Roberta Flack, the singer and pianist who charted three No. 1 hits in the ’70s, has died. The North Carolina-born artist was 88.
A press release noted that Flack “died peacefully surrounded by her family.”
Flack was born on Feb. 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. The singer and pianist began playing the instrument at an early age. When she was 15, she attended Howard University on a music scholarship and was a classmate of Donny Hathaway, a singer with whom she had a Grammy-winning song in 1972.
READ MORE: Top 25 Soul Albums of the ’70s
Her first hit record came with her debut album, 1969’s First Take, which made it to No. 1 in 1970 and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Throughout the ’70s, starting with a cover of Carole King‘s “You’ve Got a Friend” in 1971, Flack was a regular presence on the pop and soul charts. Her first Top 40 entry was also her first No. 1: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” spurred by its inclusion in Clint Eastwood‘s 1971 directorial debut, Play Misty for Me.
She had five more Top 10 hits over the next several years, including the Grammy-winning “Where Is the Love” and the No. 2 “The Closer I Get to You” with Hathaway. Her interpretation of songs by Jimmy Webb, Janis Ian, Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandross became hit singles over the years.
What Songs Did Roberta Flack Sing?
Flack was discovered by jazz artist Les McCann and signed with Atlantic Records in 1969. By 1974, she had scored three No. 1 singles: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks in 1972 and won both Record and Song of the Year Grammys, “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” which was No. 1 for five weeks in 1973 and also a double Record and Song of the Year Grammy winner, and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974.
Flack placed nearly 20 singles in the Top 100 through 1991 when she reached No. 6 with “Set the Night to Music,” a duet with frequent singing partner Peabo Bryson.
In addition to First Take, Flack had three other Top 10 albums in the ’70s. Her run on the R&B charts during this period was no less spectacular. She hit No. 1 on the R&B singles chart for a final time with 1988’s “Oasis.”
Flack’s influence could be felt through generations of singers, most prominently in Fugees’ Lauryn Hill. The hip-hop group had a No.2 hit in 1996 with a remake of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” titled “Killing Me Softly.”
Even though Flack had a stroke in 2016, she was active in the last decade of her life, releasing a new single, “Running,” in 2018. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music in 2023, and in 2024, Flack’s last recorded song, “Down by the River,” was included in an album titled On Imagination.
In Memoriam: 2025 Deaths
A look at those we’ve lost.
Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff
