She is best-known as the original singer of "Killing Me Softly With His Song".
Lori wrote a poem titled "Killing Me Softly With His Blues" after seeing
Don McLean in concert singing "Empty Chairs" (not "American Pie", as commonly believed). Lori presented her poem to the songwriting team of
Norman Gimbel and
Charles Fox, who turned her poem into a song just for her. Lori's original didn't make the pop chart, but it was heard on some easy listening stations. The song would be subsequently recorded by
Anne Murray and
Hysear Walker (aka "Hysear Don Walker"), but to little fanfare. Then,
Roberta Flack covered the song after listening to Lieberman's original while in flight, and it became a worldwide smash, earning the Record Of The Year award.
