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Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate, genre-spanning interpretations shaped songs such as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” died on February 24, 2025, at age 88. The Associated Press reported, citing her publicist Elaine Schock, that Flack died at home surrounded by family. George Washington University said her death was due to complications from ALS.
From classical piano to the classroom
Flack’s musical path began with classical piano training. At 15, she received a full scholarship to Howard University, an unusually early start to a career that would move between formal study, teaching and performance. After college, she taught music in junior high schools in the Washington, D.C., area.
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Her sound was never confined to one tradition. Her recordings drew on jazz, folk, pop, soul, gospel and classical music, with a measured delivery that brought the words and emotional contours of a song into focus. The Recording Academy retrospective quotes Flack describing her aim: “I’ve always tried to express myself musically from a place of complete honesty.”
How First Take brought her to a wider audience
Flack’s 1969 debut album, First Take, introduced that approach across a set of songs shaped by different musical influences. Its most consequential track was “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Clint Eastwood used the recording in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me, helping the song reach a much broader audience.
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- An elegant and legendary vocal superstar, four-time Grammy honoree Roberta Flack's unmistakable delivery wraps a timeless R&B sound with beautiful flourishes of jazz, pop and soul. She first climbed to the top of the charts with her definitive version of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." The very next year, "Killing Me Softly," her first duet with the late, great Donnie Hathaway took the same prize, and also hit #1. Also featuring her hit-making collaborations with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest, as well as many selections on which she shines solo, this must-have collection spotlights Flack's masterful song interpretation and rich emotional resonance.
In 2018, Flack told the Associated Press that the record label wanted the song re-recorded at a faster tempo, but Eastwood wanted it “exactly as it was.” The unhurried performance that might have seemed an unlikely fit for a film became a defining part of her breakthrough.
Grammy milestones and a creative partnership
The Recording Academy’s artist record lists four Grammy wins and 14 nominations for Flack. Her two Record of the Year wins came in consecutive years: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in 1973 and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” in 1974. Warner Music Group described her as the only solo artist to win that award in consecutive years.
Rank #2
- Al Green, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder,Luther Vandross, Gladys Night, George Benson, Peabo Bryson, Aretha Franklin, Burt Bacharach, Earl Klugh, Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, Minnie Riperton, Jeffrey Osborne, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Al Green, Ray Charles Barry White, Loy Rawls, Otis Redding, Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone, Billy Paul, Bill Withers, Billy Joel, Carole King, Patti Austin, Patti LaBelle, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan
Another important strand of Flack’s career was her collaboration with singer and pianist Donny Hathaway. Their duets and creative connection endured as a central part of her musical legacy, as the Associated Press noted in its obituary.
Teaching and learning remained part of her legacy
Flack’s life in music was not only a story of recordings and awards. Her years teaching in D.C.-area schools connected her craft to a next generation of musicians, while her later remarks continued to emphasize curiosity and growth. At Berklee’s 2023 commencement, she said, “To this day, I continue to be a student of music; it finds me everywhere—in the darkest of moments, in the times of fear, and the depths of doubt.” She closed with an encouragement to graduates: “Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Use what you have and share yourselves with the world.”
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ALS diagnosis and death
Flack announced in 2022 that she had ALS, the Associated Press reported, and said she could no longer sing. George Washington University characterized her death on February 24, 2025, as resulting from complications from ALS.
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