Killing Me Softly with His Song
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. The lyrics were written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman after she was inspired by a Don McLean performance in late 1971. Lieberman released her version of the song in 1972, but it did not chart. In 1973 it became a number-one hit in the United States, Australia and Canada for Roberta Flack, also reaching number six in the UK Singles Chart. In 1996, Fugees recorded the song with Lauryn Hill on lead vocals, their version became a number-one hit in twenty countries. The version by Flack won the 1974 Grammy for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and the version by Fugees won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song has been covered by many other artists.

After decades of confirming Lieberman's contribution, Fox and Gimbel changed their story about the song's origins to downplay her role. Gimbel threatened McLean with a lawsuit in 2008, demanding he remove from his website an assertion that McLean was the inspiration for "Killing Me Softly," but McLean responded by showing Gimbel his own words confirming the inspiration, published in 1973.
Q477723
Charles Fox
PER
Q7052273
Norman Gimbel
PER
Q536723
Lori Lieberman
PER
Q57339
Don McLean
PER
Q231484
Roberta Flack
PER
Q193259
UK Singles Chart
MEDIA
Q159329
Fugees
ORG
Q214226
Lauryn Hill
PER
Q1542249
1974 Grammy
EVE
Q843219
Record of the Year
ORG
Q935283
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
ORG
Q1542308
1997 Grammy
EVE
Q3113378
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
EVE
Q652262
Killing Me Softly with His Song
MEDIA
1971-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1971
DATE
1972-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1972
DATE
1973-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1973
DATE
1996-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1996
DATE
1974-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1974
DATE
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1997
DATE
2008-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2008
DATE
1973-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1973
DATE
composer
lyrics by
inspired by
publication date
part of