Question: Who was Roberta Flack’s hit song Killing Me Softly a tribute to?
Answer: Killing Me Softly was a tribute to American Pie singer Don McLean, but Roberta Flack didn’t write it. A 19-year-old singer named Lori Lieberman wrote the lyrics to the song after being inspired by McLean’s performance of American Pie at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. She collaborated with songwriter Norman Gimbel and composer Charles Fox but was denied songwriting credit on the track, so she released her own version of it in 1972, but it didn’t chart.
A year later, Roberta Flack came across the track and immediately loved it. After recording and releasing it, Killing Me Softly went straight to No. 1 on the charts. In 1974, Flack’s version of the song won two Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
