‘One of the Greats’: ‘Killing Me Softly’ Singer Roberta Flack Passes Away Years After ALS Diagnosis Which ‘Made It Impossible to Sing and Not Easy to Speak’

Singer Roberta Flack, best known for her hits  “Killing Me Softly” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” has died on Monday, Feb. 24. She was 88. The four-time Grammy award-winning artist, who had been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for three years, died in Manhattan on the way to hospital, according to The New York Times. Her manager Suzanne Koga reportedly told the outlet Flack’s cause of death was cardiac arrest. Roberta Flack dies at the age of 88. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) A statement about her death shared with ABC News reads, “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025. She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.” Her passing arrives just three years after she retired due to her progressive illness that had “made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” according to a CNN report. Her musical abilities were inherited by her family. Born in Black Mountain, North Carolina but raised in Arlington, Virginia, Flack grew up in a household with a mother who played the organ at church and a father who was...