Irene Cara | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Cara in 1987 | |
| Born | Irene Cara Escalera (1959-03-18)March 18, 1959 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 25, 2022(2022-11-25) (aged 63) Largo, Florida, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1968–2011[1][2] |
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| Musical career | |
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| Website | irenecara |
Musical artist | |
Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959[note 1] – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress[13] who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical filmFame, and for recording the film's title song "Fame", which reached No. 1 in several countries. In 1983, Cara co-wrote and sang the song "Flashdance... What a Feeling" (from the filmFlashdance), for which she shared anAcademy Award for Best Original Song and won aGrammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984.
Before her success withFame, Cara portrayed the title character Sparkle Williams in the original 1976 musical drama filmSparkle. Cara died as a result ofhypertensive heart disease afterhypercholesterolemia at age 63.
Irene Cara Escalera was born and raised inthe Bronx, New York City, the youngest of five children.[8][12] Her father, Gaspar Cara, a steel factory worker and retired saxophonist, was Puerto Rican, and her mother, Louise Escalera, a movie theater usher, was Cuban.[8][12][14] Cara had two sisters and two brothers.[12] She began taking dance lessons when she was five.[8] Her performing career started with her singing and dancing professionally on Spanish-language television. She made early TV appearances onThe Original Amateur Hour (singing in Spanish)[15] andJohnny Carson'sThe Tonight Show.[16] In 1971, she was a regular on PBS's educational programThe Electric Company as a member of the Short Circus, the show's band, appearing as a member during the show’s first season.[8] 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 toDuke Ellington, which featuredStevie Wonder,Sammy Davis Jr., andRoberta Flack.[17] Cara attended theProfessional Children's School in Manhattan.[12] In 1985, Cara toldCosmopolitan "I don't mean to sound immodest, but I'd never had any doubt that I'd be successful, nor any fear of success; I was raised as a little goddess who was told she would be a star."[18]
Cara appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, starting withMaggie Flynn oppositeShirley Jones andJack Cassidy.[2][19] Shortly thereafter, she was one of five finalists for the "Little Miss America" pageant.[2] She also appeared inVia Galactica withRaúl Juliá,[19]Ain't Misbehavin'[8] andThe Me Nobody Knows (which won anObie Award).[2] Cara was the original Daisy Allen on the 1970s daytime serialLove of Life. She later took on the role of Angela in the romance/thrillerAaron Loves Angela,[2] followed by her portrayal of the title character inSparkle.[12]
Television brought Cara international acclaim for serious dramatic roles inRoots: The Next Generations andGuyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones.[8]John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28, named her one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976"; that same year, a readers' poll inRight On! magazine named her Top Actress.[20]
[Gail] Boggs describes Cara as a "perfectionist" who works on a song until absolutely satisfied with it.[2]
The 1980 hit filmFame, directed byAlan Parker, catapulted Cara to stardom. She originally was 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. In this part, she sang both the title song "Fame" and the single "Out Here on My Own", which were both nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Original Song.[12] These songs helped make the film's soundtrack a chart-topping, multi-platinum album, and it was the first time that two songs from the same film and sung by the same artist were nominated in the same category. Cara had the opportunity to be one of the few singers to perform more than one song at the Oscar ceremony; "Fame", written byMichael Gore andDean Pitchford, won the award for best original song that year, and the film won theAcademy Award for Best Original Score.[21] Cara earnedGrammy Award nominations in 1980 for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, as well as aGolden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical.Billboard named her Top New Single Artist, andCashbox magazine awarded her both Most Promising Female Vocalist and Top Female Vocalist. Asked byFame 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.[22]
In 1980, she briefly played the role of Dorothy inThe Wiz on tour, in a role thatStephanie Mills had portrayed in the original Broadway production. Coincidentally, Cara and Mills had shared the stage together as children in the original 1968 Broadway musicalMaggie Flynn, starringShirley Jones andJack Cassidy, in which both young girls playedAmerican Civil War orphans.[23]
NBC kept Cara under contract and asked her to appear with record producer turned TV personalityMitch Miller for a primetime TV special. Network chiefFred Silverman wanted to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Miller's famousSing Along with Mitch musical hours, with the possibility of turning the special into a series. Miller reunited many members of his 1961 gang, including a dozen singers and many behind-the-scenes crew members, and taped the special in New York. Irene Cara had two specialty numbers: a vocal of "Out Here on My Own" and a song-and-dance number alongside choreographer Victor Griffin. The show aired in January 1981, and while it was a faithful re-creation of the 1960s program, it did not get picked up as a series.
