News — WASHINGTON (February 24, 2025) – Roberta Flack, a classically trained pianist and former D.C. schoolteacher, became one of the most beloved voices of the 1970s with hits like The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song.
Her genre-defying sound blended jazz, folk, and pop, earning her multiple Grammys and a lasting influence on future artists. Flack, who retired after a 2018 stroke, due to complications from ALS.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary on Flack’s legacy. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Tayah Frye at [email protected].
is a professor of English at the George Washington University. Wald is an interdisciplinary scholar of African American literature and popular music, a cultural historian as well as a cultural theorist. Wald has authored a variety of articles, essays, and journalistic pieces about literature, popular music (from boy bands to punk rock to Motown to gospel), and visual media. Wald is a former recipient of two NEH Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has served as co-editor of the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and currently serves as an editor of Bloomsbury's of books about popular recordings.
, an associate professor of digital storytelling, is an award-winning digital storyteller, director, producer, and filmmaker. As a professor of practice, she uses a variety of mediums including video, photography, television, and film to document and discuss issues impacting and involving people of the African Diaspora. Cheers is also an expert on diversity in Hollywood, specifically the representation of Black women in television and film.
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