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EspañolIRENE CARA
'Irene Cara' (born 'Irene Escalera' on March 18, 1959, in The Bronx, New York City) is an American singer, Academy Award-winning, Grammy Award-winning, and a two-time Golden Globe-winning songwriter and actress of African, Cuban and Puerto Rican descent.
Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling". She is best known for her recordings of the songs "Fame" and "Flashdance... What a Feeling". She also starred in the 1980 film version of ''Fame''.
Personal
Cara's father, Gaspar (died in 1994), was an Afro-Puerto Rican. Her mother, Louise Escalera, is of French and Cuban descent. She has two sisters and two brothers.
Married Hollywood stuntman Conrad Palmisano [1] in 1986. They divorced in 1991.
Cara's age has been the subject of controversy: at various times her birth year has been listed as 1954, 1959 or 1964. In July 2004, the Associated Press claimed to have found her voter registration record in Florida, where she lives. However, Ms. Cara has never voted or registered to do so in Florida.
Early life
Cara first captivated the audiences of her family sometime after her fifth birthday when she began to play the piano by ear. Cara soon moved into serious studies of music, acting, and dance. At the age of three, she was one of five finalists for the Little Miss America pageant.
Cara's performing career started on Spanish-language television as a child, professionally singing and dancing. She made early TV appearances on the ''Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour'' (singing in Spanish), ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', and Johnny Carson's ''The Tonight Show''. By age 8, Cara recorded a Latin-market Spanish-language record; an English Christmas album soon followed. At age 10 she appeared in a major concert tribute to Duke Ellington with Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr. and Roberta Flack.
Professional career
Pre-''Fame''
From there, 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 Raul Julia''.
In the 1970s, Cara was the star of "The Everything Show", a program which aired locally in New York City. She was the original Daisy Allen on the now defunct daytime serial ''Love of Life'' in the 1970s and was replaced with Sharon Brown. She left the show to star in to star in the educational series ''The Electric Company'', playing a member of the band The Short Circus (she was on the show during the first season only). The series also featured Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers and Gene Wilder. Next came her role as Angela in romance thriller classic ''Aaron Loves Angela'', followed by her portrayal of the title character in ''Sparkle''. Television brought Irene international acclaim for serious dramatic roles in two outstanding mini series, , the critically acclaimed adaptation of Alex Haley’s moving novel and .
John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28, named her one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976"; that same year, a readers' poll in ''Right On!'' magazine named her Top Actress.
Cara graduated from the Professional Children's School in Manhattan, a rival of the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art. Ironically, LaGuardia High was the inspiration for the performing arts school in her third movie ''Fame''.
''Fame'' and Subsequent Roles
The 1980 box office smash movie ''Fame'' catapulted Irene to stardom. As ''Coco Hernandez'' she sang both the title song ''Fame'' and the film’s second hit single ''Out Here On My Own''. These songs helped make the movie soundtrack a chart-topping, multi-platinum album. Further history was made when at the Academy Awards that year; for the first time two songs from one film were nominated in the same category: ''Fame'' and ''Out Here On My Own''. Cara had the opportunity to be one of the few singers to perform more than one song at the Oscar ceremony. (Note: Robert Goulet, who sang all the Oscar-nominated songs in 1963, is among several singers who had done so in the past.) ''Fame'', written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford, won the award that year.
The motion picture ''Fame'' earned Irene Grammy nominations in 1980 for ''Best New Female Artist'' and ''Best New Pop Artist,'' as well as a Golden Globe nomination for ''Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical''. ''Billboard Magazine'' named Irene ''Top New Single Artist,'' while ''Cashbox Magazine'' awarded her both ''Most Promising Female Vocalist'' and ''Top Female Vocalist.''
When ''Fame'' became a television series a few years later, Cara was asked by the TV series' producers to reprise her role as ''Coco Hernandez''. But she turned them down, feeling that she had already done everything she could with the role in the film, and over additional concerns that her film work in the role might be diminished if the television show failed. As a result, newcomer Erica Gimpel, who looked similar to Cara, played the role instead. However, Cara did make a special guest appearance on the series in 1983 as a "successful alumna" of the performing-arts school portrayed in the series, singing her then-current hit single, "Why Me?".
In 1982, Irene earned the Image Award for Best Actress when she co-starred with Diahann Carroll and Rosalind Cash in the NBC Movie of the Week, Maya Angelou's ''Sister, Sister''. Irene portrayed Myrlie Evers-Williams in the PBS TV movie about civil rights leader Medgar Evers, ''; and earned an NAACP Image Award ''Best Actress'' nomination. She also appeared in 1982's ''Killing 'em Softly''.
