Lauryn Hill Will 'Forever Be Grateful' to Late Singer Roberta Flack: 'Rest in Grace Beloved One'

Mar. 15, 2025

Lauryn Hill; Roberta Flack.Photo:Sarah Morris/Getty; Ann Limongello/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Sarah Morris/Getty; Ann Limongello/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Lauryn Hillis rememberingRoberta Flack.

The “Ex Factor” singer shared a heartfelt tribute to the late singer, whodied on Monday, Feb. 24at 88 years old.on Instagram, Hill, 49, and Flack are connected through Hill and the Fugees covering Flack’s 1973 song “Killing Me Softly with His Song” in 1996, bringing the breakup ballad to a new generation.

Hill’s tribute post featured throwback pictures of Flack early in her career along with album covers forFirst TakeandKilling Me Softly.

“Whitney Houston once said to me that Roberta Flack’s voice was one of the purest voices she’d ever heard,” themother-of-sixbegan her tribute. “I grew up scouring the records my Parents collected. Mrs. Flack was one of their favorites and quite instantly became one of mine as soon as I was exposed to her.”

“She looked cool and intelligent, gentle and yet militant. The songs she recorded from ‘Compared to What’ to ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ to her version of ‘Ballad of the Sad Young Men’ fascinated me with their beauty and sophistication.”

Roberta Flack in November 1969.Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty

Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty

Hill added that Flack was an “artist, a singer-songwriter, a pianist and composer” that showed her what is “possible within the idiom of Soul” with her “creative choices and standards.

“Killing Me Softly, a song Mrs. Flack didn’t write, but made hugely popular became the song that catapulted myself and the Fugees into household phenomena,” she continued. “We wanted to honor the beauty and brilliance of this song and her performance of it to our generation.”

Hill concluded, “I will forever be grateful for the sensitivity and delicate power of her Love and Artistry. Rest in Grace Beloved One. 🌹.”

Roberta Flack in New York City in November 2012.Shahar Azran/WireImage

Shahar Azran/WireImage

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Lori Liebermanis also musically intertwined with Flack and Hill. Lieberman, 73, wrote the poem that served as inspiration for “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and sang it first.

According to Lieberman, Hill heard the song while on an American Airlines flight (Lieberman was a featured artist for the airline) and took notes about the tune.

“What she gave to that song was priceless, and something I never, ever could have imagined,” Lieberman said, calling Flack’s cover of the song “one of the greatest things to ever happen to me.”

“I have endless gratitude to Roberta Flack [for] hearing something within that song to bring it to the world and to change not just my life, but so many with her artistry, her talent and her heart,” she added.

Wyclef Jean, Roberta Flack, Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel Samuel Michel in June 1996.Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty

Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty

Flack, known for her No. 1 singles “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “Feel Like Makin' Love,” died on Monday.

Though no cause of death was revealed, Flack wasdiagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS, in 2022.

source: people.com