Legendary singer Roberta Flack revealed Monday that she is battling ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer sing.
A rep for the Grammy-winning artist said ALS “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak.” However, “it will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon,” her manager Suzanne Koga said in a statement to AP News.
This announcement of the North Carlina-born singer and pianist’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis comes ahead of the premiere of “Roberta,” a documentary about Flack’s life, which is set to debut at DOCNYC film festival on Thursday. It will air as part of PBS’ American Masters on January 24.
Flack is known for hit songs like “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” which she won Grammy’s consecutively, making her the first artist to win the Grammy for Record of the Year two years in a row.
In Monday’s announcement, the rep also stated Flack “plans to stay active in her musical and creative pursuits” through her eponymous foundation and other endeavors. Her children’s book, co-written with Tonya Bolden, “The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music,” will release in January.
