Irene Cara, an Oscar and Grammy winner best known for the early 1980s theme songs for “Fame” and “Flashdance,” has passed away.
Irene Cara-Credit GettyImages
Irene Cara, a singer-actress who performed the title track from the 1980 hit film Fame and later delivered the era-defining single “Flashdance… What a Feeling” from 1983’s “Flashdance,” has passed away. She was an Oscar, Golden Globe, and two-time Grammy Award winner.
Cara died Friday at her home in Florida, her publicist Judith A. Moore announced on Twitter. Her cause of death is “currently unknown and will be released when information is available.”
Cara In early stage
Cara in early stage/Getty images
Cara first gained national attention as Coco Hernandez, a High School of Performing Arts (now Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School) student with aspirations of becoming a famous actress. Cara not only performed in the movie, she also sang “Fame,” the song that serves as the soundtrack. Both that song and “Out Here on My Own,” another Cara-sung ballad from “Fame,” would later be nominated for an Academy Award for best original song. The song “Fame” by Dean Pitchford and composer Michael Gore would win the Academy Award. Director Alan Parker initially thought that Cara had the musical ability to execute the routine, but the songs finished up being a success.
Cara’s career journey
Cara’s breakout came with the 1980 hit film Fame, which featured the actress playing Coco Hernandez, a part rewritten specifically for her. In addition to her role in that film — about talented students at a New York City performing arts high school — Cara also sang the soundtrack’s title track “Fame” and “Out Here on My Own,” both of which were nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. As Fame became the first movie ever to register double nominations in that category, Cara — per Oscars tradition — performed both songs at the ceremony. “Fame” ultimately took home the Academy Award.
The success of Fame also carried over into the music industry, as Cara received Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance despite never having released her own album. Anyone Can See, Cara’s debut album, was released in 1982.
The song from the hugely successful 1983 movie Flashdance, “Flashdance… What a Feeling,” became Cara’s biggest hit the following year. Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey co-wrote the song, which lasted six weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983, helping the soundtrack also reach the top spot. The song also helped Cara win a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance.
Once Cara faced legal challenges
Despite her number-one success on the charts, Cara’s musical career was derailed by what turned out to be a decade-long legal dispute with her record company Network Records, which she sued after alleging they had withheld royalties from her successful singles.
When Cara won Oscar
The movie starred Jennifer Beals as a steel-town girl who dances in a bar at night and hopes to attend a prestigious dance conservatory. It included the hit song “Maniac,” featuring Beals’ character leaping, spinning, stomping her feet and the slow-burning theme song.
“There aren’t enough words to express my love and my gratitude,” Cara told the Oscar crowd in her thanks. “And last but not least, a very special gentlemen who I guess started it all for me many years ago. To Alan Parker, wherever you may be tonight, I thank him.”
“Irene’s family has requested privacy as they process their grief,” Moose wrote. “She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”
