Roberta Flack, 1971. Photo by Anthony Barboza/Getty Images.
Roberta Flack will now shine her light down from heaven as the legendary songstress joined the angels on Feb. 24, 2025. The Grammy-winning singer died peacefully surrounded by her family this morning at the age of 88.
While her cause of death has not been disclosed yet, in 2022, a rep for Flack announced to PEOPLE she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), making it difficult for her to speak and impossible to share what she herself described as a “blessed instrument”—her paradigmatically poignant singing voice.
RELATED CONTENT: Roberta Flack, ‘Killing Me Softly’ Grammy Award-Winning Singer, Dies At 88
Roberta Flack performs on a television show circa 1973. Photo by David Redfern/Redferns/Getty
Named Roberta Cleopatra Flack and appropriately born in Black Mountain, N.C., on Feb. 10, 1937, the rock of a woman who grew up singing in the church was also classically trained in music throughout her childhood, starting piano lessons at age 9. At just 15, Flack received a scholarship to Howard University, where she graduated from the HBCU in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She went on to work as a schoolteacher with her representative, noting in a statement, “She was also a proud educator.”
But it was Flack’s career in the studio, not the classroom, that propelled her to stardom during the early 1970s. Her powerful performance on 1969’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” compelled Clint Eastwood to feature the song in his 1971 directorial debut, Play Misty for Me. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts and won Flack the Grammy for Record Of The Year in 1973.
The following year at the 16th Annual Grammy Awards she once again took home the highly coveted Record Of The Year medal for her stirring No. 1 heartbreak anthem “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” which also won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance that year.
More than 20 years later, “Killing Me Softly With His Song” was recorded by the hip-hop trio Fugees, which introduced a new generation to the power ballad. With Lauryn Hill on lead vocals and a more uptempo twist, the Fugees’ version of the classic track also reached No. 1 in twenty countries worldwide, winning the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Flack’s historic feat of winning the Grammy for Record of the Year two years in a row—this would not happen again until U2’s consecutive wins in 2001 and 2002—was just the beginning of a decorated decades-long musical career. She went on to earn six Top 10 pop hits, 10 Top 10 R&B singles, 14 Grammy nominations, four Grammy wins, and returning to her music education roots, she released the children’s book The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music in 2023.
On the day of Flack’s passing her official Instagram shared a touching quote from the beloved musician: “Remember: Always walk in the light. If you feel like you’re not walking in it, go find it. Love the light.” So, in honor of her lasting legacy keep swiping for 12 of Roberta Flack’s best songs that remind us to always find the light, even in the darkest times.
RELATED CONTENT: Roberta Flack’s Publicist Says She Can No Longer Sing Due To ALS Diagnosis
