Grammy-winning singer Roberta Flack, whose work includes “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” has died.
A representative for Flack confirmed her passing to NBC News on Monday, February 24. She was 88.
While a cause of death has yet to be revealed, a representative announced in November 2022 that Flack had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing.
According to the Mayo Clinic, ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing or slurred speech. Eventually, ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease.
“Miss Flack plans to stay active in her musical and creative pursuits,” Flack’s rep said in a statement in November 2022. “Her fortitude and joyful embrace of music that lifted her from modest circumstances to the international spotlight remain vibrant and inspired.”
During her career, Flack made history when she became the first artist to win the Grammy for Record of the Year in two consecutive years. She won in 1973 for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and in 1974 for “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
2023 marked 50 years since the release of Flack’s most famous album, Killing Me Softly. Rolling Stone later named Flack’s version of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” to its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Flack’s career in the music industry, however, wasn’t filled with just highs. A few years after signing with Atlantic, Flack’s records were not selling well.
She received a big break, however, when Clint Eastwood chose “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” for the soundtrack of his directorial debut, Play Misty For Me. The song became the biggest hit of 1972.
Away from the stage, Flack — who was a former public school music teacher — founded the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, “providing an innovative and inspiring music education program to underprivileged students free of charge.”
In January 2023, she also released a children’s book titled The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music. The autobiographical picture book recounted her childhood in a Virginia home surrounded by music, faith and love.
When asked to share the secret to her long career in the music industry, Flack credited being authentic.
“I arrange my songs — both musically and thought-by-thought — to tell stories that move people to love and learn about who they are at their deepest levels,” she told Closer in 2020. “‘The First Time … ’ is timeless because seeing a person we love for the first time is an experience that always has been, and always will be.”
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