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Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

“Fame” Singer Irene Cara Dies at 63


Sun 27 Nov 2022 | 07:23 PM
Irene Cara
Irene Cara
Omnia Ahmed

Irene Cara, an American singer-actress best known for title tracks from the 1980s movies “Fame” and “Flashdance”, passed away at the age of 63 years old.

Cara died at her home in Florida, her publicist, Judith Moose, announced the news on Saturday. The cause of death was "currently unknown."

"Irene's family has requested privacy as they process their grief," Moose wrote. "She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films."

In another statement on Twitter, Moose mentioned that she and Cara had been working on "amazing projects that would have made her and her fans incredibly happy."

"Her manager and I will finish them," Moose said. "She'd want that."

The star was born into a working-class Puerto Rican and Cuban family in the Bronx neighbourhood of New York City. The 1980 movie “Fame” launched Cara to stardom. She sang on the title track that was nominated for an Academy Award for best original song.

Fame co-star Laura Dean Koch remembered Cara as "a dynamo who could sing, dance, and act, the definition of a triple threat. Irene was a role model and someone I aspired to be like."

Broadway conductor and radio host Seth Rudetsky says watching Cara on screen as a kid helped shape his career ambitions.

"Irene Cara represented making it in the arts and gave us so much excitement and hope and enthusiasm to pursue the arts," Rudetsky affirmed.