Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, and pianist Roberta Flack, died Monday at the age of 88.
The singer had been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, since being diagnosed in 2022, according to NPR. Flack’s representatives did not disclose how she died.
Flack was born on Feb. 10, 1937, to musically talented parents, Laron and Irene Flack in Black Mountain, 20 minutes east of Asheville.
Her family moved to Arlington, Va., by the time she was 5.
A natural talent and exceptional student, Flack graduated from high school at 15 and earned a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C. with the goal of becoming a classical concert pianist.
After graduating with a bachelor’s in music education, Flack taught at schools in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., while also performing in clubs as a pianist for other vocalists and a singer, according to NPR.
Her breakthrough came in 1968 when jazz pianist Les McCann heard her performance and sent a tape to Atlantic Records. Flack was signed to Atlantic Records a year later and released her debut album, First Take.
What followed after that were albums like Chapter Two, Quiet Fire, and Killing Me Softly. Her illustrious career earned her 14 Grammy nominations, five Grammy wins, and an induction into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
In addition, she is the only solo artist to win the Grammy for Record of the Year two years in a row: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (1973) and Killing Me Softly with His Song (1974).
In 2020, Chapel Hill mural artist Scott Nurkin, along with Hopscotch music festival founder Greg Lowenhagen, reached out to the owners of Black Mountain Brewing about possibly doing a mural of Flack on the wall of the side of their building.
“ Me and Greg drove around Black Mountain,” Nurkin said. “We saw this incredible wall that happened to be located on a building that housed Black Mountain Brewery. And so I just took a stab and I reached out to the owner (John Richardson) and sort of pitched my idea to him.”
Richardson was ecstatic about the idea and helped Nurkin fundraise the money needed to do the mural.
Nurkin added the mural is probably his most notable work because the town is a travel destination and the brewery is located right off the highway.
When asked about her everlasting impact on North Carolina music, Nurkin told BPR he doesn’t know if he could do her justice because she was such a worldwide performer.
“ She was a songbird and she was an incredibly talented classically trained pianist,” Nurkin explained. “In the larger arching cultural fashion, she's up there as one of the pioneers of soulful songwriting and singing piano players.”
Nurkin added there was talk of Flack flying out to Black Mountain to visit family and to see the mural but she got Covid and her health became worse.
“There was talk of her flying out for a week, that she's coming to visit family soon,” Nurkin said. “She had seen the mural. I was told she loved it and was super proud of it, which is just the best thing in the world. I’m almost tearing up talking about it.”
