Ms. Lauryn Hill paid tribute to Roberta Flack on social media, sharing with her audience the influence the late singer had on her artistry. In her carousel upload to Instagram on Monday night (Feb. 24), the 49-year-old shared multiple images of Flack and her albums, and penned a lengthy caption honoring her “delicate power.”
“Whitney Houston once said to me that Roberta Flack’s voice was one of the purest voices she’d ever heard. I grew up scouring the records my Parents collected,” began the caption. “Mrs. Flack was one of their favorites and quite instantly became one of mine as soon as I was exposed to her. She looked cool and intelligent, gentle and yet militant. The songs she recorded from ‘Compared To What’ to ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ to her version of ‘Ballad Of The Sad Young Men’ fascinated me with their beauty and sophistication.”
Roberta Flack and The Fugees attend M.T.V. Movie Awards in Burbank – From left to right : Wyclef Jean, Roberta Flack, Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel Samuel Michel aka Pras. Burbank, 8th June 1996.
Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images
She continued, “Flack was an artist, a singer-songwriter, a pianist and composer who moved me and showed me through her own creative choices and standards what else was possible within the idiom of Soul. ‘Killing Me Softly’, a song Mrs. Flack didn’t write, but made hugely popular became the song that catapulted myself and the Fugees into household phenomena.’
The heartwarming post closed, “We wanted to honor the beauty and brilliance of this song and her performance of it to our generation. I will forever be grateful for the sensitivity and delicate power of her Love and Artistry. Rest in Grace Beloved One.”
31st July 1972: American singer Roberta Flack.
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Other dedications to Flack poured in on social media from Rev. Al Sharpton, Kelly Rowland, Tyler, the Creator, and Jennifer Hudson according to Rolling Stone.
Roberta Flack passed away on Monday at the age of 88, as confirmed by her managers, Suzanne Koga and Mikel Gilmore in a joint statement detailing, “She died peacefully, surrounded by her family.” In November 2022, it was revealed the lauded singer was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a condition commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
View Lauryn Hill’s touching tribute to Roberta Flack below.
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