According to her publicist Elaine Schock, Flack passed away at her New York home surrounded by her family. In 2022, Flack announced that she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" as the soundtrack for one of cinema's more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film "Play Misty for Me." The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack's 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 "Killing Me Softly," becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.
Flack is internationally hailed as one of the greatest songstresses of our time receiving three Billboard number-one singles, and four Grammys. After her death was announced, ABC11 Eyewitness News talked to radio personality Karen Clark, with Foxy 107/104, about what this loss means for the world of music.
"This is really a day for us to stop and reflect on an incredible talent. A woman who won five Grammys and was so incredibly talented as a classically trained pianist that she was offered a full scholarship to Howard University at 15. Incomparable. I mean, who does that? So it's really a great day for us to remember her legacy and her talent."
Clark added, "Today was a great day to be able to pull out all of the Roberta Flack records, especially at a radio station with a format like ours we can just stop it and do whatever we want to do. We were able to pull out all of those songs that are so nostalgic for so many people and bring up so many memories. This is what local radio was made for."
Roberta Flack's North Carolina Connections
The Grammy Award-winning songstress, Roberta Flack was born in Black Mountain on February 10, 1937. However, she was raised in Arlington, Va.
At age 15, Flack received a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C. She graduated four years later at age 19. She was intent on following her music career, but her father died suddenly.
Flack returned to Farmville, N.C. in Pitt County and took a job teaching music and English at H.B. Sugg, an African American high school.
Shortly after she returned the D.C. area, Flack performed at a music venue where she was discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann.
In 2009, Roberta Flack was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, where she was celebrated not only for her outstanding achievements in music but also for her dedication to elevating North Carolina's musical legacy on the world stage.
Other Flack Facts
- Roberta Flack received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999.
- Roberta Flack received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in January 2020.
- The songstress founded the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School, located in Bronx, New York.
- Flack retired from touring in 2018.
- Roberta Flack was the first artist to receive the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for two consecutive years 1973 and 1974.
- In 2022, Flack announced that she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and could no longer sing.
- Flack was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.