The cause was complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, said her publicist Elaine Schock.
Ms. Flack was content to teach music and to accompany other vocalists on piano before she was cajoled into singing Christmas carols while appearing at a Washington nightclub in the 1960s. She eventually decided to concentrate on a music career, and her quiet, emotionally searching style soon won a growing number of fans.
Her 1969 debut album, “First Take,” contained “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which she had taught years earlier to some of her choral students at Washington’s Banneker Junior High (now a high school). She released two more albums, “Chapter Two” and “Quiet Fire,” in 1970 and 1971, respectively, and was seemingly content with a niche following.
When Clint Eastwood was preparing to direct “Play Misty for Me,” his moody 1971 thriller about a DJ pursued by a stalker, he heard “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” on the radio. Eastwood called Ms. Flack and asked if he could use the song for a key scene in the film.
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