asking me that question. What do you mean, 'Why you?' Because you're you.

"She's an expert musician and performer, and as a person she's always so nurturing and so insightful. I'm very lucky that an artist capable of this kind of greatness has also become a great friend and supporter of mine."

 And so many other name artists were equally passionate about collaborating with Flack and gleaning from her wisdom and experience, as the Guardian documents. 

Flack’s impressive range of influences and collaborators was testament to her multidisciplinary approach and idiosyncratic style. She duetted with Michael Jackson, toured with Miles Davis and covered Leonard Cohen and Laura Nyro. After her initial success, she became associated with the growth of quiet storm, a deep, mature and ruminative offshoot of R&B which later inspired the likes of Erykah Badu, D’Angelo and the Fugees (whose own take on Killing Me Softly would rival Flack’s to be the definitive version). More recently, in 2012, Flack released a string of Beatles covers in an album titled Let It Be Roberta.

Nominated a total of 13 times, she received her last Grammy nod in 1995, for best traditional pop vocal performance, for “Roberta,” on which she essayed the standard songbook.

"Killing Me Softly" was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Flack's last recorded work was the 2012 album, “Let It Be Roberta.” In 2016, Flack suffered a stroke, which limited her performances. In 2022, a documentary about her life and career was announced, as well as her publishing of a children's book. Flack's management company further revealed that Flack had been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) which rendered her unable to sing and made speaking difficult. 

Flack was married but divorced in 1972. Her only child, Bernard Wright, died in 2022.

In this classic '70s clip from The Johnny Carson Show, one icon recognizes another, and Flack performs her timeless rendition of "Killing Me Softly." 

WATCH: