Roberta Flack, Grammy Award-winning singer, dead at 88

Roberta ack passed away on Monday at her home, surrounded by family, her publicist Elaine Schock confirmed to CNN. Her death followed years of health struggles, including a publicly revealed ALS diagnosis in late 2022. The progressive neurological disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ultimately robbed Flack of her ability to sing, her representatives said at the time.

Despite her illness, Flack had already solidified her place as one of the most influential voices of her generation. Both as a songwriter and an interpreter of others’ music, she amassed a remarkable career filled with chart-topping hits and numerous accolades. A classically trained musician and the daughter of a church organist, she received 14 Grammy nominations and won five, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. Notably, she won back-to-back Record of the Year honors.

Among those paying tribute was Questlove, drummer for The Roots and musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He shared a throwback photo of Flack, captioned simply: “Thank You Roberta Flack. Rest In Melody.”

Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia, Flack’s musical journey began early. She started piano lessons at nine and, by 15, earned a scholarship to Howard University, where she graduated in 1958 with a degree in music education. Though she initially aspired to be a classical pianist, the industry’s racial barriers in the 1960s pushed her toward other genres.

“One of the hassles of being a Black female musician is that people are always backing you into a corner and telling you to sing soul,” she once told TIME. “I’m a serious artist. I feel a kinship with people like Arthur Rubinstein and Glenn Gould. If I can’t play Bartók when I want to play Bartók, then nothing else matters.”

Encouraged by a voice teacher, Flack shifted to pop and jazz, performing in Washington, D.C., clubs while teaching music during the day. Her breakthrough came at Mr. Henry’s, where jazz musician Les McCann discovered her and arranged an audition with Atlantic Records. During that session, she reportedly played over 40 songs in three hours. “I was so anxious and so happy,” she later recalled to Philadelphia Weekly.

Her debut album, First Take (1969), included “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” a song written by folk singer Ewan MacColl. Clint Eastwood’s decision to feature it in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me catapulted Flack to stardom. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and won Record of the Year at the 1973 Grammys.

By then, Flack had already released multiple albums, including Chapter Two, Quiet Fire, and a duet record with Donny Hathaway, with whom she shared a deep musical connection until his death in 1979. Their song “Where Is the Love” earned them a Grammy in 1973.

That same year, Flack released Killing Me Softly, with its title track becoming another smash hit. “Killing Me Softly with His Song” spent five weeks at No. 1 and won both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance at the 1974 Grammys.

Throughout her career, Flack not only interpreted songs from artists like Leonard Cohen and The Beatles but also took control of her own production. By her fifth solo album, Feel Like Makin’ Love, she was producing her own work under the pseudonym Rubina Flake—an uncommon feat for women in the male-dominated music industry.

While best known for love songs, Flack wasn’t afraid to tackle social issues. She addressed racial injustice in “Tryin’ Times,” economic inequality in “Compared to What,” and acknowledged LGBTQ struggles in “Ballad of the Sad Young Men.” Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson once called her “socially relevant and politically unafraid.” However, in later years, Flack lamented that many of the issues she sang about decades earlier remained unresolved.

“I’m deeply saddened that many of the songs I recorded 50 years ago about civil rights, equal rights, poverty, hunger, and suffering in our society are still relevant in 2020,” she told AARP, drawing connections to Black Lives Matter, economic disparity, and police brutality.

Flack’s influence extended across generations, inspiring artists such as Lauryn Hill and the Fugees—whose 1996 cover of “Killing Me Softly” became a massive hit—as well as Lizzo, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande.

Whether singing about love, protest, or classical inspirations, Flack poured her soul into every performance. “Every single song I’ve recorded expressed something deep and personal to me,” she told NPR’s Ann Powers in 2020. “Each was my singular focus whether in the studio or on the stage.”