Get the latest gossip

Forever No. 1: Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song”

Here's the story of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” her second of three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Flack scanned the list of audio selections and learned that the composition, “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox. The other musicians were Eric Gale (guitars), Ron Carter (bass), Grady Tate (drums); and Ralph MacDonald (congas, percussion, tambourine). When she spoke, she simply said, “I’d like to thank the world.” (Since 1974, just two other artists have won back-to-back Grammys for record of the year: U2 triumphed in 2001-02 with “Beautiful Day” and “Walk On,” while Billie Eilish scored in 2020-21 with “Bad Guy” and “Everything I Wanted.”)

Get the Android app