Roberta Flack

Nació en 1939 en Carolina del Norte. Hija del organista de la iglesia baptista de Nashville, por lo que desde pequeña se orientó musicalmente tocando el piano. en su juventud recibió nociones musicales y clases eventuales en la Universidad Howard. Tras un periodo dando clases, fue descubierta por Less McCann cantando en un club de jazz. Muy poco después y gracias a él, firmó con la discográfica Atlantic.
Sus dos primeros álbumes ("First take" en 1969 y "Chapter 2" en 1970) a penas sonaron y no llegaron a colocar ningún single. Pero esto cambió cuando en la banda sonora de "Play Misty for Me" se incluyó una versión de "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (canción del cantante folk Ewan McColl, que ya aparecía en su álbum de debut. El single se convirtió en número uno y permaneció en lo más alto seis semanas, convirtiéndose en uno de los mayores hits de 1972. En ese mismo año se unió con su compañero de clase Donny Hathaway para grabar un álbum juntos, del que se extraerían éxitos como "Where is the love" o la versión del clásico de Carole King "You've got a friend". Pero su mayor éxito le llegaría en 1973, y el tema "Killing me softly with his song", conviriténdose en número uno por cinco semanas y siendo uno de los grandes hits de la música contemporánea.
Killing me softly


1. Killing me sofly with his song
2. Jesse
3. No tears (in the end)
4. I'm the girl
5. River
6. Conversation Love
7. When you smile
8. Suzanne


Atlantic, 1973.




Killing me sofly with his song

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...

I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style.
And so I came to see him to listen for a while.
And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes.

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...

I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd,
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on ...

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...

He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair.
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there.
But he just came to singing, singing clear and strong.

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...

He was strumming, oh, he was singing my song.
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
With his song ...

La canción ha sido versionada en varias oportunidades pero la que todos recordamos es la que hiciera Lauryn Hill cuando era integrante de "Fugees" en 1996, he localizado algunos videos recientes de la cantante interpretando esta canción que son verdaderamente deplorables por la calidad de imagen y sonido, pero este video esta muy bien, para compararlo con la original.
Fugees - Killing Me Softly
Adicionalmente localice una versión que no habia escuchado nunca, de una agrupación que no necesita mucha presentación "Jackson Five". Aunque incompleta podemos apreciar a Michael Jackson adolecente interpretar la canción a los acordes de guitarra.