Grammy-award winning singer Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88, her publicist has announced.

The American singer was best known for her hit songs Killing Me Softly With His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

One of the top recording artists of the 1970s, she died on Monday surrounded by her family, her publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement.

In 2022, Flack announced she was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND), and could no longer sing.

Rising to fame in her early 30s, Flack became an overnight success after Clint Eastwood chose her song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as the soundtrack for the explicit love scenes of his 1971 movie Play Misty For Me.

The track topped the US charts in 1972, and Flack was rewarded with a Grammy.

The following year she took the coveted Record of the Year prize at the Grammys for a second time with Killing Me Softly, becoming the first artist ever to do so.

Discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, Flack was a classically trained pianist, receiving a full scholarship to study at Howard University at just 15.

McCann later wrote of Flack: “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.”

A shining light in the social and civil rights movement of the time, Flack was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis whom Flack visited in prison when Davis faced charges – for which she was acquitted – for murder and kidnapping.

Flack also sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first black player.

Living on the same floor of the famous Dakota apartment building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Flack also became friends with the Beatle, later releasing an album of Beatles covers.

Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack, to musician parents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia.

She was married to jazz musician Stephen Novosel between 1966 and 1972.

Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included Feel Like Makin’ Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.

Sadly, their partnership ended in tragedy, after he fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan in 1979, after suffering a breakdown while they were recording an album of duets together.

While Flack never matched her first run of success, she had a follow-up hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet Tonight, I Celebrate My Love and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet Set The Night To Music.

In the mid-90s, she received a wave of new attention after the Fugees covered Killing Me Softly. She would go on to perform with the hip-hop band on stage.

A five-time Grammy winner, Flack received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020.

Contemporary stars to praise her include Beyoncé, John Legend and Ariana Grande.

Working as a high-school teacher in her 20s, while gigging in clubs during the evenings, Flack proved a canny educator, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 2012: “I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, DC It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education.

“I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. [I’d sing]: ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!”

Mariah Carey is set to perform an exclusive concert at a royal estate.

The US megastar is lined up to headline Heritage Live at Sandringham in Norfolk on 15 August.

Also set to perform on the same day of the festival are Nile Rodgers & Chic and British R&B group Eternal.

It will be the second UK show for the singer this summer, as she has also been confirmed as the headliner for the Brighton Pride Festival on 2 August.

The singer was previously lined up for the event in 2020, which was later cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

Giles Cooper of Heritage Live Festivals, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to bring one of the greatest pop artists of all time to the Royal Sandringham Estate for an exclusive UK headline show.

“Mariah Carey is an award-winner, a record-breaker, and an absolute global icon – this show will be historic.

“Mariah’s live show is second to none and with such a catalogue of huge hit singles, it’s going to be an incredible occasion. It will most definitely be an ‘I was there’ event that will live in all of our memories forever.”

Carey has 19 number one US singles to her name, more than any other solo artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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Her best-known hits include Vision of Love, Fantasy, Emotions and the festive favourite All I Want For Christmas Is You – which turned 30 at the end of last year.

Sandringham is described as the “much-loved country estate” of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The Royal Family traditionally spend Christmas at Sandringham.

The winners of this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) have been revealed – a major predictor of the Oscars, with just a week to go.

Demi Moore continued her run of success to be named best actress for her performance in body horror The Substance, while Timothee Chalamet picked up the award for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

While not a complete shock, before this Adrien Brody had probably just nudged it as favourite for an Oscar win for his performance in post-war epic The Brutalist.

Now, the race is closer than it has been in years – and both Chalamet, 29, and Moore, 62, could be on course for their first Academy Awards.

Following a BAFTA win earlier this month, papal thriller Conclave was honoured with the top film prize, for best ensemble.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci, the film follows the drama of the selection process for a new pope.

During the ceremony, Rossellini said the film’s cast wanted to send their best wishes to Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for pneumonia and bronchitis, and wish him “a quick recovery”.

Elsewhere, the supporting categories were true to 2025 awards season form – Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana continued their runs of success with wins for performances in A Real Pain and Emilia Perez respectively.

‘I want to be one of the greats’

The awards are voted for by members of the SAG-AFTRA union and are held as a celebration of actors honoured by their peers.

For the best male actor announcement, Chalamet looked visibly surprised as his name was called.

After being accompanied by girlfriend Kylie Jenner to the BAFTAs last week, this time round he was celebrating with his mum, Nicole Flender.

“The truth is, this was five-and-a-half years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero,” he said on stage. “It was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”

Making no secret of his ambitions, he added: “The truth is I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.”

Moore said joining SAG-AFTRA as a teenager in 1978 gave her meaning as “a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life”.

Actress and activist Jane Fonda, 87, provided the ceremony’s most passionate political moment as she was honoured with a lifetime achievement prize.

“We are in our documentary moment,” she said. “This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal.”

The word “woke”, she added, “just means you give a damn” about others.

The TV winners

The SAG Awards also include TV categories, with Japanese historical drama Shogun picking up the gong for best ensemble and its stars, Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, named best actor and actress.

Only Murders In The Building took home the prize for best comedy ensemble, with star Martin Short named best actor in a comedy series.

Jean Smart, who had previously called for cancelling the awards shows due to the wildfires that hit LA in January, was named best actress in a comedy, for her role in Hacks. She did not attend, but gave a recorded introduction.

In the limited series category, British star Jessica Gunning was named best actress for Baby Reindeer, while Irish star Colin Farrell was named best actor for The Penguin.