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Grammy-award winning musician Roberta Flack won’t be able to sing anymore as she has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. According to her manager, Suzanne Koga, the disease has made it difficult for Flack to sing and speak.
Flack suffered a stroke in 2016, but she managed to survive and was kept overnight for medical observation. She appeared onstage at the Apollo Theater at a benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America in April 2018, where she became ill, left the stage, and was transported to the Harlem Hospital Center.
Following the stroke in 2016, she stated in an interview with the Associated Press that she wants her songs to be remembered as classics instead of old hits. She said,
“I could sing any number of songs that I’ve recorded through the years, easily, I could sing them, but I’m going to pick those songs that move me. Now that’s hard to do. To be moved, to be moved constantly by your own songs.”
A documentary on her life is scheduled to premiere next week in New York, and she is also planning to publish a children’s book in January, based on her very first piano, which her father rescued from a junkyard.
Despite her diagnosis, Flack plans to continue her musical and creative pursuits through her Roberta Flack Foundation, according to the press.
What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? Roberta Flack’s health issue explained
ALS refers to a progressive nervous system disease that impacts nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of muscle control.
The cause of the disease remains unknown, but some believe it is inherited. The problem starts with muscle twitching, limb weakness, or slurred speech. It also has an impact on muscle control, which is required to move, speak, eat, and breathe.
Common signs and symptoms include difficulty walking or doing normal daily activities, tripping and falling, weakness in the legs, feet, and ankles, hand weakness or clumsiness, trouble swallowing, muscle cramps, and twitching in the arms, shoulders, and tongue, inappropriate crying, laughing, or yawning, and cognitive and behavioral changes.
It usually starts in the hands, feet, or limbs and eventually spreads to other body parts. Nerve cells are slowly destroyed, making muscles weaker and affecting chewing, swallowing, speaking, and breathing. Risk factors for the disease include heredity, age, sex, and genetics.
ALS can be triggered by smoking, environmental toxin exposure, and military service. This can lead to complications like difficulty breathing, speaking, eating, and developing dementia.
In brief, about Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack is famous for her singles like The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Killing Me Softly with His Song, Feel Like Makin’ Love, The Closer I Get to You, and more.
Flack has gained recognition for her impact on the quiet storm, which is a subgenre of contemporary R&B alongside interpretations of songs by songwriters like Leonard Cohen and the Beatles.
She was the recipient of the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1973 for The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and in 1974 for Killing Me Softly with His Song.
