A 1971 performance of Don McLean’s “Empty Chairs” at the Troubadour in Los Angeles inspired songwriter Lori Lieberman to create the song that later became Roberta Flack’s hit “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” per faroutmagazine.co.uk.
On a winter evening in 1971, 20-year-old Lori Lieberman attended a Don McLean concert at the Troubadour after a last-minute invitation from a friend. McLean’s debut album had been rejected dozens of times, but his live set was beginning to attract attention as American Pie entered the charts.
Lieberman, who had signed a writing deal with Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox but had yet to break through, was particularly struck by Empty Chairs. She later recalled being moved by the way McLean developed the number and “got right through to me.” She scribbled notes on a napkin during the performance, including a line about a “trembling tingle of a sleepless night.”
After the show she telephoned Gimbel from a phone booth and described the experience. Together with Fox the three writers turned her notes into “Killing Me Softly with His Song”. Lieberman’s recording was released a few months later but failed to chart.
The track reached Roberta Flack via an in-flight audio programme. Struck by the title, she transcribed the melody on the plane and later contacted Quincy Jones for an introduction to Fox. Within days she had the sheet music. Drawing on her classical training, Flack shaped a version that built intensity in a manner reminiscent of McLean’s live delivery of “Empty Chairs”.
She began performing the song live before it was recorded. Audience reaction was so strong that Jones advised her to stop singing it until it was committed to tape. Flack’s recording became a major success.
McLean learned of the connection in 1973 and said he was “absolutely amazed” and “very humbled” by both Lieberman’s and Flack’s versions.
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