Irene Cara, Oscar-Winning Singer And Star Of Fame, Has Died At 63

The Oscar-winning singer and actor Irene Cara has died at the age of 63. Best known for singing the theme songs for "Fame" and "Flashdance," which launched her to public recognition in the '80s, the performer's death was announced by her publicist, Judith A. Moose, on Twitter (via Variety). The cause of death is currently unknown.

Growing up in the Bronx, Cara's parents picked up on her musical talents and encouraged them. "I started working — singing and dancing with my father's band in nightclubs by the time I was seven years old. I even did my first few albums as a child," Cara shared in an interview with Songwriter Universe. "By the time I was nine, I had an album out in Spanish and another one with the Harlem Children's Choir where we sang Christmas carols."

She started out on the PBS children's show "The Electric Company" and the Broadway show, "Maggie Flynn." When she was 14, Cara landed the lead role in "Sparkle." Roles in "Sister, Sister" and "Roots: The Next Generation" followed before she was cast as singer/dancer Coco Hernandez in "Fame." Director Alan Parker was initially hesitant to cast Cara, but a phone call from composer Michael Gore changed that:

I was originally interested in Irene Cara for her frail but pretty looks and her acting [...] Although she had done some back-up singing and, outside of some a cappella stuff in my office, I wasn't entirely convinced about her and so I asked Michael Gore to work with her in the studio. Afterwards, he phoned me with a simple message, "Boy, has she got the chops." Like me he was pleasantly surprised how good she was — her great voice was almost a bonus as we had prepared to work with a lot less.

The songs "Fame" and "Out Here On My Own" were both nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, with "Fame" ultimately taking home the prize.

Irene Cara's work on "Fame" and "Flashdance" solidified her star quality and secured her future. She co-wrote and performed the latter's theme song, "Flashdance...What a Feeling," and its popularity won her an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. 

Legal troubles with RSO Records after "Flashdance" ultimately, in Cara's words, "cost me my future as a recording artist." Yet towards the end of her life she had few regrets, telling Songwriter Universe in 2018 that she was living comfortably off her royalties and enjoying her semi-retirement in Florida: "I have a beautiful home by the beach and life is good." 

Reflecting back on her life and career, Irene Cara shared:

"I'm very grateful for all the blessings that I've had. Both of my parents are gone now. My mom died five years ago when she was 86, and my father died when he was 77. And I lost both of my older brothers. My brother on my father's side recently passed away ... he was a wonderful jazz musician as well as a great professor of music in New York. And I lost my mother's son, my opera singer brother, about a year after she died. So I'm just happy that I was able to fulfill their dreams for me before they passed away. Because like I said, when you're five or six years old, you don't choose a career. I wasn't a child who decided, 'I want to be in showbiz.' This was something that was laid out for me by my parents. This was their dream for me, and I fulfilled it. So I'm happy about that."