Irene Cara, ‘Fame’ actress and ‘Flashdance’ singer, dies at 63

Academy Award winner Irene Cara has died at the age of 63 at her Florida home, her rep said on behalf of official twitter from the artist: “It is with deep sadness that, on behalf of her family, I announce the death of Irene Cara. The Academy Award-winning actress, singer, songwriter and producer died at her Florida home. Her cause of death is unknown at this time and will be released when relevant information is available.. Irene’s family has asked for privacy as they mourn. She was a beautiful and talented lover whose legacy will live forever through her music and her films.” says the statement.

Irene Cara Escalera was born in the Bronx, New York, being the youngest of five siblings. At the age of three, she was a finalist in the “Little Miss America” ​​pageant. From an early age she showed an innate talent for music, learning to play the piano by ear.. She recorded her first albums very early, both in English and Spanish. In the early 1970s, she made her first television appearances, for example playing Daisy Allen in the soap opera ‘Love of Life’. She also made her early stage debut on Broadway and played one of the lead roles in the film ‘Sparkle’, loosely based on the lives of the Supremes.

What a feeling!

After various roles in miniseries for which he received good reviews, ‘Fame’ arrived. The Alan Parker film was released in 1980 with Cara as Coco Hernandez. It was a success and she earned a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and Grammy nominations for the two songs she performed on the soundtrack. Three years later he will again triumph in the charts thanks to ‘Flashdance… What a Feeling’, the main theme of the film ‘Flashdance’. That song won him an Oscar a year lateras well as giving him two Grammy Awards.

The 80s continued to be very prolific for her. He continued to release hit songs and work on the big screen in films such as “Very Hot City” or “And… Red Hot”. But from the following decade his appearance on the big or small screen became increasingly rare. She went as far as voicing Snow White and Belle in animated films that clearly wanted to capitalize on the success of Disney films, and she starred in television shows such as “Gone Country” in 2008, seeking a niche in the country music industry. . But she hasn’t had anywhere near as successful as she had with ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’, whose songs are, and will be, all-time classics.