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Irene Cara dead at 63: ‘Fame’ and

‘Flashdance’ singer was Grammy, Oscar
winner
By Rich Calder and Rob Bailey-Millado November 26, 2022 8:27am Updated

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Irene Cara, center, won the 1984 Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Flashdance...What a Feeling." She is
flanked here by actress Jennifer Beals, songwriter Keith Forsey and actor Mathew Broderick.
Bettmann Archive

To quote a legendary lyric from her most famous anthem:

More On: “I’m gonna live forever — baby, remember my name.”
Screaming couple refuses to leave
celebrity deaths plane, forces all passengers to
Irene Cara, the iconic ’80s singer and actress best known for disembark
‘Amazing Race’ contestant massive soundtrack hits to the films “Flashdance” and
Donald Anthony St. Claire dead
at 87 “Fame,” has died. She was 63.
174,095

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Carol Burnett Show’ dead at 85
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The native New Yorker’s publicist Judith Moose announced
Cara’s death Saturday morning, saying in a statement she
died in her Florida home. The cause of death is unknown
and will be released “when more information is available,”
she added.

‘Game of Thrones’ star and rock “She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live US furniture company lays off all
guitarist dead at 75 forever through her music and films,” Moose said. “Please 2,700 employees while they were
sleeping
share your thoughts and memories of Irene … and know
she’ll be smiling from Heaven. She adored her fans.”
115,879
She was born Irene Cara Escalera in the Bronx on March 18, 1959, to a Puerto Rican father and Cuban-
mother.

“Idon’t mean to sound immodest — but I’d never had any doubt that I’d be successful, nor any fear of
success,” the singer-songwriter-actress told Cosmopolitan magazine in 1985. “I was raised as a little
goddess who was told she would be a star.”

Cara’s top hits were “Fame” in 1980 and 1983’s “Flashdance … What a Feeling,” the latter of which she Internet doesn't hold back after
Mariah's Thanksgiving performance
won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance.

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Cara dancing in 1980’s hit “Fame.”

Courtesy Everett Collection

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Irene Cara in “Fame’ in 1980.

©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collectio

“Flashdance” star Jennifer Beals was among the first of Cara’s colleagues to pay tribute to her talent:
“Thank you brilliant Irene for your open heart and your fearless triple threat talent,” Beals, 58, posted to
Instagram . “It took a beautiful dreamer to write and perform the soundtracks for those who dare to dream .“

Besides belting the title track in “Fame,” Cara starred in the role of aspiring artist Coco Hernandez, and
the song helped make the film’s soundtrack a multi-platinum album. She was nominated for two Grammys
following “Fame,” for Best Female Pop Vocal Artist and Best New Artist.

“Fame” co-star and famed choreographer Debbie Allen, 72, also paid homage : “My Heart is Broken.
#IreneCara was such a gifted and beautiful genius. Her talent and her music will LIVE FOREVER!
FOREVER REMEMBER HER NAME! #FAME ❤️”

Funeral services are pending, and the memorial for her fans will be planned at a future date.

In announcing the death, Moose added a message on Cara’s Twitter page Saturday saying: “This is the
absolute worst part of being a publicist. I can’t believe I’ve had to write this, let alone release the news.”

Cara launched her career as a child star in the Little Miss America Pageant, followed by a breakout
appearance as an 8-year-old on “Ted Mack Amateur Hour.” Continuing her studies in piano and dance,
she regularly appeared as a singer-dancer on Spanish-language TV variety shows.

But don’t let those pageant roots fool you, she warned.

“Ididn’t get where I am because of looks,” she told Ebony magazine in 1981. “I’ve done it on talent. I’ve
never had to depend on my looks for anything. I haven’t sat around and tried to look pretty — I’ve worked
my butt off!”

Irene Cara on-screen in 1976’s “Sparkle” opposite Philip Michael Thomas.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Cara graduated on to the major TV networks with appearances on “The Original Amateur Hour,” “The Ed
Sullivan Show” and “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”

She appeared from 1971-72 on “The Electric Company,” the iconic PBS children’s educational show,
where she participated as a member of the group “The Short Circus,” teaching children about grammar
through music with A-list co-stars Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman.

Among her many early stage appearances were roles in Broadway’s “Maggie Flynn” (1968) with Shirley
Jones, the Obie Award-winning musical “The Me Nobody Knows” (1970), “Via Galactica” (1972) with Raul
Julia, and the original 1978 cabaret show of “Ain’t Misbehavin,’ ” with Nell Carter and “Hadestown” Tony
winner André DeShields.

Cara’s cause of death is currently unknown.

Getty Images

Cara with Kevin Hooks in “Aaron Loves Angela” in 1975.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Cara also picked up a Grammy over the course of her career.

Getty Images

In 1975, Cara made her leading lady film debut in “Aaron Loves Angela,” an inner-city redux of “Romeo
and Juliet,” followed by a starring role in 1976’s cult classic girl-group drama “Sparkle,” featuring a
soundtrack of iconic Curtis Mayfield tracks.

She followed her early star-making roles with supporting appearances in acclaimed TV productions such
as “Roots: The Next Generations” in 1979 and “Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones” in 1980.

Cara’s acting career floundered after 1984’s “City Heat” with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds and was
marked by subpar roles in by B-movies such as 1985’s “Certain Fury” opposite Oscar winner Tatum
O’Neal and the 1989 women-behind-bars exploitation drama “Caged in Paradiso.”

220 What do you think? Post a comment.

In recent years she wowed audiences with a series of nostalgic reality TV singing appearances as she
attempted to launch a new musical group named Hot Caramel.

Cara is reportedly survived by multiple family members, who have “requested privacy as they process
their grief” at this time, according to her reps.

However, the artist herself was known for cherishing her devoted fanbase over her five-decade-plus
career: “It’s important for me to get back to my fans here and around the world,” she told Star magazine
during one stalled comeback attempt in 1993. “I feel very, very blessed that so many people have
continued to write me and to pour out their love for me and my work.”

Filed under academy awards celebrity deaths grammys singers soundtracks 11/26/22

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