Singer Roberta Flack has died age 88 as tributes pour in for the talented star. The Killing Me Softly singer's publicist confirmed the sad news, just a day after another showbiz tragedy.
She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022 she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and could no longer sing. The new news follows another big death in Hollywood.
Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" as the soundtrack for one of cinema's more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film "Play Misty for Me."
The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack's graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year.
In 1973, she matched both achievements with "Killing Me Softly," becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.
She was a classically trained pianist discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, who later wrote that "her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I've ever known." Versatile enough to summon the up-tempo gospel passion of Aretha Franklin, Flack often favored a more reflective and measured approach.
For Flack's many admirers, she was a sophisticated and bold new presence in the music world and in the social movements of the time, her friends including the Rev.
Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis, whom Flack visited in prison while Davis faced charges - for which she was acquitted - for murder and kidnapping. Flack sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, major league baseball's first Black player, and was among the many guest performers on the feminist children's entertainment project created by Marlo Thomas, "Free to Be ... You and Me."
Fans took to social media to share their tribute online, with one writing: "Rest in peace to Howard graduate, classically trained pianist, songwriter, singer, & the first artist to ever win a Grammy for Record of the Year in two consecutive years, Miss Roberta Flack. Her & her fellow songwriter Donny Hathaway are now reunited."
A second added: "How sad that Roberta Flack has passed away at the age of 88. She gave us so many beautiful songs, I just loved her voice. R.IP and thanks for the music."
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