Cara was also pegged to star in her very own sitcom, entitled ''Irene'', on NBC in 1981. Even though the pilot aired and received favorable reviews, the network did not pick it up for its fall season of new shows. It also starred veteran performers Kaye Ballard and Teddy Wilson, as well as newcomers Julia Duffy and Keenan Ivory Wayans.
In 1983, Cara appeared as herself in the film ''D.C. Cab'', about a group of cabbies, starring Mr T. As an in-joke, one of the characters, an obsessed Irene Cara fan, decorated his Checker Cab as a shrine to her.
In addition to her music and film work, Cara also continued to perform in live theatre during this period. In the summer of 1980, she briefly played the role of ''Dorothy'' in ''The Wiz'' on tour. Of course, this was the role that singer/actress Stephanie Mills created in the original Broadway production. Coincidentally Cara and Mills had shared the stage together as children in the original 1968 Broadway musical ''Maggie Flynn'', starring Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, in which both young girls played Civil War orphans.
''Flashdance... What A Feeling''
In 1983, Irene reached the apex of her music career with the title song for the movie Flashdance, ''Flashdance...What A Feeling'', which she co-wrote with Giorgio Moroder and Keith 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 wrote the music.
Cara admitted later that she was initially reluctant to work with Georgio Moroder because she didn't want to invite further comparisons with Moroder's most famous client, Donna Summer, (1), but it paid off, as the result was a record which topped the charts around the world and won numerous accolades for Cara. She won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Song(Oscar); 1984 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, 1984 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, ''Top Female Vocalist-Pop Singles'', ''Black Contemporary Female Vocalist-Pop Singles'', ''Top Pop Crossover Artist-Black Contemporary Singles'', ''Pop Single of the Year'', American Music Awards for Best R&B Female Artist and ''Best Pop Single of the Year''.
In March 2007, the United World Chart ranked Flashdance... What a Feeling as the twenty-second most successful song in music history. The song was also rated on the list as the fourth most successful song by a solo female artist, behind Cher's Believe, Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On and Whitney Houston's version of I Will Always Love You. [2]
Post-''Flashdance''
In 1984, she was in the Clint Eastwood - Burt Reynolds comedy thriller ''City Heat'', in which she sang the standards ''Embraceable You'' and ''Get Happy'', and in 1985 co-starred with Tatum O'Neal in ''Certain Fury'', a notorious box office and critical flop. In 1986 appeared in the film Busted Up. She 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.
Also in the 1990s, Cara won a bitter lawsuit with her managers over money and career issues.
Additional Recordings
Along with her successful career in acting and several hit singles, Cara has released three albums thus far. Those albums are ''Anyone Can See'' in 1982, ''What A Feelin''' in 1983 and ''Carasmatic'' in 1987. She also released a compilation of Eurodance singles in the mid to late 1990s entitled ''Precarious 90's''. Cara recently contributed a new dance single, titled ''Forever My Love'', to the compilation album titled ''Gay Happening Vol. 12'', in 2006.
In addition to her solo recordings, Cara has worked as a backup vocalist for Vicki Sue Robinson, Lou Reed, George Duke, and Evelyn "Champagne" King.
Currently
Cara has never stopped performing, although most of her appearances were relegated to Europe and Asia throughout the 1990s, scoring several top ten dance hits on foreign charts.
Cara received two prestigious honors for her career in March 2004, with her induction into the Ciboney Cafe's Hall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Award presented at the sixth annual Prestige Awards.
In June 2005, Cara won the third round of NBC television series ''Hit Me Baby One More Time'', performing "Flashdance (What a Feeling)" and covered Anastacia's hit "I'm Outta Love" with her current all-female band, Hot Caramel. At the 2006 AFL Grand Final in Melbourne, Cara performed "Flashdance (What a Feeling)" as an opener to the pre-match entertainment.
She lives in Florida and continues work in preparation for her band Hot Caramel's album. She also has her own production studio.
