Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88
Published Feb 24, 2025  â˘Â 1 minute read
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Singer Roberta Flack poses for a portrait in New York on Oct. 10, 2018. Photo by Matt Licari /Invision/AP, File
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NEW YORK (AP) â Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on âKilling Me Softly with His Song,â âThe First Time Ever I Saw Your Faceâ and other hits made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.
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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 Gehrigâs disease, and could no longer sing,
Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used âThe First Time I Ever Saw Your Faceâ as the soundtrack for one of cinemaâs more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film âPlay Misty for Me.â The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flackâs 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 âKilling Me Softly,â becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.
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