'Killing Me Softly' singer Roberta Flack born in Black Mountain, NC dies 2 years after ALS diagnosis

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Roberta Flack was a Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on "Killing Me Softly with His Song," "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and other hits made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s.

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- Roberta Flack, a North Carolina native, Grammy-winning singer and pianist, died Monday at age 88. Her intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s.

According to her publicist Elaine Schock, Flack passed away at her New York home surrounded by her family. In 2022, Flack announced that she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" as the soundtrack for one of cinema's more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film "Play Misty for Me." The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack's graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year. In 1973, she matched both achievements with "Killing Me Softly," becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.

Flack is internationally hailed as one of the greatest songstresses of our time receiving three Billboard number-one singles, and four Grammys. After her death was announced, ABC11 Eyewitness News talked to radio personality Karen Clark, with Foxy 107/104, about what this loss means for the world of music.

"This is really a day for us to stop and reflect on an incredible talent. A woman who won five Grammys and was so incredibly talented as a classically trained pianist that she was offered a full scholarship to Howard University at 15. Incomparable. I mean, who does that? So it's really a great day for us to remember her legacy and her talent."

FILE - Roberta Flack performs at Lincoln Center benefit concert, "Here's to the Ladies: a Celebration of Great Women in Jazz," in NY on Nov. 17, 2003. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

Clark added, "Today was a great day to be able to pull out all of the Roberta Flack records, especially at a radio station with a format like ours we can just stop it and do whatever we want to do. We were able to pull out all of those songs that are so nostalgic for so many people and bring up so many memories. This is what local radio was made for."

Roberta Flack's North Carolina Connections

The Grammy Award-winning songstress, Roberta Flack was born in Black Mountain on February 10, 1937. However, she was raised in Arlington, Va.

Roberta Flack Mural in her hometown-Black Mountain, NC (Photo: WLOS 13)

At age 15, Flack received a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C. She graduated four years later at age 19. She was intent on following her music career, but her father died suddenly.

Flack returned to Farmville, N.C. in Pitt County and took a job teaching music and English at H.B. Sugg, an African American high school.

Shortly after she returned the D.C. area, Flack performed at a music venue where she was discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann.

In 2009, Roberta Flack was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, where she was celebrated not only for her outstanding achievements in music but also for her dedication to elevating North Carolina's musical legacy on the world stage.