Awards and Nominations
★ Latino Playwrights Award: Award of Recognition. [1985]
★ Golden Eagle Awards: Nosotros - Latin America Performer of the Year [1984]
★ Grammy Awards: Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female [1984]
★ NAACP Image Award-Best Actress in a TV Movie- Sister, Sister [1982]
★ NAACP Image Award-Best Actress in a TV Movie- For Us the Living [1983]
★ Alpha Music Program in Japan: #1 Female Vocalist from Sendai TV's "Saturday Magazine" [1983]
★ Academy Award: Best Original Song: Flashdance...What a Feeling [1983]
★ American Music Awards ''Nomination'': Best R&B Female Artist [1983]
★ American Music Awards: Best Pop Single of the Year [1983]
★ Bravo Magazine: Otto Award, Most Popular Female Singer [1983]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Top Female Vocalist - Pop Singles [1983]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Black Contemporary - Pop Singles [1983]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Adult Contemporary Vocalist - Pop Singles [1983]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Top Pop Crossover Artist - Black Contemporary Singles [1983]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Pop Single of the Year [1983]
★ Golden Globe: Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy (Fame) [1980]
★ Golden Globe: Best Song in a Motion Picture (Flashdance) [1983]
★ People's Choice Awards: Favorite Young Artist [1980]
★ People's Choice Awards: Favorite Movie Theme Song (Flashdance) [1983]
★ Academy Awards: Best Song in a Motion Picture, "Fame" [1981]
★ Academy Awards ''Nomination'' : Best Song in a Motion Picture, "Out Here On My Own" [1981]
★ Grammy Awards: ''Nomination'' - Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female [1981]
★ Grammy Awards: ''Nomination'' - Best New Artist [1981]
★ Billboard Magazine: Top New Single Artist [1980]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Most Promising Female Vocalist [1980]
★ Cashbox Magazine: Top Female Vocalist [1980]
★ Japan Radio Hit Research Committee: Most Popular Disc Award [1980]
Trivia
★ Cara is the youngest African-American artist of Hispanic ancestry to receive an Academy Award at the age of 24 years old. She is also the only female of color to receive an Academy Award in a non-acting category.
★ Chosen by Francesco Scavullo for his 1980s book on some of the most beautiful women in the entertainment business. Irene shared the pages with supermodel Gia, Diahann Carroll and Brooke Shields.
★ Her #1 hit ''Flashdance...What A Feeling'' was ranked #67 on VH1's 100 Greatest Dance Songs.
★ She holds the #6 spot of a singer with the most Oscar- winning and/or nominated songs, below (in descending order) Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Barbra Streisand, and Jennifer Warnes.
★ She is known as the "Queen of the Movie Themes",and has recorded a total of 17 movie theme songs since her first, "Fame" (1980).
★ When Cara reached #1 on Japan's Oricon singles chart with ''Flashdance... What a Feeling'' in 1983, she became the last non-Japanese or English-language artist to top the Oricon chart until Celine Dion's "To Love You More" twelve years later.
★ Was originally born with red hair. Has rare eye color---black.
★ On June 22, 2004, two of her movie theme songs "Flashdance...What A Feeling" (#55) from Flashdance and "Fame" (#51) from Fame were selected by the board of The American Film Institute in their list of "The 100 Years of The Greatest Songs". "Fame" the movie was placed in "The Top 100 Greatest Films" in 2006 (#92).
★ Ranked #42 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Teen Stars" in 2006.
★ She is referenced in Common's song "Hungry" from his 1997 album One Day It'll All Make Sense.
★ ''Flashdance...What a Feeling'' was featured in Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX in 1999 under the name MAGIKA.
Discography
Albums
★ 1980: ''Fame Soundtrack'' - PolyGram
★ 1982: ''Anyone Can See'' - Elektra Records
★ 1983: ''Flashdance Soundtrack'' - Casablanca Records
★ 1983: ''What A Feelin''' - Network Records
★ 1984: ''D.C. Cab Soundtrack'' - Geffen Records
★ 1985: ''City Heat Soundtrack'' - Warner Bros.
★ 1987: ''Carasmatic'' - Elektra Records
★ 1989: ''All Dogs Go to Heaven Soundtrack'' - MGM.
