Roberta Flack
Legendary American singer and pianist, Roberta Flack, best known for the hits The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and K!lling Me Softly With His Song, has been reported dead at the age of 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.
“She died peacefully surrounded by her family,” the statement from the publicist said.
The classically trained musician with a tender 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.
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.