'Fame' and 'Flashdance' singer Irene Cara dies at 63

'Fame' and 'Flashdance' singer Irene Cara dies at 63

Irene Cara, the Oscar-winning singer who sang the electric title songs in two would-be 1980s self-expression films, 'Flashdance' and 'Fame,' has died. She was 63 years old. His death at his Florida home was confirmed by his publicist, Judith A. Moose, on Twitter on Saturday. Ms Moose, who did not specify when Ms Cara died, said her cause of death was "currently unknown and will be released when information becomes available". 

 

A child actress, dancer and singer, Ms. Cara was the voice behind two of the biggest hit songs of the 1980s. She performed the title song for the film "Fame" (1980). In 1984, she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as one of the songwriters of "Flashdance... What a Feeling," the title track of "Flashdance," which she also sang. The upbeat song also earned Ms. Cara a 1984 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Mrs. Cara was born Irene Escalera on March 18, 1959 in the Bronx. 

She has repeatedly disputed her reports of her birth year, sometimes describing it as 1964. Her official Twitter account says she was born in 1962. Her mother told The New York Times in 1970 that a young Cara, already a busy artist, was 11 years old. His mother, Louise Escalera, was a cashier and his father, Gaspar Escalera, was a musician and worked in a steel mill. Details of Ms. Cara's survivors were not immediately available. Ms. Cara grew up in New York City and attended music, acting and dance lessons as a child and was said to be able to play the piano by ear by the age of five. She attended the Professional Children's School of Manhattan, a school for children artists and children studying art. As a child, she sang and danced on television in Spanish. At age 13, she was a regular on 'The Electric Company', a 1970s children's show. He was also a member of his band, Short Circus.

 

She has kept busy, taking roles on stage, television and in film, including the lead role in 'Sparkle,' a 1976 film about a singing family in the 1960s that was remade in 2012. Her breakout role was in the musical film 'Fame' where she played Coco Hernandez, an inspired school student at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. On the film's soundtrack, Ms. Cara sang the title track, "Fame", and another single, the ballad "Out Here on My Own". 

 

Both songs were nominated for an Academy Award in 1981. The film was nominated for several awards and "Fame" won for both Best Original Song and Best Original Score. She continued acting and making music into the 1990s when she was involved in a legal battle with her record company over her earnings. A California jury awarded her $1.5 million in 1993, but Ms. Cara said she was "virtually blacklisted" by the music industry over the dispute, she reported People magazine in 2001. Over the past few years, he's been sharing songs from his catalog, including some that hadn't been released, on his podcast, 'The Back Story.' 

 

In a July 2019 episode, she discussed her ballad "As Long as it Lasts" and said she had similar qualities to "Out Here on My Own" and explained why she connected to both songs.

 

“Very stripped down, just vocals and piano and great lyrics and a great story within the lyrics, those are the kind of songs I identify with as a songwriter,” Ms. Cara said.