What was Roberta Flack's cause of death? What to know about her health history and ALS

Yahoo

26-02-2025

Singer and pianist Roberta Flack, known for hits including 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' and 'The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,' has died at 88, her publicist confirmed Monday to NBC News.
'We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning February 24, 2025,' her manager, Suzanne Koga, and music journalist Mikel Gilmore, said in a statement.
'She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records,' they said. 'She was also a proud educator.'
While she was unable to sing in her later years due to having ALS, a progressive disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, Flack remained creative in other ways. In 2023, she released an autobiographical children's book called "The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music."
The book tells the story of how her father, Laron LeRoy, found a piano in a local junkyard for his daughter and painted it green.
'He and my mother hoped that the piano would inspire me. Both of them being musical people, they wanted to encourage me. They had been told that I had potential,' Flack said in an email interview with TODAY.com.
She added that she continued to find joy in music despite her physical limitations.
'Although I no longer play or sing, when I experience music — it's so much more than just 'listening' for me — I connect to my parents, my teaches, my fans, my peers. Everyone. Music is everything to me,' she said.
Keep reading to learn more about Flack's cause of death, and what she revealed about her health issues over the years.
What was Roberta Flack's cause of death? Flack died from cardiac arrest, according to her manager, the New York Times reported.
Cardiac arrest is a common cause of death for people with ALS, research has shown. The singer first revealed her diagnosis with the condition, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2022.,
Flack's representatives did not specify whether there was a link between her ALS diagnosis and her cause of death from cardiac arrest.
ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a neurodegenerative disease, according to the ALS Association.
It is sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease in honor of the New York Yankees player, who died from the condition at age 37 in 1941.
ALS affects motor neurons, or the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movements.
As these motor neurons degenerate, people may lose muscle control and the ability to 'speak, eat, move and breathe,' according to the ALS Association. The senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell are not affected.
Over time, the muscles atrophy, or waste away, and grow progressively weaker.
Nine out of 10 ALS cases occur in people with no family history of the disease, while the remainder of cases are genetically inherited, and are known as familial ALS.
Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 70, although ALS can occur in younger people, according to the ALS Association.
ALS usually has a gradual onset, and different people may experience different symptoms.
'One person may have trouble grasping a pen or lifting a coffee cup, while another may experience a change in vocal pitch when speaking,' the ALS Association says on its website.
Early symptoms may also include tripping, dropping things, slurred speech and 'uncontrollable periods of laughing or crying.'
There is no cure for ALS, although there are drugs that help people manage ALS symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.
A representative for Flack revealed that the singer had ALS in 2022, although it is unknown how long Flack had the disease before sharing her diagnosis.
Her manager, Suzanne Koga, said in a release at the time that the progression of the disease had 'made it impossible' for Flack to sing, and 'not easy' for her to speak, according to the Associated Press.
'But it will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon,' she added.
Problems with speech can be a symptom of ALS, when the disease attacks nerve cells that send messages to the muscles that control the lips, tongue, the roof of the mouth, and vocal folds, or voice box, according to the ALS Association.
Flack previously had a stroke in 2016, which led to a brief hospitalization, the Associated Press reported. Some research has shown that ALS patients are at an increased risk of stroke.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com