# "Roberta Flack announces she has ALS"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 14, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914 "2022-11-14T21:45:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/1 "2022-11-14T21:45:35Z")
> **[Roberta Flack announces she has ALS](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136547011/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als)**
>
> The iconic singer of "Killing Me Softly" has the condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a representative has announced. For Roberta Flack, it is now "impossible to sing and not easy to speak."
Damn. “…“impossible to sing and not easy to speak”…” 😢
Hard to believe she’s 85.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/2 "2022-11-14T23:21:54Z")
Such a beautiful voice, silenced by a most cruel disease.
Something similar is happening to Linda Ronstadt; she thought she had Parkinson’s but has since been rediagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, which killed Dudley Moore. ☹
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### Author:  [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/3 "2022-11-14T23:26:54Z")
I was sorry to read this. I loved her music in the early years. “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” still puts a lump in my throat.
I wish her all the best in her fight against a truly ghastly disease.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/4 "2022-11-15T01:13:13Z")
Oh no. Such an awful disease. My friend lost his word to it. It’s terrible.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/5 "2022-11-15T04:21:49Z")
Of all the shit I can think of, ALS is about the top of the list. A very good friend developed it about 10 years ago at the age of 45.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/6 "2022-11-15T04:53:31Z")
Wow. I’m not much of a concert goer, but Roberta Flack has the distinction of being one of only two famous musical artists’ concerts I ever attended - her and Arlo Guthrie (if Pousette-Dart band, which I understand was more of a regional phenomenon than universal, counts, it’s three).
When I saw her she was slightly pregnant, and she spoke touchingly about her hopes for her child - at that time, she did not know her child would be born with Down’s Syndrome.
She is a wonderfully original, passionate artist who seems to have had a life of ups and downs.\* I wish her well and am grateful for the beautiful music she added to the world.
\*ETA: oh shit. No pun intended.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/7 "2022-11-15T12:20:16Z")
Sorry to hear this. I’ve been working on my own version of “Killing Me Softly” on the piano for several weeks. What a beautiful tune, and her rendition is the gold standard.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/8 "2022-11-15T12:27:02Z")
This seems like a very late onset of the disease. The high profile cases that I’ve read about have involved people who contracted the disease in the thirties to sixties range.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/9 "2022-11-15T13:57:53Z")
Here’s some more info. (Gift link)
> **[Sandra Bullock’s partner died of ALS. What to know about the rare disease.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/11/14/als-diagnosis-symptoms/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjYyMDc3NTgiLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjY4NTIwMzM3LCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjY5NzI5OTM3LCJpYXQiOjE2Njg1MjAzMzcsImp0aSI6IjU2YTkzMTU3LWViMGUtNGZjNS1hNmU2LTlmMTE4MjJhYWQ5ZiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS93ZWxsbmVzcy8yMDIyLzExLzE0L2Fscy1kaWFnbm9zaXMtc3ltcHRvbXMvIn0.3GExJj6ud9SeVV-CjZPuyjleQLIpJ1PKA9Okg_JmuBM&itid=gfta)**
>
> Bryan Randall died on Aug. 5 after a three-year battle with ALS, his family said in a statement Monday. The illness is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
I knew a guy in college who was sooo attractive (I had kind of a thing for him…) and one day he told me that ALS ran in his family and he decided not to marry or be a father because of that. We lost touch, but I heard years later that he did indeed contract it and eventually died from it. ☹
Interesting factoids:
> The average age a patient starts to present symptoms is 60, [Jonathan] Glass [who runs the [Emory ALS Center](https://med.emory.edu/departments/neurology/programs_centers/emory_als_center/index.html) in Atlanta] said, though he’s seen patients present symptoms as young as 18 and as old as 90.
>
> Glass said everyone’s experience with the disease is unique. Some patients are dead within two years. He said he’s been seeing some patients for 20 to 25 years.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roberta-flack-announces-she-has-als/974914/10 "2022-11-15T14:00:14Z")
Wow, that is really a wide spectrum! It’s a tragic disease.