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Fly High Irene Cara! Your “Fame” Will Live Forever

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Irene Cara is best known as a singer of movie themes, though she worked as an actress since childhood. Raised in New York City, she appeared on Broadway in 1967 in the musical Maggie Flynn at age eight and can be heard on the cast album for the show The Me Nobody Knows. From the age of 16, she was turning up on television and in films, including a part in the TV mini-series Roots 2 in 1979. Also from the film was her Top 40 hit “Out Here on My Own.” In 1983, she topped the charts with “Flashdance…What a Feelin'” from the movie Flashdance, a song she co-wrote that won another Oscar, and Cara won a couple of Grammys for her contributions to the soundtrack. Her What a Feelin’ album included the hits “Why Me?” and “Breakdance,” and she also made the Top 40 with a third movie theme, “The Dream (Hold on to Your Dream).”

If you are like me, you will vividly remember Irene Cara from “Fame”as the main character Coco Hernandez. In 1980, she was catapulted into stardom and a singing career by her appearance in “Fame”, for which she sang the title song, an Oscar-winning Top Ten hit. Although the role of Coco was definitely created for Irene, it was Debbie Allen, who plays Lydia, speech that always reminded me about hard work and Leroy’s moves that let me know that Debbie was playing around.

 

“It is with profound sadness that on behalf of her family I announce the passing of Irene Cara,” Moose wrote. “The Academy Award-winning actress, singer, songwriter and producer passed away in her Florida home.”

“Irene’s family has requested privacy as they process their grief,” the rep added. “She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”

While we are unaware of how she passed away, we are definitely feeling the loss. May she Rest In Peace.

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