Songstress Recovering from Early July Stroke; Fundraisers Slated to Help Fund Treatment
Family and friends of Angela Bofill are encouraging fans to go to the singer’s Web site and purchase her live CD and support her recovery fund following a stroke on July 10, her second one in two years.
“She was in intensive care for the first week, but she is now out of the danger zone,” Bofill's manager, Rich Engel, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“She still has no insurance. We raised about $23,000 with a benefit in Detroit in March. All of that is gone now,” he said. “The best way fans and friends can support her is to buy a copy of 'Angela Bofill: Live In Manila.' It’s done on our own label, Black Angel, and the money will benefit Angie.”
Bofill, who captured legions of fans in the late 1970s and early 1980s with hits like hits like "I Try" and "This Time I’ll Be Sweeter," was at home in California with her mother, Carmen Bofill, watching television when she suffered her second stroke.
Since her earlier stroke, which Bofill suffered in January 2006, the singer had progressed through rigorous therapy to move from walking with a leg brace, then to a cane and taking some steps without a cane, Engel said. “She was doing some scales,” he said, "working with the pipes."
Carmen Bofill said this has been a difficult time for her daughter. "We are trying our best,” she told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "We are there for her."
In an article published in Jet in March, Bofill said she suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, but didn’t know about it until her stroke.
"It snuck up on me. I didn't see it coming. I didn't even know I had diabetes and high blood pressure until the stroke. Everything broke down at the same time,” she told Jet.At that point, she was able to walk with a cane and said she was just thankful to be alive.
“Angela Bofill is an American treasure,” said Engel, who has been Bofill’s manager for about five years. “I’ve stuck with her. I am not closing the book on her."
“She has been depressed by the stroke," he said. "You’d be surprised how many people go into shadows. You don’t hear from so-called friends."
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com