<P> "Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel . </P> <P> The song was written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman, who recorded the song in late 1971 . In 1973 it became a number - one hit in the US and Canada for Roberta Flack, also reaching number six in the UK Singles Chart . Many artists have covered the song; the version by the Fugees won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal . </P> <P> According to Lori Lieberman, who performed the original recording in 1971, the song was born of a poem she wrote after experiencing a strong reaction to the Don McLean song "Empty Chairs", writing some poetic ideas on a napkin at the Troubadour Club after seeing him perform the song, and then relating this information to Norman Gimbel, who took her feelings and converted them into song lyrics . Gimbel passed his lyrics to Charles Fox, who set them to music . </P> <P> According to Gimbel, he was introduced to the Argentinian - born composer Lalo Schifrin (then of Mission: Impossible fame) and began writing songs to a number of Schifrin's films . Both Gimbel and Schifrin made a suggestion to write a Broadway musical together, and Schifrin gave Gimbel an Argentinean novel--Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar--to read as a possible idea . The book was never made into a musical, but in chapter two, the narrator describes himself as sitting in a bar listening to an American pianist friend "kill us softly with some blues". Gimbel put the phrase in his "idea book" for use at a future time with a parenthesis around the word "blues" and substituted the word "song" instead . </P>

Who sang killing me softly with his song first