Cara was set to star in the sitcomIrene in 1981. The cast had veteran performersKaye Ballard andTeddy Wilson as well as newcomersJulia Duffy andKeenen Ivory Wayans. However, the pilot was not picked up by the network for the fall season.[24] In 1983, Cara appeared as herself in the filmD.C. Cab. One of the characters, Tyrone, played byCharlie Barnett, is an obsessed Cara fan who decorated hisChecker Cab as a shrine to her.[23] "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)", her contribution to the film's soundtrack, played over the closing credits of the film,[25] and was a minor hit, peaking at No. 37 on theBillboard Hot 100 in February 1984.[26][27]
In 1982, Cara earned theImage Award forBest Actress when she co-starred withDiahann Carroll andRosalind Cash in the NBC Movie of the WeekSister, Sister.[28] Cara portrayedMyrlie Evers-Williams inFor Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story, the PBS TV movie aboutcivil rights leaderMedgar Evers,[23] and she earned anNAACPImage Award Best Actress nomination. She also appeared in 1982'sKilling 'em Softly. Cara continued to perform in live theater.
In 1983, Cara reached the peak of her music career with the title song for the movieFlashdance: "Flashdance... What a Feeling",[29] which she co-wrote withGiorgio Moroder andKeith Forsey. Cara wrote the lyrics to the song with Keith Forsey while riding in a car in New York heading to the studio to record it; Moroder composed the music. Cara admitted later that she was initially reluctant to work with Giorgio Moroder because she had no wish to invite comparisons withDonna Summer, another artist who worked with Moroder.[30] The song became a hit in several countries, attracting several awards for Cara. She shared the 1983 Academy Award for Best Original Song with Moroder and Forsey,[31] becoming the first black woman to win an Oscar in a non-acting category and the youngest to receive an Oscar for songwriting.[32] She won the 1984Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance,[33] 1984Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, andAmerican Music Awards for Best R&B Female Artist and Best Pop Single of the Year.[citation needed]
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In 1984, she was in the comedic thrillerCity Heat, co-starring withClint Eastwood andBurt Reynolds and singing the standards "Embraceable You" and "Get Happy". She also co-wrote the theme song "City Heat", sung by the jazz vocalistJoe Williams. In May 1984, she scored her final Top 40 hit with "Breakdance" going to No. 8. "You Were Made for Me" reached No. 78 that summer, but she did not appear on the Hot 100 again. In 1985, Cara co-starred withTatum O'Neal inCertain Fury. In 1986, Cara appeared in the filmBusted Up. She also provided the voice ofSnow White in the unofficial sequel toDisney'sSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs,Filmation'sHappily Ever After, in 1993. The same year, she appeared as Mary Magdalene in a tour ofJesus Christ Superstar withTed Neeley,Carl Anderson, andDennis DeYoung.[34]
Cara released three studio albums:Anyone Can See in 1982,What a Feelin' in 1983,[12] andCarasmatic in 1987, the most successful of these beingWhat a Feelin'. In 1985, she collaborated with the Hispaniccharity supergroup Hermanos in the song "Cantaré, cantarás", in which she sang a solo segment with the Spanish opera singerPlácido Domingo. Cara toured Europe and Asia throughout the 1990s, achieving several modest dance hits on European charts, but no U.S. chart hits. She released a compilation ofEurodance singles in the mid-to-late 1990s titledPrecarious 90's. Cara also worked as a backup vocalist forVicki Sue Robinson,[35]Lou Reed,[35]George Duke,[36]Oleta Adams,[37] andEvelyn "Champagne" King.[35]
In 1993, a California jury awarded her $1.5 million from a 1985 lawsuit she filed against record executiveAl Coury and Network Records, accusing them of withholding royalties from theFlashdance soundtrack and her first two solo records. Cara stated that, as a result, she was labeled as being difficult to work with and that the music industry "virtually blacklisted" her.[12]
In 2005, Cara won the third round of the NBC television seriesHit Me, Baby, One More Time, performing "Flashdance... What a Feeling" and coveredAnastacia's song "I'm Outta Love" with her all-female band Hot Caramel. At the2006 AFL Grand Final in Melbourne, Cara performed a rendition of "Flashdance" as an opener to the pre-match entertainment.[38]
In 2005, Cara contributed a dance single, titled "Forever My Love", to the compilation album titledGay Happening Vol. 12.[39]
Cara was in Hot Caramel, a band which she formed in 1999.[40] Their album, calledIrene Cara Presents Hot Caramel, was released in 2011. Cara appeared in season 2 of CMT's reality showGone Country.[41][42]
Cara married stuntman and film directorConrad Palmisano in Los Angeles on April 13, 1986.[43] The couple had no children and divorced in 1991.[16]
Cara died fromarteriosclerosis andhypertensive heart disease at her home on November 25, 2022, at 63 years of age; she also haddiabetes.[12][44] At the time of her death, Cara was a resident of Florida, living inLargo and maintaining a secondary address inNew Port Richey, where her company, Caramel Productions, was located.[45]
