R&B legend Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88.
Flack’s representative announced her passing, Variety reported.
“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,” the statement read.
Her manager said Flack died of cardiac arrest on the way to a hospital in Manhattan, The New York Times reported.
She announced in 2022 that she had ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which did not allow her to sing any longer, The Associated Press reported. She had also suffered a stroke a few years before her ALS diagnosis, The Washington Post reported.
Variety said she was a classically trained singer-pianist but didn’t have a big break until her version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was used by Clint Eastwood in his directorial debut “Play Misty for Me” in 1971.
She hit No. 1 on the pop charts, followed by her iconic “Killing Me Softly” released in 1973, which was eventually covered by the Fugees in 1996.
Both “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly” won Grammy Record of the Year honors back-to-back, in 1973 and 1974, USA Today reported. No one would do that again until U2 won it in 2001 and 2002 with “Beautiful Day” and “Walk On,” Variety and USA Today said. Billie Eilish also had the honor of back-to-back wins in 2020 and 2021 with “Bad Guy” and “Everything I Wanted.”
Flack dominated the 1974 charts with “Where I the Love” which hit No. 1 for both R&B and pop.
Overall she had six top-10 pop and top-10 R&B singles. She also won five Grammy awards and was given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020, the AP reported.
Flack was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and was inspired by Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke’s gospel music. She took up piano when she was 9, and had a full scholarship to attend Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
Her graduate work, however, ended early when her father died. Flack eventually started teaching in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., where she started performing in night clubs. She was discovered by jazz pianist Les McCann who alerted Atlantic Records to Flack’s talent, and led to her being signed in 1968, Variety reported.
Her first album came out the next year. It fizzled but she hit No. 8 with “You’ve Got a Friend,” a cover of the James Taylor hit. Then hit No. 1 with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
She also had hits with “Where Is the Love,” “Feel Like Making Love, “The Closer I Get to You” and “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” Variety reported.
Her popularity started to fade by the end of the 1970s and early 80s, but she still released music in the 2000s including “Let It Be Roberta” released in 2012, where she covered 12 of the Beatles’ top songs such as “In My Life,” “Come Together” and “Hey Jude.”
Check back for more on this developing story.
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