Roberta Flack, the singer behind the classic Killing Me Softly With His Song and one of the most recognizable voices of the 1970s, died on Monday aged 88.
Flack’s publicist announced her death without citing a cause.
The influential pop and rhythm and blues star had lost her ability to sing because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2022.
Photo: AFP
“She died peacefully surrounded by her family,” the statement from the publicist said.
The classically trained musician with a tender, but confident voice produced a number of early classics of rhythm and blues that she frequently described as “scientific soul,” timeless works that blended meticulous practice with impeccable taste.
“I’ve been told I sound like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Odetta, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, even Mahalia Jackson,” Flack said in 1970 in the New York Times. “If everybody said I sounded like one person, I’d worry, but when they say I sound like them all, I know I’ve got my own style.”
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina, on Feb. 10, 1937, the artist was raised in Arlington, Virginia.
Her large, musical family had a penchant for gospel, and she took up the piano in her youth, earning her a music scholarship to Washington’s Howard University at just 15.
She was a regular playing clubs in Washington, where she was eventually discovered by jazz musician Les McCann.
Flack signed to Atlantic Records, launching a recording career at the relatively late age of 32, but her star grew overnight after Clint Eastwood used The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face on the soundtrack of his 1971 movie Play Misty for Me.
Flack’s many accolades included a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2020.
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