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Record label | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [46] | US R&B [47] | AUS [48] | CAN [49] | NLD [50] | ||||||||||
| 1967 | Ésta es Irene[51] | — | — | — | — | — | Gema Records | |||||||
| 1982 | Anyone Can See | 76 | 39 | — | — | 48 | Network | |||||||
| 1983 | What a Feelin' | 77 | 45 | 49 | 83 | — | Network/Geffen | |||||||
| 1987 | Carasmatic | — | — | — | — | — | Elektra | |||||||
| 2011 | Irene Cara Presents Hot Caramel | — | — | — | — | — | CPM | |||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [47] | AUS [48] | CAN [49] | GER [52] | IRE [53] | NLD [50] | NZ [54] | SWE [55] | SWI [56] | UK [57] | |||||
| 1980 | "Fame" | 4 | 3 | 42 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | — | 1 | Fame | ||
| "Hot Lunch Jam" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Out Here on My Own" | 19 | 41 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 58 | ||||
| 1982 | "Anyone Can See" | 42 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Anyone Can See | ||
| "My Baby (He's Something Else)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1983 | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Flashdance /What a Feelin' | ||
| "Why Me?" | 13 | 5 | 23 | 17 | — | — | 24 | 6 | 4 | 86 | What a Feelin' | |||
| "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" | 37 | 84 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | D.C. Cab /What a Feelin' | |||
| 1984 | "Breakdance" | 8 | 19 | 10 | 53 | — | — | 25 | 20 | 20 | 88 | What a Feelin' | ||
| "You Were Made for Me" | 78 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1987 | "Girlfriends" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Carasmatic | ||
| 1995 | "Rhythm of My Life" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||
| 1996 | "You Need Me (Ti sento)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2001 | "What a Feeling"(withDJ BoBo) | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | Planet Colors | ||
| 2004 | "Downtown" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Downtown: A Street Tale | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
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| Year | Album | Track(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | The Me Nobody Knows | "Black" |
| 1980 | Fame | "Fame", "Out Here on My Own", "Hot Lunch Jam", "I Sing the Body Electric" |
| 1982 | Killing 'em Softly | "City Nights" |
| 1983 | Flashdance | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" |
| 1983 | D.C. Cab | "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" |
| 1984 | Going Bananas | "Going Bananas" (TV series theme song) |
| 1984 | City Heat | "Embraceable You", "Get Happy" |
| 1985 | Certain Fury | "Certain Fury" |
| 1986 | Busted Up | "Busted Up", "Dying For Your Love", "I Can't Help Feeling Empty" |
| 1986 | The Longshot | "The Long Shot" |
| 1989 | All Dogs Go to Heaven | "Love Survives" (withFreddie Jackson) |
| 1989 | Happily Ever After | "Love is the Reason" |
| 1990 | Caged in Paradiso | "Paradiso" |
| 1990 | China Cry | "No One But You" |
| 1992 | The Magic Voyage | "We'll Always Be Together" |
| 1997 | The Full Monty | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" (re-recording) |
| 2004 | Downtown: A Street Tale | "Downtown" |
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| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Irene Cara" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970–71 | Love of Life | Daisy Allen | Daytime drama |
| 1971–72 | The Electric Company | Iris | Band member of the Short Circus; 130 episodes |
| 1976 | Kojak | Amy | Episode: "A Hair-Trigger Away" |
| 1977 | What's Happening!! | Maria Torres | Episode: "Rerun Gets Married" |
| 1979 | Roots: The Next Generations | Bertha Palmer Haley | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 1980 | Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones | Alice Jefferson | Movie |
| 1981 | Sing Along with Mitch 20th Anniversary | Herself | Musical special |
| 1981 | Irene | Irene Cannon | Sitcom pilot |
| 1983 | For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story | Myrlie Evers | American Playhouse movie |
| 1988 | Bustin' Loose | Herself | Episode: "What's a Nice Girl Like You...?" |
| 1991 | Gabriel's Fire | Celine Bird | Episode: "Birds Gotta Fly" |
| 1992 | Hearts Are Wild | Dorah | Episode 1.8 |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Aaron Loves Angela | Angela | |
| 1976 | Sparkle | Sparkle Williams | |
| 1976 | Apple Pie | Dancer | |
| 1980 | Fame | Coco Hernandez | |
| 1982 | Killing 'em Softly | Jane | |
| 1982 | Sister, Sister | Sisina "Sissy" Lovejoy | |
| 1983 | D.C. Cab | Herself | |
| 1984 | City Heat | Ginny Lee | |
| 1985 | Certain Fury | Tracy | |
| 1986 | Busted Up | Simone Bird | |
| 1989 | Caged in Paradiso | Eva | |
| 1989 | Happily Ever After | Snow White | Voice role |
| 1992 | Beauty and the Beast | Beauty | Voice role |
| 1992 | The Magic Voyage | Marilyn | Voice role |
| 1994 | The Jungle King | Leonette | Voice role; direct-to-video |
| 1995 | Beyond Awareness to Action: Ending Abuse of Women | Herself/host | Documentary short |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Melody | Voice role; direct-to-video |
| 2004 | Downtown: A Street Tale | Neighbor | Cameo |
