"Killing Me Softly with His Song" was inspired by a poem Lieberman wrote after hearing Don McClean perform "Empty Chairs"

For decades, nobody really knew Lori Lieberman’s secret. Sure, the singer was the first to record “Killing Me Softly With His Song” in 1972, but it wasn’t until Roberta Flack covered it a year later that the song hit No.

"What she gave to that song was ... something I never, ever could have imagined,” said Lori Lieberman, who originally released "Killing Me Softly with His Song" in 1972.