MANHATTAN, New York City — After retiring from performing three years ago, American pop singer Roberta Flack passed away yesterday at the age of 88, leaving the music industry minus one of its biggest influences on pop-flavored modern soul and rhythm-and-blues (R&B).

No cause of death was given in an announcement from Flack’s family. In 2022, Flack announced she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and could no longer sing. ALS is a fatal type of motor neuron disease that causes progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain. It's often called Lou Gehrig disease after a famous baseball player who died from the disease.


Flack was the first artist to ever win the Grammy Record of the Year award in two consecutive years for the songs 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' in 1973 and 'Killing Me Softly with His Song' in 1974. She is also known for many other hits such as 'Feel Like Makin' Love' and 'Tonight I Celebrate My Love', a duet with balladeer Peabo Bryson.

The Grammy-award-winning singer from North Carolina was born in the small town of Black Mountain, where she graduated from high school at 15, and then won a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington D.C.

When her father passed away in the late 1950s, Flack moved back to North Carolina and taught English and music at H.B. Sugg, the African-American high school in Farmville. She stayed at Sugg for one year before eventually working at junior high schools in the D.C. area.

According to Farmville mayor John Moore, when he was in the radio back in 1972, he used to play Flack's songs, most notably, 'Killing Me Softly With His Song'.

"Then everyone started talking about her. I had her as a music teacher. I had her this, it’s amazing what Roberta Flack had and the impact she had on Farmville,” Moore recalled.

Former student and Farmville town commissioner Dr. Alma Hobbs likewise had Flack as a music teacher at HB Sugg and remembers her not only for her musical talents but also for her encouragement.

“I said Miss Flack I don’t know how to sing but I really want to be in your choir and she said to me everyone in the choir does not have to be a singer, music is about blending and melody and all sounds can blend so she said you can blend in the choir so I really respected that she honored my non-singing ability and be in her choir,” Hobbs enthused.

Flack later went on to become a global icon, winning four Grammies over two years, but in Farmville, she will always be remembered first as a teacher who believed in her students.

"She recognized that everyone had gifts at different levels but she allowed all of us to have the experience of music. She loved music and wanted everyone to appreciate music. I was so inspired by her that when I went to college, I minored in music,” Hobbs added.