Sad news the legendary singer, songwriter, performer, Roberta Flack one of the great soul singers of all time. has died aged 88 on Monday, February 24, 2025, while surrounded by family. Known for songs including The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, originally by Ewan MacColl, and Killing Me Softly With His Song, written by Lori Lieberman and Norman Gimbel this pioneering soul icons work paved the way for women musicians and transformed popular music.
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack, to musician parents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, on February 10, 1937,and raised in Arlington, Virginia, ahe started classical piano lessons at the age of nine. She was awarded a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC aged 15 and hoped to become an opera singer, a dream that was put on hold when she returned to North Carolina following her father’s death in 1959.
She went back to the capital a year later to teach and in the early 1960s she began accompanying opera.singers at the Tivoli opera restaurant in Georgetown, later playing in various clubs in the Washington area before taking up a residency at Mr Henry’s.
After watching her perform, jazz musician Les McCann helped to launch Flack’s recording career and she was signed to Atlantic Records after decades of classical study, teaching music and accompanying opera singers. Working as a high-school teacher in her 20s, while gigging in clubs during the evenings, FShe was married to jazz musician Stephen Novosel between 1966 and 1972. Her debut album, First Take, was released in 1969 and featured a blend of gospel, soul, flamenco and jazz.
One of the songs from the album, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, catapulted her to stardom after Clint Eastwood used the song as the soundtrack for a love scene in his film Play Misty For Me. It also won the Grammy for record of the year in 1973.
And a year later her song Killing Me Softly With His Song won the same gong and Flack won best female pop vocal performance. The latter saw a resurgence in popularity in the 1990s when hip-hop trio Fugees recorded a new version.
In August 1970, she released Chapter Two and in November 1971 Quiet Fire. Both albums were aligned musically with First Take’s diverse mix. Even with the sweeping range of material, Flack developed a unifying sound. Flack said many times that her song choices were rooted in her desire to portray stories in her music, whether they were about love, lives or politics.
“My music is inspired thought-by-thought, and feeling-by-feeling. Not note-by-note,” she told Powers in 2020. “I tell my own story in each song as honestly as I can in the hope that each person can hear it and feel their own story within those feelings.”
Flack's other hits from the 1970s included Feel Like Makin' Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. Sadly, their partnership ended in tragedy, after he fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan in 1979, after suffering a breakdown while they were recording an album of duets together.
Her soundscape embraced rock, folk, jazz, classical, and Latin influences, challenging racial and musical norms of her time and paving the way for many artists.This fearless musical exploration made her an icon not only in the realm of quiet storm R&B but also in the broader cultural landscape.
Her influence reached beyond her songs, as she contributed to social dialogues and civil rights movements, performing at significant events.
Her musical style, characterized by an intimate yet compelling delivery, redefined what it meant to be a Black artist in mainstream America. She didn’t just sing,she bled emotion, turning heartbreak into a damn art form.
At a time when the music industry was often quick to pigeonhole Black talent, Flack’s success was a testament to the power of authenticity. She refused to conform to expectations, instead choosing to let her voice serve as both a personal declaration and a broader commentary on the Black experience.
Her music was a form of quiet resistance,a way to assert dignity, empathy, and strength in the face of social adversity.
Like many Black women, Roberta Flack’s revolutionary artistry is overlooked.Songs like “Trying Times”
and and "Compared to What" tackled issues such as racism, poverty, and inequality.
while pro LGBTQIA songs like “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” on her 1969 album were made prior to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, often credited as the first of its kind.
A passionate advocate for gay rights from the early days of her career, Flack was as much a musical innovator as she was a progressive activist, introducing Black nationalism to mainstream audiences. A shining light in the social and civil rights movement of the time, Flack was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis whom Flack visited in prison when Davis faced charges - for which she was acquitted - for murder and kidnapping.
