The life of R&B legend Roberta Flack was celebrated at a star-studded memorial in Harlem, New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church on Monday, March 10th. Fugees members Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean made a surprise appearance, performing covers of Flack’s songs.
The duo took on Flack’s classic “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” before delivering Fugees’ version of “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” which launched them into stardom and remains the group’s biggest hit.
As Billboard reports, Hill prefaced their performance with a remembrance of the singer. “We weren’t formally asked to do this because I think they were a little shy in asking us to attend,” she said. “So we kind of bum-rushed the service because it really wouldn’t be possible for us to just stand by and not participate.”
Calling Flack “beyond trailblazing,” Hill continued, “Like Nina Simone, she carved out for me a pathway of soulful Black intellectual sublime beauty that not only spoke to Black resistance directly in lyric and statement, but was Black resistance to racism, bigotry and limitations by virtue of its existence.”
“She didn’t just write about the beauty; she was the beauty,” Hill added. “She didn’t just write about resistance; her existence was a form of resistance. She wrote our stories in forms the established authorities of the time could not deny; compositions wrapped with graceful classical forms and nuances that would not nor could not be dismissed.”
In addition to Fugees, Stevie Wonder appeared to deliver his own tribute speech and performed his song “If It’s Magic.” Watch both performances below, followed by the full memorial.
Other attendees of the memorial were Rev. Al Sharpton, Valerie Simpson, Phylicia Rashad, Dionne Warwick, Alicia Keys, India.Arie, Peabo Bryson and Clive Davis.
Flack passed away at the age of 88 on February 24th. Though her cause of death was not revealed, she had been battling ALS since 2022.
Last month, Hill and Jean appeared at the SNL50 concert, where they performed “Lost Ones,” “Ex-Factor,” “911,” and “Killing Me Softly.”
stevie sang “if it’s magic” for roberta 🥺 this song will be 50 years old next year… pic.twitter.com/FFQ4zQBlJk
— A.J. Thomas 🎙️✨ (@orangecloudz) March 11, 2025
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