Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959-November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress.
Cara rose to prominence in 1980 for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film's title song Fame, which reached number 1 in several countries. In 1983, Cara sang and co-wrote the song Flashdance... What a Feeling (from the film Flashdance), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984.
Prior to her success with Fame, Cara portrayed the title character Sparkle Williams in the original 1976 musical drama film Sparkle.
Cara was born in The Bronx, New York City, the youngest of five children. Her father, Gaspar Cara, a factory worker and retired saxophonist, was Puerto Rican, and her mother, Louise Escalera, a movie theater usher, was Cuban. Cara had two sisters and two brothers. At the age of three, Irene Cara was one of five finalists for the Little Miss America pageant. She began to play the piano by ear, studied music, acting and dance seriously, and began taking dance lessons when she was five.
Her performing career started with her singing and dancing professionally on Spanish-language television. She made early TV appearances on The Original Amateur Hour (singing in Spanish) and Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
In 1971-1972, she was a regular on PBS's educational program The Electric Company as a member of the show's band, The Short Circus.
More information: Irene Cara
As a child, Cara recorded a Spanish-language record for the Latin market and an English-language Christmas album. She also appeared in a major concert tribute to Duke Ellington, which featured Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr. and Roberta Flack.
Cara attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.
Cara appeared in on- and off-Broadway theatrical shows including the musicals Ain't Misbehavin', The Me Nobody Knows (which won an Obie Award), Maggie Flynn opposite Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, and Via Galactica with Raúl Juliá.
Cara was the original Daisy Allen on the 1970s daytime serial Love of Life. She later took on the role of Angela in the romance/thriller Aaron Loves Angela, followed by her portrayal of the title character in Sparkle.
Television brought Cara international acclaim for serious dramatic roles in two outstanding mini-series, Roots: The Next Generations and Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. John Willis' Screen World named her one of twelve Promising New Actors of 1976; that same year, a readers' poll in Right On! magazine named her Top Actress.
The 1980 hit film Fame, directed by Alan Parker, catapulted Irene Cara to stardom. Cara was originally cast as a dancer, but when producers David Da Silva and Alan Marshall and screenwriter Christopher Gore heard her voice, they re-wrote the role of Coco Hernandez for her to play.
As Coco Hernandez, she sang both the title song Fame and the film's other single, Out Here on My Own. These songs helped make the film's soundtrack a chart-topping, multi-platinum album. Further history was made at the Academy Awards that year: It was the first time that two songs from the same film and sung by the same artist were nominated in the same category. Thus, Cara had the opportunity to be one of the few singers to perform more than one song at the Oscar ceremony; Fame, written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford, won the award that year.
Cara earned Grammy Award nominations in 1980 for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical.
Billboard named her Top New Single Artist, while Cashbox Magazine awarded her both Most Promising Female Vocalist and Top Female Vocalist. Asked by Fame TV series' producers to reprise her role as Coco Hernandez, she declined, wanting to focus her attention on her recording career; Erica Gimpel assumed the role.
Cara died at her home in Largo, Florida, on November 25, 2022, at the age of 63.
More information: The Guardian
I'm gonna learn how to fly
(High)
I feel it coming together
People will see me and cry
I'm gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame
(Fame)
I'm gonna live forever
Baby, remember my name.
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