Irene Cara, award-winning 80s pop icon, dies at 63

Singer and actress Irene Cara, an Oscar and Grammy winner best known for the theme songs of “Fame” and “Flashdance” in the early ’80s, has died, her publicist announced. She was 63.

Cara died at her Florida home. A cause of death was not revealed.

Statement on Irene Cara’s death

“Please share your thoughts and memories of Irene,” Judith Moose said in a tweet announcing the singer’s death. “I’ll be reading each and every one of them and know she’ll be smiling from Heaven. She adored her fans.

“She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”

Career

Cara started her career as a youth, appearing on TV’s “Electric Company” and as a teen in the movies “Aaron Loves Angela” and “Sparkle.”

Her breakthrough came when she played Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical “Fame,” about New York’s High School for the Performing Arts. She had a hit record with that movie’s title song, and another with the song “Out Here on My Own.” She was nominated for a Golden Globe and two Grammys that year.

Three years later, Cara co-wrote the lyrics for “Flashdance… What a Feeling,” another radio hit for which she received an Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

During her career, she had a few other hits, including “Why Me” and “Breakdance.” She also acted in movies such as “City Heat” with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood, “D.C. Cab” with Mr. T and “Certain Fury” with Tatum O’Neal.