Singles
| Year | Single | U.S. | U.S. Dance | UK | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | "Fame" | 4 | '1' | '1' | ''Fame Soundtrack'' |
| 1980 | "Out Here on My Own" | 19 | - | 58 | ''Fame Soundtrack'' |
| 1981 | "Anyone Can See" | 42 | - | - | ''Anyone Can See'' |
| 1983 | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" | '1' | '1' | 2 | ''Flashdance Soundtrack'' / ''What a Feelin' |
| 1983 | "Why Me" | 13 | 7 | 86 | ''What a Feelin' |
| 1983 | "The Dream (Hold on to Your Dream)" | 37 | 26 | - | ''DC Cab Soundtrack'' / ''What a Feelin' |
| 1984 | "Breakdance" | 8 | 13 | 88 | ''What a Feelin' |
| 1984 | "You Were Made For Me" | 78 | - | - | ''What a Feelin' |
| 1987 | "Girlfriends" | - | - | - | ''Carasmatic'' |
| 1988 | "I Can Fly" | - | - | - | |
| 1995 | "Rhythm of My Life" | - | - | - | ''Precarious 90's'' |
| 1996 | "You Need Me" | - | - | - | ''Precarious 90's'' |
| 1997 | "All My Heart" | - | - | - | ''Precarious 90's'' |
| 2001 | "What a Feeling" ''(with DJ Bobo)'' | - | - | - | - |
| 2006 | "Forever My Love" | - | - | - | ''Gay Happening Vol. 12'' |
| 2007 | "Downtown" | - | - | - | ''Downtown: A Street Tale Soundtrack'' |
Vocal Appearances
★ The Me Nobody Knows- Original Cast Soundtrack (1970)
★ The Electric Company-Television Cast Soundtrack (1971)
★ John Blaire - We Belong Together (1977) Vocals
★ The Brecker Brothers - Detente (1980) Vocals (bckgr)
★ Bill Chinnock - Badlands (1978) Vocals
★ Gordon Grody - Exclusively Yours Vocals (bckgr)
★ Jimmy Maelen - Beats Workin' (1980) Vocals
★ Millington - Ladies on the Stage (1978) Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
★ T. Life - That's Life (1978) Vocals (bckgr)
★ Original Soundtrack - Fame [Polydor Soundtrack] (1980) Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
★ Various Artists - Billboard Top Hits: 1980 (1980)
★ Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits: 1980(1980) Vocals
★ Stanley Turrentine-Home Again (1982)
★ Luther Vandross- Superstar (1983)
★ City Heat-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1984)
★ Certain Fury-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985)
★ Original Soundtrack - ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' (1989)
★ China Cry- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1990)
★ Various Artists - Disco Fox, Vol. 4 (1997)
★ George Duke - Best of George Duke: The Elektra... (1997) Vocals
★ Oleta Adams - Very Best of Oleta Adams (1998) Vocals (bckgr)
★ Stormbringer- I Am Your Angel (2001)
★ DJ Bobo - Planet Colors (2001) Vocal Arrangement, Vocal Recording
★ DJ Bobo - Celebration (2002) Engineer, Vocal Arrangement
★ DJ Bobo - Celebration [Limited Edition] (2002) Engineer, Vocal Arrangement
★ Disco Brothers Forever My Love (2002)
★ Morning Musume Our Youth 1.2.3. (2002)
★ Various Artists - Gay Happening Vol. 12 (2006) Vocals
★ - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [AJM Records] (2007)
Cara's Songs Appear On
★ Richard Clayderman - Cinema Passion, Vol. 1 / Remembering the Movies
★ DJ Bobo - Planet Colors
★ Anna Fegi - Every Step of the Way
★ Ilona Irvine - Sweet Memory
★ Starsound Orchestra - Best TV, Movie & Broadway Themes
★ Tokahits - Tokahits
★ Original Soundtrack - Flashdance [Original Soundtrack] / Full Monty [Original Soundtrack]
Filmography
★ ''Aaron Loves Angela'' (1975)
★ ''Apple Pie'' (1976)
★ ''Sparkle'' (1976)
★ '' (1980) (short subject)
★ ''Fame'' (1980)
★ ''Killing 'em Softly'' (1982)
★ ''Flashdance'' (1983) (Song only)
★ ''D.C. Cab'' (1983)
★ ''City Heat'' (1984)
★ ''Certain Fury'' (1985)
★ ''Busted Up'' (1986)
★ ''Long Shot'' (1988) (Song only)
★ ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' (1989) (Song only)
★ ''Caged in Paradiso'' (1990)
★ ''China Cry'' (1991) (Song only)
★ ''The Magic Voyage'' (1992) (voice)
★ ''Happily Ever After'' (1993) (voice)
★ ''Snow White and the Magic Mirror'' (1994) (voice) (direct-to-video)
★ '' (2007) (Song only)
Television Work
★ ''Love of Life'' (cast member from 1970-1971)
★ ''The Electric Company'' (cast member from 1971-1972)
★ ''What's Happening'' sea.2, ep.1 "Rerun Gets Married" (1978)
★ '' (1979) (miniseries)
★ '' (1980)
★ ''Sister, Sister'' (1982)
★ '' (1983)
★ ''Bustin' Loose'' (1987)
★ ''Gabriel's Fire'' (1991)
See also
★ Flashdance... What a Feeling
★ List of famous Puerto Ricans
★ List of number-one hits (United States)
★ List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
★ List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
★ List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
External links
★
★ Irene Cara Official Website
★ The Irene Cara Shrine
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