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Roberta Flack, Grammy winner and legendary singer, has tragically handed.
The music icon is thought for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
She was profoundly influential, working with fellow music legends. Her final album got here out final decade.
Flack died at house and amongst household. She was 88 years previous.
The legendary Roberta Flack attends Black Women Rock! 2017 backstage at NJPAC on August 5, 2017. (Photograph Credit score: Paras Griffin/Getty Photographs for BET)
Roberta Flack has died
In line with a press release by her representatives, Roberta Flack handed away on Monday, February 24, on the age of 88.
Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina in 1937, Flack’s eager curiosity in music manifested from an early age.
At 15, she enrolled in Howard College in Washington DC on a scholarship. Notably, this made her one of many college’s youngest college students.
Music icon Roberta Flack arrives for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, 2020. (Photograph Credit score: VALERIE MACON/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
For years, Roberta Flack labored as a instructor, in each Maryland and in North Carolina. Nonetheless, within the Seventies, she erupted into fame with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
That tune gained a Grammy for Report of the Yr in 1973. The next yr, she gained Report of the Yr for “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” She was the primary artist to ever win this award consecutively.
Over time, Flack had many extra hits. She additionally labored with music legends like Donny Hathaway, Leonard Cohen, Burt Bacharach, and extra. Her final album got here out in 2012. “Let It Be Roberta” was a group of Beatles covers. Notably, her music had already influenced some members of the historic boy band.
Roberta Flack attends the fortieth Anniversary Gala for “A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste” Marketing campaign at The New York Marriott Marquis on March 3, 2011. (Photograph Credit score: Andy Kropa/Getty Photographs)
What was Roberta Flack’s explanation for demise?
The assertion from Roberta Flack’s representatives didn’t disclose her explanation for demise.
Nonetheless, in 2018, Flack needed to depart the Apollo Theater stage throughout a efficiency.
Later, her administration shared that she had suffered a stroke the earlier yr. On the time, there was an insistence that Flack was “doing fine.”
Iconic singer Roberta Flack attends the sixth Annual Sing for Hope Pianos Kickoff Occasion At 28 Liberty Plaza on June 5, 2017. (Photograph Credit score: Craig Barritt/Getty Photographs for Sing For Hope)
Then, in November of 2022, supervisor Suzanne Koga revealed that Flack had acquired a prognosis of ALS.
Koga detailed that Roberta Flack’s ailment “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak.”
That spelled the top of her prolonged and indelible music profession.
Singer Roberta Flack performs onstage in the course of the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Middle on January 31, 2010. (Photograph Credit score: Kevin Winter/Getty Photographs)
What’s ALS?
ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s illness, is a uncommon and terminal neurodegenerative dysfunction.
There isn’t a identified remedy, with efforts focusing upon slowing the grim strategy of the illness. On common, individuals would possibly survive a few years following their prognosis.
We have no idea if ALS was the reason for demise within the case of Roberta Flack, however many naturally assume so. Whatever the particulars, our ideas are together with her family members as they grieve this loss.
