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.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
RSS