Roberta Flack, the voice of 'Killing Me Softly With His Song', has died

American singer Roberta Flack, one of the most successful artists of the 70s, has died

American singer Roberta Flack, known for songs such as 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' and 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', has died. She was 88 years old.

The news was announced this Monday by a spokesperson for the singer, who stated that she died "peacefully, surrounded by her family". The cause of death has not been confirmed.

Roberta Flack was one of the most successful singers of the 1970s, having been the first artist to win a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in two consecutive years: first with 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' in 1973, and the following year with 'Killing Me Softly With His Song'.

Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, the singer was surrounded by music from an early age: her mother was an organist in the church choir. At the age of nine, Flack began taking piano lessons, and at 15 she was accepted into Howard, where she studied music, becoming one of the youngest students ever at that university.

At the age of 19, she began giving her first concerts, dividing her life between teaching and performing. It was pianist and singer Les McCann who introduced her to the Atlantic label, with which she released her first album, "First Take", in 1969. Two years later, her version of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', a folk ballad composed by Ewan MacColl, became her first major hit, reaching number one on the sales charts in the United States.

Throughout his career, he has collaborated with the likes of Donny Hathaway and Michael Jackson and toured with Miles Davis. He has been an artistic inspiration for contemporary voices such as Erykah Badu and the Fugees, whose version of 'Killing Me Softly' was itself a huge hit. His latest album, featuring covers of Beatles songs, was released in 2012.

In 2018, she felt unwell during a concert at the legendary Apollo in New York, which forced her to be hospitalized. In 2022, her spokesperson publicly revealed that Roberta Flack suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which forced her to withdraw from performing.