Singer Roberta Flack Has ALS

Roberta Flack (AP Photo)

“Killing Me Softly” singer Roberta Flack has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, her publicist announced Monday, reports The L-A Times.

The progressive neurodegenerative disease, full name amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” Elaine Schock said in a press release.

Nearly coinciding with the 85-year-old’s health announcement is the Thursday premiere of “Roberta,” a documentary about Flack’s life and career that premieres at DOC NYC, the nation’s largest documentary film festival. The documentary is available online Nov. 18-27 and premieres Jan. 24 on PBS as part of the “American Masters” series.

The “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” singer had a stroke in 2016 and went through a bout of COVID-19 this last January. Though she rallied enough post-stroke to perform at Lincoln Center in July 2017, she hasn’t performed live since then, telling People magazine in February, “I hope to see my fans in person soon.”

ALS is likely to prevent that from happening. The disease causes the motor neurons that control muscle movements to degenerate, the ALS Assn. says on its website.

“When the motor neurons die, the brain can no longer initiate and control muscle movement. When voluntary muscle action is progressively affected, people may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe,” the website says.

Nonetheless, Schock said the singer intends to stay active in music and other creative pursuits, such as the Jan. 10 release of a children’s book she co-wrote that tells the story of how her music career began, “The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music.”