Roberta Flack net worth: Fortune explored as Grammy-winning icon passes away at 88

The Grammy-winning pianist and vocalist Roberta Flack passed away on Monday, February 24, at the age of 88. Her publicist Elaine Schock revealed in a statement that she passed away at home with her family by her side.

As per Billboard’s report from the same day, announcing the news, Schock said:

“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.”

Roberta Flack was an iconic pop/R&B performer who rose to fame in the early 1970s with her Grammy-winning successes The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song. According to Celebrity Net Worth, her net worth is $20 million, as of 2025.

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Roberta Flack revolutionized modern R&B and other genres

Roberta Flack was diagnosed with ASL (Image via Getty Images)

At the time of her passing, American singer and musician Roberta Flack was worth $20 million. During the 1970s, Flack became one of the most significant voices in popular music, fusing jazz, pop, folk, and soul.

Flack appeared in Denis Sanders's iconic Soul to Soul concert film in 1971, which included Wilson Pickett as the main performer with Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, The Staple Singers, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, The Voices of East Harlem, and others.

Later in her career, Flack used to adapt songs by songwriters like Leonard Cohen and the Beatles, and had an impact on the subgenre of modern R&B. Flack's professional path took a significant turn when jazz pianist Les McCann saw Flack performing at Mr. Henry in 1968 and set up an audition with Atlantic Records.

First Take, her 1969 debut album, attracted little notice at first. However, it wasn't until she was in her 30s that she got her first success after Clint Eastwood used her version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in his 1972 movie Play Misty for Me.

Shortly after Eastwood's film, First Take also peaked at number 1 and eventually sold 1.9 million copies in the US. After that, Flack's rendition of Will You Love Me Tomorrow peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Flack went on to win her first Grammy for Record of the Year with the song, which shot to the top of the Billboard charts and stayed there for six weeks. In 1973, she matched this achievement with her follow-up smash, Killing Me Softly with His Song, and became the first performer to win consecutive Grammys for Record of the Year.

Feel Like Makin' Love, and her well-known duet album with Donny Hathaway, called Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, were among other hits in her repertoire. Feel Like Makin' Love also peaked at number one on the Hot 100 for the third and last time in 1974.

Flack won four Grammy Awards during her five-decade career and gained recognition for her emotional depth and integrity as a musician. Additionally, at the 1974 Grammy Awards, Killing Me Softly with His Song won Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female in addition to Record of the Year. Its parent album was Flack's biggest-selling disc, eventually attaining double platinum certification.

Roberta Flack continued to record and perform over the next decades, although her commercial pinnacle was in the 1970s. She worked with artists like Maya Angelou and Luther Vandross, and she experimented with several musical genres.

She further established the Roberta Flack School of Music in the Bronx, which offers free music instruction to disadvantaged kids.

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However, after receiving a diagnosis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in 2022, she died three years later on February 24, 2025, at the age of 88.