Roberta Flack Of ‘Killing Me Softly’ Fame Dies At 88
Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer behind the classic “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and one of the most recognizable voices of the , 1970s, died Monday at age 88.
Flack’s publicist announced her death without citing a cause.
The influential pop and R&, B star in recent years had lost her ability to sing because of ALS, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2022.
According to the publicist’s statement, “She passed away peacefully surrounded by her family.”
The classically trained performer with a tender voice created a number of early “scientific soul”-style works of music that lacked the meticulous study and impeccable taste.
Her work was key to the “quiet storm” radio form of smooth, sensuous, slow jams that popularized R&, B and influenced its later aesthetics in the 1980s and 1990s.
– ‘ A lot of love ‘ –
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina on February 10, 1937, the artist was raised in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC.
She began playing the piano when she was just 15 years old, which eventually led to her receiving a music scholarship to Washington’s Howard University. Her large, musical family was a fan of gospel music.
She claimed to a newspaper in 2021 that her father had found an “old, smelly piano in a junkyard,” restored it for me, and painted it green.
“This piano was the source of my expression and inspiration as a young person,” I said.
She frequently played in Washington’s clubs, where jazz musician Les McCann eventually came across her.
Flack signed for Atlantic Records, beginning a 32-year-old recording career.
Clint Eastwood’s romantic ballad “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” was featured on the soundtrack to his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me,” and her charisma increased overnight.
She won the 1972 Grammy for Record of the Year, which she then took home for “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” making her the first artist to ever do so twice in a row.
The Fugees’ remixed version of “Killing Me Softly” was released in 1996, giving the band a new wave as it rose to the top of the charts and won another Grammy.
Flack also received a recording academy lifetime achievement award in 2020.
Flack was a figure in the mid-20th century’s social movements, and was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and activist Angela Davis. She sang at the funeral of baseball icon Jackie Robinson, MLB’s first Black player.
She said that when you could grow up, “Black” was the most offensive word you could use.” I went through the civil rights movement. I learned, long after leaving Black Mountain, that being Black was a positive thing, as all of us did, the most positive thing we could be”.
Source: Channels TV
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