One of the distinct voices of the 1970s, Roberta Flack emerged as a history-making and award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and pianist. Her smooth vocals merged pop, folk, R&B and jazz as she became one of the pioneers of the Quiet Storm subgenre. Her legacy carries on through the covers and sampling of her music, including D'Angelo’s 2000 cover of “Feel Like Makin' Love” and the hit 1996 cover of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” by Lauryn Hill with her group the Fugees.

Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina on February 10, 1937, she grew up in Virginia, where she began playing the piano at nine years old. She later received a full-ride music scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she began attending at 15 years old and graduated at 19 before becoming a teacher. She began her professional music career in 1968, singing at nightclubs around D.C., where she was discovered by jazz musician Les McCann, who helped get her signed to Atlantic Records. Flack released her debut album First Take the following year, which took one day to record. The album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and achieved platinum status.

Flack was a force in the 1970s, becoming the first artist to win the Record of the Year Grammy Award in back-to-back years, winning in 1973 for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and in 1974 for her version of Lori Lieberman’s “Killing Him Softly With His Song.” Both singles—along with 1974’s “Feel Like Makin' Love”—all peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop charts and achieved gold status. She also worked with soul singer Donny Hathaway, releasing two duet albums—1972’s Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway and 1980’s Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway—along with the #1 R&B hit singles “The Closer I Get To You” and “Where is the Love,” which won a Grammy Award in 1973 for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.

The 1980s saw Flack collaborate with soul singer Peabo Bryson, releasing the albums Live & More in 1980 and 1983’s Born To Love, which features their hit duet “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love.” Her 1991 collaboration with Maxi Priest on the cover of Starship’s “Set the Night to Music” was another Top 10 pop hit. She continued to release albums up through 2012’s Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles cover album. In 1999, Flack received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2022, she was awarded with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On February 24, 2025, Roberta Flack passed away at the age of 88.