Lori Lieberman, Who First Sang 'Killing Me Softly with His Song,' Reacts to Roberta Flack's Death: 'Endless Gratitude'

Mar. 15, 2025

Lori Lieberman; Roberta Flack.Photo:Paul Bergen/Redferns; Jim Spellman/WireImage

Paul Bergen/Redferns; Jim Spellman/WireImage

Lori Lieberman is rememberingRoberta Flack.

Speaking toThe New York Post, Lieberman, who was the first to sing “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” shared how Flack, whodied on Monday, Feb. 24 at 88 years old, impacted her.

“It was a guitar-based folk song,” Lieberman, 73, said about the 1971 song that Flack recorded in January 1973. “My version was a small folk song.”

Flack won two Grammys for “Killing Me Softly with His Song”: record of the year and best pop vocal performance, female in 1973. The Fugees would record the song over 20 years later withLauryn Hillsinging lead vocals, breathing new life into the breakup ballad.

“What she gave to that song was priceless, and something I never, ever could have imagined," Lieberman added. She called Flack’s cover of her 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 said.

Roberta Flack in July 1971.David Redfern/Redferns/Getty

Liebermann also spoke about the surprising inspiration for “Killing Me Softly with His Song” — Don McLean’s “Empty Chairs.” “I was finishing my first album for Capitol Records, and we needed one more song,” Lieberman said, adding that a friend invited her to hear a singer she had never heard of.

“When he sang ‘Empty Chairs,’ it moved me so much because it was about a breakup — and I was going through one at the time — that I wrote a poem on a napkin,” she continued.

“I had felt that he was singing about me and my life. I went to see him, a person I’d never heard of, and I felt that he was reading my diaries.”

Lyricist Norman Gimbel and composer Charles Fox helped Lieberman turn the emotional poem into “Killing Me Softly with His Song.”

Roberta Flack in 2012.Shahar Azran/WireImage

Shahar Azran/WireImage

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Flack would go on to hear the song on a flight while Lieberman was a featured artist on American Airlines. “It resonated with her,” Lieberman said, and Flack took notes during the flight and would perform the song live in 1972 and then record it the following year for the albumKilling Me Softly.

Decades later, Lieberman and Flack met in 2019 when Lieberman was asked to contribute to the documentaryRoberta. Though she didn’t talk much, Lieberman recalled Flack telling her: “Lori Lieberman, it’s been so long, so long. I can’t believe it.” “And it was a very, very profound moment,” she added.

“She was an incredible musician, an incredible pianist and a beautiful singer,” Lieberman said. “She’s one of the greatest artists of my generation, for sure.”

Roberta Flack in June 1973.ABC Photo Archives/Disney/Getty

Flack was diagnosed with ALS in August 2022. A press release shared that November said the diagnosis “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak.”

“It will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon,” the statement continued. “Miss Flack plans to stay active in her musical and creative pursuits. Her fortitude and joyful embrace of music that lifted her from modest circumstances to the international spotlight remain vibrant and inspired.”

She died 2½ years later.

Along with “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” Flack was known for her Billboard’s Hot 100 No. 1 songs “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Feel Like Makin' Love.”

source: people.com