Grammy-winning singer Roberta Flack will no longer be able to perform due to ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Flack’s manager, Suzanne Koga, asserts that the illness has rendered her unable to sing or speak.
In 2016, Flack suffered a stroke, but she recovered. She spent the night in the hospital for observation. She was performing onstage at the Apollo Theater in April 2018 when she became ill, left the stage, and was rushed to Harlem Hospital Center. The event was a benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America.
She stated to the Associated Press after suffering a stroke in 2016 that she wanted her songs to be remembered as masterpieces rather than past hits.
Next week, a documentary about her early years will have its New York debut, and in January, she hopes to publish a children’s book based on her father’s first piano, which he rescued from a junkyard.
Despite being ill, Flack intends to carry on with her musical and artistic pursuits through her Roberta Flack Foundation, according to the press.
What precisely is ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
Loss of muscular control results from the degenerative neurological disease known as ALS, which destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Although the exact cause of the condition is unknown, some believe it to be genetic. Slurred speech, limb weakness, or twitching muscles are the first symptoms of the illness. Additionally, it affects muscle control, which is important for breathing, eating, speaking, and moving.
Common signs and symptoms include stumbling and falling, clumsiness or weakness in the hands, difficulty swallowing, muscle spasms in the arms, shoulders, and tongue, inappropriate crying, laughing or yawning, and cognitive and behavioral abnormalities.
Typically, it starts in the hands, feet, or limbs before spreading to other parts of the body. As nerve cells deteriorate over time, muscles become weaker and become more difficult to use for breathing, speaking, swallowing, and eating. Age, gender, heredity, and genetics are all risk factors for the illness.
Military service, smoking, and exposure to environmental pollutants are all potential causes of ALS. Dementia development as well as issues with breathing, speaking, or eating may result from this.
The Complete Roberta Flack
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 other songs by Roberta Flack are among her classics.
Flack has received recognition for her work in the quiet storm, a modern R&B subgenre that features renditions of songs by artists like Leonard Cohen and the Beatles.
She received two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year: The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face in 1973 and Killing Me Softly with His Song in 1974.
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