1937 – 2025.
Roberta Flack was a virtuoso singer- pianist. With majestic anthems like “Killing Me Softly” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” Ms. Flack, a former schoolteacher, became one of the most widely heard artists of the 1970s.
From her inaugural album’s first track — “Compared to What,” a shot of sharp social commentary written by her longtime collaborator Eugene McDaniels — Ms. Flack frequently sang songs of social frustration and racial solidarity.