Davis once described the soft power of Flack’s voice in regards to protest music: “Yes, we needed the songs that were loud, that convinced us we were doing the right thing, that we needed to keep on pushing. They were incorporated into the soundtrack of the movement. But change happens when people’s emotions are affected. When we begin to be active participants from the heart…. Roberta had brought a kind of reflectiveness, a space to actually think and imagine.”
Flack used her platform to advocate for causes she deeply cared about. She appeared in a documentary film, “Save the Children,” about Jackson’s Operation PUSH exhibition in Chicago in 1972, and appeared at Bob Dylan’s 1975 benefit for boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who was wrongfully convicted of murder.in 1972. Flack was also a member of the Artist Empowerment Coalition, a group that advocates for artists to have the right to control their creative properties. She also founded The Roberta Flack School of Music, an afterschool program in the Bronx that provided music education to underprivileged students. In 2010, she established the Roberta Flack Foundation, an organization dedicated to music education and animal welfare.
While Flack never matched her first run of success, she had a follow-up hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet Tonight, I Celebrate My Love.
and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet Set The Night To Music.
Living on the same floor of the famous Dakota apartment building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Flack also became friends with the Beatle, and in 2012, Flack released her final album, Let It Be Roberta, an album of Beatles covers.
The singer, was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Academy in 2020, and in 2022, a feature-length documentary about the soul singer, by Antonino D’Ambrosio called Roberta, was released and told of her rise to stardom amid the backdrop of America’s civil rights movement.
In 2022 it was announced the veteran musician had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive neurological condition that had made it "impossible" for her to sing. Following her ALS diagnosis, she finally retired from the limelight.
On May 13, 2023, Flack was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music and celebrated by members of the graduating class who performed a concert of her music.
As news of Flack’s passing spreads around the world, multiple tributes to the late vocalist have been flooding in from all corners of the globe. Those who have worked with her, those who knew her, and those who simply adored her incredible body of work have all been keen to share their thoughts on the death of the iconic singer.
Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters was one of the first to pay tribute to the star, sharing: “Condolences to family, friends and fans of Roberta Flack. RIP.”
Fellow R&B singer Darlene Love, who regularly performed Flack’s ‘Where Is The Love’ during her live performances, wrote on social media, “I’m so heartbroken to hear of the passing of Roberta Flack. There will never be another voice like hers – so full of soul, beauty, and emotion. ‘Killing Me Softly’ and so many of her songs will live on forever.” The singer concluded, “Rest in power, Roberta. Your music will always be with us.”
Bernice A. King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., shared an image of Flack with the caption, “What a powerful, synchronised, beautiful instrument you were…Thank you #RobertaFlack.”
Oscar-nominated photographer Misan Harriman, who chronicled the Black Lives Matter movement through his photography, called Flack “One of the greatest of all time.” He also shared the song ‘Do What You Gotta Do’, writing, “This song means so much to me. She was a class apart.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, expressed profound sorrow at her passing. According to his statement, “I’m deeply saddened by the news of the death of Roberta Flack, one of the greatest musicians and songsters of all time. Her voice and music brought American and Afro-American culture and music to another level. She was also a freedom fighter and activist. I first met her when I was 12 years old at a rally for Operation Breadbasket. She was a huge supporter of Operation Breadbasket and Rev. Jesse Jackson. In the last 25 years, she has always supported and was present for events of the National Action Network. May she rest in peace and power, her music will last forever.”
His words capture the indelible impact Flack made not only on the music industry but also on the civil rights movement As fans mourn her passing, one thing is clear, her impact on music, culture, and activism will continue to resonate for years to come.
Roberta Flack's legacy is built on her ability to transform and personalize songs with emotional honesty and clarity. Her storytelling approach ensured that listeners not only heard her music but deeply felt their narratives. Her legacy is as much about her contributions to the struggle for justice as it is about her groundbreaking musical achievements.
Roberta Flack was more than just a singer,she was an icon, a storyteller, and a trailblazer for Black artists everywhere. Rest in power Roberta Flack. Thank you for your outstanding music. Your legacy lives on! 🙏💔
