Irene Cara, ’80s pop star behind ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ theme songs, dies at 63

CNN
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Actress and singer Irene Cara, an Oscar and Grammy winner greatest recognized for the theme songs of “Fame” and “Flashdance” within the early ’80s, has died, her publicist mentioned. She was 63.

“Please share your thoughts and memories of Irene,” Judith Moose mentioned in a tweet saying the singer’s demise. “I’ll be studying each one among them and know she’ll be smiling from Heaven. She adored her followers.

“She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”

Cara died in her Florida house. The reason for demise is unknown, in keeping with Moose’s assertion.

As a youth, Cara appeared on TV’s “Electric Company” earlier than performing as a teen within the films “Aaron Loves Angela” and “Sparkle.”

Her breakthrough got here as Coco Hernandez within the 1980 musical “Fame,” about New York’s High School for the Performing Arts. She had a success document with that film’s title track, and one other with the ballad “Out Here on My Own.” She was nominated for a Golden Globe and two Grammys that yr.

Three years later, Cara co-wrote the lyrics for “Flashdance… What a Feeling,” one other radio smash for which she acquired an Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

She had a number of different hits, together with “Why Me” and “Breakdance.” She additionally acted in films equivalent to “City Heat” with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood, “D.C. Cab” with Mr. T and “Certain Fury” with Tatum O’Neal.