NEW YORK: Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer behind the classic `Killing Me Softly With His Song` and one of the most recognisable voices of the 1970s, died Monday at age 88.

Flack`s publicist announced her death without citing a cause. The influential pop and R&B star in recent years had lost her ability to sing because of ALS, known as Lou Gehrig`s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2022.

`She died peacefully surrounded by her family,` the statement from the publicist said. The classically trained musician with a tender but confident voice produced a number of early classics of rhythm and blues that she frequently described as `scientific soul,` timelessworks that blended meticulous practice with impeccable taste.

Her exceptional talent was key to the `quiet storm` radio form of smooth, sensuous slow jams that popularised R&B and influenced its later aesthetics.

`I`ve been told I sound like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Odetta, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, even Mahalia Jackson,` Flack said in 1970 in The New York Times.

`If everybody said I sounded like one person, I`d worry. But when they say I sound like them all, I know I`ve got my own style.` Jennifer Hudson hailed Flack as `one of the great soul singers of all time,` and Roots drummer Questlove wrote `Thank You Robert Flack. Rest in Melody.`-AFP