Legendary singer Roberta Flack has died at her home in Manhattan, surrounded by family, at the age of 88. The Grammy winner’s publicist announced Flack’s death on February 24. While no cause of death was released, Amy was diagnosed with ALS and was no longer able to sing due to the condition. “We are heartbroken to announce that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025.” “She passed away peacefully surrounded by her family. She was also a proud educator.” Flack—who was one of the top artists—died in her Upper West Side apartment, where she had lived for 40 years. The stunning pad features original pre-war details like 12-foot ceilings, four wood-burning fireplaces and mantels, shutter-framed windows, oak flooring, and mahogany moldings. It has 68 feet of frontage along 72nd Street on Manhattan’s West Side. Flack put the property up for sale in June 2015 for $9.5 million, before reducing the price to $8.9 million. It was taken off the market in May 2016, then relisted in September 2016 with a $1.4 million discount. The price has since dropped again, to $6.99 million. According to the New York Post, the property went under contract in 2018, with property records showing that the homeowner is still the owner, and that it is the only property in her name. In 2022, Flack was hospitalized for treatment for ALS, formerly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and a press release issued at the time stated, “It will take much longer for ALS to silence this icon. Ms. Flack plans to remain active in her musical and creative pursuits. Her resilience and joyful embrace of music that has lifted her from humble circumstances to the international spotlight is inspiring,” the statement added. The singer was taken to the hospital during a benefit concert in New York, At the time, her manager told People magazine, “She had a stroke a few years ago. She wasn’t feeling well, so taking her to the hospital was the Flack was born in North Carolina in 1937 and was given her first piano by her father, who had salvaged it from a junkyard. “He painted it green, and it smelled bad, but I played and practiced on that piano for hours. It gave me the musical wings I so badly needed as a 9-year-old girl.” After graduating from Howard University, Flack worked as a school teacher until she began her singing career in the ’60s. She released her debut album, “First Take,” in 1969. However, she didn’t reach stardom until 1972, when Clint Eastwood used her hit “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” from the LP for his movie “Play Misty for Me. Flack is the first—and only—artist to win a Grammy Award for Record of the Year two years in a row.
