Singer Roberta Flack sings before the start of the Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights game between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 15, 2010. PHOTO/REUTERS
Roberta Flack, the silky-voiced Grammy-winning singer whose sultry ballads “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” topped the charts in the 1970s, died on Monday at the age of 88, her publicist said.
“We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning February 24, 2025. She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator,” publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. No cause of death was given.
The classically trained pianist defied musical genres as she blended aspects of jazz, soul, pop and R&B to create a distinctive style and became one of America’s most influential singers.
Flack revealed in November 2022 that she had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive illness that impacts nerve cells and causes paralysis and death.
The singer won four Grammys and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. She was the first artist to win two consecutive Record of the Year trophies for 1973’s “First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” and 1974’s “Killing Me Softly with His Song.”
“In more than a half-century of making music, she’s established herself as one of the most distinctive song stylists in the pop arena,” National Public Radio said of Flack in 2020……………………….CONTINUE READING……………………….
