Singer and actress Irene Cara, April 2007 (Photo: GettyImages, Chad Buchanan)
American singer and actress Irene Cara, winner of the Grammy and Oscar awards, died yesterday (Friday) at her home in Florida.
The cause of death has not been released.
She was 63 years old when she died.
Cara is known for playing the main character of Coco from the movie "Fame", for performing the theme song of the movie, the hit "Out Here on My Own" from the same movie, as well as singing and co-writing the hit "Flashdance... What a Feeling" from The movie "Flashdance".
Cara was born in New York in March 1959, the daughter of a Puerto Rican father who worked as a saxophonist and a Cuban American mother who worked as a theater usher.
She learned to play the piano by ear and later in her childhood she regularly studied music, acting and dancing.
Following her singing, already in her youth she appeared on television on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show", and appeared in a big tribute performance to jazzman Duke Ellington alongside Stevie Wonder and others.
She acted in several Broadway plays, mini-series and in 1976 played in the film musical drama "Sparkle".
Her breakthrough was in 1980, in the successful film "Fame" directed by Alan Parker, in which she played one of the primary characters - Coco Hernánez, which indeed brought her to fame.
Cara was initially cast in the more modest role of one of the dancers but after the producers and screenwriter heard her sing they rewrote the role of Coco.
She sang under her character the theme song of the film, "Fame", which became a huge hit, and another song from the film "Out Here on My Own" which also became a hit.
These songs helped make the film's soundtrack album a huge sales success.
Later, in the Oscar competition that year, it was the first time that two songs from the same film were nominated in the same category, and both were performed by the same singer.
Therefore, Cara got to be one of the few singers at the Oscars who performed at the ceremony with more than one song.
It was the song "Fame" that won the Oscar that year.
Cara was nominated in 1980 for both the Grammy in two categories and the Golden Globe.
After it was decided to turn the movie "Fame" into a TV series,
Kara was offered to return to the role of Coco in the series as well but she declined to focus on her music career.
In the televised version, Erica Gimple plays the role, and Cara recorded a miss here because the series also became a great success.
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In 1981, she was chosen to star in the sitcom bearing her name, "Irene", on NBC, but after the pilot aired, the network decided to give up a full season.
After several other roles in television and film, Kara's musical career took another leap in 1983 when she sang and co-wrote the hit "Flashdance... What a Feeling", the theme song of the movie "Flashdance".
Following the success of the song, Cara won an Oscar again in 1983, and the following year she won a Grammy in the category of performance of a pop song by a woman, and the following year she also won a Golden Globe in the category of best song.
The song "What a Feeling" was re-recorded by Kara twice - in 1997 for the movie "Go to the End", and in 2002 as a duet with the Swedish artist DJ Bobo.
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