Music legend and early ally to the LGBTQ+ community Roberta Flack has died aged 88
Roberta Flack won 14 Grammys over the course of her career. (Getty)
R&B singer Roberta Flack, a long-time LGBTQ+ ally best known for hits like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, has died at the age of 88.
Flack’s representatives released a statement, which read: “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025. She died peacefully surrounded by her family.”
“Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator,” it continued.
No cause of death was shared in the statement, but Flack previously announced that she had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease and could no longer sing.
Flack was born in North Carolina and raised in Arlington, Virginia. She began her music career as a classical pianist, first teaching music, and was later discovered by musician Les McCann while singing in a jazz club.
The singer topped the charts in the 1970s with hits like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, “Where Is The Love” and “The Closer I Get To You.”
“Killing Me Softly With His Song” was later covered by The Fugees.
Flack was nominated for 14 Grammy awards over the course of her career, winning five, and was the first artist to win Record of the Year in back-to-back years.
She was previously described as a “titan in the eyes of many fellow artists and discerning fans” and has “established herself as one of the most distinctive song stylists in the pop arena”.
“Love is beautiful in all forms!”
In addition to being a music icon, Roberta Flack was also a long-time ally to the LGBTQ+ community.
This began prior to her stardom, when she was moonlighting as a musician with a gig at an opera restaurant in Georgetown of Washington D.C.
In a 1979 interview, Flack said that the restaurant was “basically an underground place frequented by a lot of gay people” which “opened up a whole new world” for her.
Flack went on to dedicate some of her music to the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the 1969 cover ‘Ballad of the Sad Young Men’ which she said “was all gay”.
Flack was very clear of the meaning of the song for her, and how it was linked to her gay audience, once telling The Guardian: “I sang [‘Ballad of the Sad Young Men’] about soldiers, then, later, about gay men. It touches me deeply every time.”
She also sang the theme song to Making Love, a controversial film from 1982 which depicted a relationship between two men, further cementing her role as an LGBTQ+ ally.
More recently, one of Flack’s songs was featured on the soundtrack of FX’ queer TV series Pose, and she posted about the poignant moment on Instagram.
She wrote: “Celebrating #Pride with a look back at this touching scene in the groundbreaking TV series Pose.”
“I am thrilled to be featured in the soundtrack of a show that spotlights the triumphs and trials of ‘80s queer and trans communities and culture. #Love is beautiful in all forms!”
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