Who originally sang Killing Me Softly? Origins of Roberta Flack’s Grammy-winning song explored

On February 24, Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer passed away at 88 years old due to a cardiac arrest and was surrounded by her family members. According to a report by The New York Times, Suzanne Koga, Roberta Flack's manager, shared that she lost her life en route to the hospital.

She is globally recognized for Killing Me Softly With His Song which was originally sung by another singer.

Even after decades, Roberta Flack is renowned for her spectacular contribution to the music industry. One of her most iconic hits is Killing Me Softly With His Song. However, it is not her original piece. According to a PBS report, she heard the song by Lori Lieberman for the first time on a flight.

Here's everything we unearthed about the origin of Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly With His Song

The PBS report disclosed that Flack was traveling to New York when she heard this classic song. On her way to NYC from Los Angeles, she listened to Killing Me Softly With His Song by Lori Lieberman, an American singer-songwriter, and sang it with her unique touches.

Talking about the song, she shared:

"I was not limited to just taking the song off of the page of music."

After some time, Roberta Flack joined Quincy Jones on a music tour. On this tour, Flack performed her rendition of Killing Me Softly With His Song. The audience loved her performance and appreciated her effort.

This was when Quincy presented the idea of making a cover of this song to Flack. She listened to Quincy and decided to work on the music. Soon, she contacted her producers to discuss this new music which later turned out to be a major hit and won Grammy awards as well.

This song's history dates back to many years. Many decades ago in 1972, Lori Lieberman and author Michele Willens attended a Don McLean concert at Troubadour and this commenced the journey of this special music.

Don's rendition of Empty Chairs is the secret behind Lori's inspiration to co-conceive Killing Me Softly. According to a report by Rolling Stone, she worked on the lyrics right at the venue and noted everything on a napkin. According to NextTribe, Michele shared how Lori shared the napkin with Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox. They were working on her first album.

In a conversation with the New York Daily News in 1973, she shared how McLean's performance influenced her. She expressed her thoughts by sharing,

"I was moved by his performance."

She further continued:

"By the way he developed his numbers, he got through to me."

In April 2022, Lori and Michele re-visited the Troubadour. Lori sang the special song and celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Lori recalled Roberta's effect on the song

Killing Me Softly With His Song, originally released in 1972 by Lori, received enormous attention only after Flack's cover was released in 1973. In a 2020 interview with The Washington Post, Lieberman talked about not receiving any credit for the song. Though she did not feel disappointed by the lack of recognition, her views changed after Roberta Flack won a Lifetime Achievement Award for the song.

She wanted to let the world know about her side of the truth after Gimbel refused to acknowledge Lori for her contributions. Even Flack assisted the singer on this journey. She shared:

"I hope that Lori knows that I am forever grateful for her part in the writing of the song."

Though Don asked Lori to get a lawyer and fight her battle to get her due credit, she did not agree.