Roberta Flack (1937–2025) released her cover in January 1973, and it became the definitive record — five weeks at No. 1 and the Grammy for Record of the Year. Hers is the version most adults picture when they hear the title, and it is easy to assume the original started with her. It did not; she is the crucial middle link, a cover that outshone the record it came from and set up a second cover two decades later.