One other true music legend has gone. Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer who dominated the Seventies and stays a titan of R&B, handed away on Monday, per AP. She was 88 years previous.
Flack reportedly handed away surrounded by household on Monday. As we reported again in 2o22, Flack revealed on the time that she had ALS, often known as Lou Gehrig’s illness, and was now not capable of sing. Her musical contributions have been nothing wanting historic, as she topped the Billboard charts quite a few occasions within the Seventies with timeless hits like “Killing Me Softly With His Tune” and “Really feel Like Makin’ Love.”
A classically educated pianist, Roberta Cleopatra Flack was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. With each of her dad and mom as musicians, she grew up an enormous gospel fan, and was a bit of a kid prodigy herself, receiving a full scholarship to Howard at simply 15 from her piano-playing skills.
Whereas Flack spent most of her 20s with a extra non-public life, she was thrust into stardom primarily in a single day after her cowl of “The First Time I Ever Noticed Your Face” was utilized in Clint Eastwood’s movie, “Play Misty for Me.” The publicity helped the track develop to be considered one of her first huge hits, ultimately topping the Billboard Pop charts and incomes her a Grammy for File of the Yr.
In 1973, her hit track “Killing Me Softly With His Tune” additionally earned a Grammy for File of the Yr, making her the primary artist to win consecutively in that class. The track additionally took house Finest Pop Vocal Efficiency, Feminine, and went on after all to encourage numerous artists, together with The Fugees who put their very own spin on the track again in 1996.
Flack received her flowers again in 2020, when she earned the Lifetime Achievement award on the Grammys. All through her life, she was extremely weak and open about her love and keenness for music and the methods it connects us as folks, telling songwriteruniverse.com in 2020 that, “by way of music we perceive what we’re pondering and feeling.” She added, “It doesn’t matter what problem life presents, I’m at house with my piano, on a stage, with my band, within the studio, listening to music. I can discover my manner after I hear music.”
Flack was additionally extremely outspoken concerning social change and social justice all through her profession, sustaining shut bonds with recognized figures Rev. Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis. “Social activism in music is important,” she advised Forbes in 2021. “We should at all times attempt to advocate for change to make this world higher, kinder, and extra peaceable.”
Flack publicly supported animal welfare and music training by way of her Roberta Flack Basis, which was first launched in 2010. A documentary about her life and profession, “Roberta,” premiered a couple of years in the past, as we reported on the time. It aired as part of PBS’ American Masters sequence in 2023, and is offered to lease on Prime Video.
Tributes have been pouring in on social media. Bernice A. King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in her tribute on Instagram, “What a robust, synchronized, stunning instrument you have been…Thanks.”
Jennifer Hudson additionally wrote concerning the legendary singer’s passing, writing, “So unhappy to listen to of Roberta Flack’s passing. One of many nice soul singers of all time. Relaxation properly, Ms. Flack. Your legacy lives on!!!”