R&B icon Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88, according to a statement from a rep given to Variety. Flack was best known for her Grammy-winning breakout hits, a 1969 cover of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and 1973’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” which was later covered by The Fugees’ Lauryn Hill on their 1996 album The Score, creating a second generation soul legend. Her songs were covered as recently as 2023, by Blackpink’s Jennie, highlighting her global impact.
The statement from Flack’s rep reads: “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025. She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.” No cause of death was given.
According to Variety, Flack’s breakout came as a result of the use of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut, Play Misty For Me. He paid $2,000 for its use; nearly three years after its release, it topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972 as a result. Two years later, another of Flack’s covers, this time of Lori Lieberman’s “Killing Me Softly…,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the 1974 Grammy for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Flack went on to perform the song with the Fugees; Billboard reports that it is one of just a dozen songs to be Grammy nominated for Song of the Year that have had two versions reach the top 10. In 1999, Flack’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Flack’s 1974 hit “Where Is The Love” brought her commercial peak and her duets with Donny Hathaway are R&B canon. Her final album was 2012’s Let It Be Roberta, a Beatles cover project.
