Irene Cara Escalera was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film's title song "Fame", which reached No 1 in several countries.
30 Facts About Irene Cara
2.
Irene Cara Escalera was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, the youngest of five children.
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Irene Cara began to play the piano by ear, studied music, acting, and dance seriously, and began taking dance lessons when she was five.
4.
Irene Cara's performing career started with her singing and dancing professionally on Spanish-language television.
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Irene Cara made early TV appearances on The Original Amateur Hour and Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
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Irene Cara appeared in a major concert tribute to Duke Ellington, which featured Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr.
7.
Irene Cara appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, starting with Maggie Flynn opposite Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy.
8.
Irene Cara was the original Daisy Allen on the 1970s daytime serial Love of Life.
9.
Irene Cara 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.
10.
Irene 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 for best original song that year, and the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
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Irene 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.
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In 1983, Irene Cara appeared as herself in the film DC Cab.
13.
In 1982, Irene Cara earned the Image Award for Best Actress when she co-starred with Diahann Carroll and Rosalind Cash in the NBC Movie of the Week Sister, Sister.
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Irene Cara portrayed Myrlie Evers-Williams in For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story, the PBS TV movie about civil rights leader Medgar Evers, and she earned an NAACP Image Award Best Actress nomination.
15.
Irene 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.
16.
Irene Cara admitted later that she was initially reluctant to work with Giorgio Moroder because she had no wish to invite comparisons with Donna Summer, another artist who worked with Moroder.
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Irene Cara shared the 1983 Academy Award for Best Original Song with Moroder and Forsey, becoming the first black woman to win an Oscar in a non-acting category and the youngest to receive an Oscar for songwriting.
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Irene Cara co-wrote the theme song "City Heat", sung by the jazz vocalist Joe Williams.
19.
In 1985, Irene Cara co-starred with Tatum O'Neal in Certain Fury.
20.
Irene Cara provided the voice of Snow White in the unofficial sequel to Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Filmation's Happily Ever After, in 1993.
21.
Irene Cara toured Europe and Asia throughout the 1990s, achieving several modest dance hits on European charts, but no US chart hits.
22.
Irene Cara released a compilation of Eurodance singles in the mid-to-late 1990s titled Precarious 90's.
23.
Irene Cara worked as a backup vocalist for Vicki Sue Robinson, Lou Reed, George Duke, Oleta Adams, and Evelyn "Champagne" King.
24.
Irene Cara stated that, as a result, she was labeled as being difficult to work with and that the music industry "virtually blacklisted" her.
25.
In March 2004, Irene Cara received two honors with an induction into the Ciboney Cafe's Hall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Award presented at the sixth annual Prestige Awards.
26.
At the 2006 AFL Grand Final in Melbourne, Irene Cara performed a rendition of "Flashdance" as an opener to the pre-match entertainment.
27.
In 2005, Irene Cara contributed a dance single, titled "Forever My Love", to the compilation album titled Gay Happening Vol.
28.
Irene Cara appeared in season 2 of CMT's reality show Gone Country.
29.
Irene Cara married stuntman and film director Conrad Palmisano in Los Angeles on April 13,1986.
30.
Irene Cara died from arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease at her home on November 25,2022, at the age of 63.