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Overview. Born. March 18, 1959 · Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. Died. November 25, 2022 · Largo, Florida, USA (arteriosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease) Birth name. Irene Cara Escalera. Height. 5′ 4″ (1.63 m) Mini Bio.
- March 18, 1959
- November 25, 2022
Oct 26, 2023 · Irene Cara was born on March 18, 1959, in The Bronx, New York, to parents Gaspar Cara and Louise Escalera. Her father, Gaspar, was a factory worker and musician of Cuban descent, who played the piano and instilled a love for music in his daughter from a young age. Her mother, Louise, was of Puerto Rican descent and moved to New York from Florida.
Nov 26, 2022 · Irene Cara was an American singer and actress. Cara was born in New York City’s Bronx to Gaspar Cara and Louise Cara. Her father, Gaspar Escalera, was a Puerto Rican factory worker and retired saxophonist, and her mother, Louise, was a Cuban-American movie theater usher.
May 1, 2023 · Her mother, Louise Escalera, worked as a movie theater usher. The actress grew up with two sisters and two brothers, all of whom were likely exposed to their parents’ love for music and the arts. Despite her parents’ work in different fields, her upbringing was filled with music and performance. A young picture of Irene Cara (Source: RollingStone)
- Overview
- Early life in show business
- Fame, Flashdance, and pop music stardom
Irene Cara (born March 18, 1959, Bronx, New York, U.S.—died November 25, 2022, Largo, Florida) American singer-songwriter and actress who achieved popular and critical acclaim for her performance in the musical film Fame (1980) and for her recording of the film’s title song. She is also known for her contributions to the soundtrack for the blockbus...
Irene Cara Escalera was born in the Bronx, New York, the youngest child of Gaspar Escalera, who was a saxophonist and a factory worker, and Louise Escalera, who worked as a cashier. Escalera grew up in a close-knit musical family and was groomed for show business as a child. She could play the piano by ear at age five. At age seven she performed on Spanish-language television, and by age nine she had made her Broadway debut in the musical Maggie Flynn (1968). Over the next few years she auditioned constantly and worked often. She was the youngest performer in “Sold on Soul!,” a tribute concert for jazz composer Duke Ellington held at Madison Square Garden that featured musical luminaries Sammy Davis, Jr., Stevie Wonder, and Roberta Flack.
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Cara began the 1970s as a cast member of the Broadway musical The Me Nobody Knows (1970), and she performed on the educational television series The Electric Company (1971–72) alongside actors Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman. In 1975 she starred in director Gordon Parks, Jr.’s, drama Aaron Loves Angela, a modern film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in New York City. She went on to star in the title role of the musical drama Sparkle (1976), which has become a cult classic in the years since its release. In 1978 she was cast in the original Off-Off-Broadway production of Ain’t Misbehavin’, followed by a featured role the next year in the television miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979).
Cara’s portrayal of the intense, ambitious singer-actress Coco Hernandez in the movie Fame (1980), along with her recording of the film’s hit title song, launched her into stardom. The high-energy pop anthem “Fame” soared to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the film’s soundtrack album spawned another top-selling single for Cara, “Out Here on My Own.” She remained busy in the early 1980s, performing for U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and appearing as Dorothy in the stage musical The Wiz (1980).
In 1982 Cara released the album Anyone Can See, which includes many of her own compositions. Although the album failed to achieve significant commercial success, it showcased her talents as a songwriter and laid the groundwork for her collaboration on the Flashdance soundtrack. In 1983 she teamed up with producers Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey to compose the film’s joyful theme song “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remained there for six weeks. Later that year she released her most popular album, What a Feelin’, featuring “Flashdance…What a Feeling” and the hit song “Breakdance,” which peaked at number 8 on the Hot 100. In 1984 she won a Grammy Award for best female pop vocal performance for “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” and she shared an Academy Award with Moroder and Forsey for best original song.
Cara appears as herself in the comedy film D.C. Cab (1983), and she collaborated with Moroder and music producer Pete Bellotte to write “The Dream (Hold on to Your Dream),” which appears on the film’s soundtrack. In 1984 she performed alongside Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds in the crime-comedy City Heat and cowrote the film’s title song, which was performed by jazz singer Joe Williams. In 1985 she met stuntman Conrad Palmisano while performing in the action film Certain Fury, and they started a romantic relationship. The couple married in 1986 and divorced in 1991. Her 1987 album Carasmatic was not initially released in the United States because of legal issues with Network Records, her former record label, and it was released only in limited quantities in the United Kingdom. Cara performed sporadically after the peak of her popularity in the early to mid-1980s. She voiced the character of Snow White in the animated musical film Happily Ever After (1989), and she toured in a 1993 revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Cara and her band Hot Caramel released the double album Irene Cara Presents Hot Caramel in 2011. She died of cardiovascular disease in 2022 at age 63.
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Apr 28, 2023 · Irene Cara Birth, Parents. Irene Cara was born Irene Cara Escalera on March 18, 1959. Her parents raised her in the Bronx, New York City. Cara was the youngest of five children. The late songwriter had two sisters and two brothers. Speaking of her father, Gaspar, he was also a steel factory worker in addition to being a retired saxophonist ...
Nov 29, 2022 · Even at 8 years old, Cara — born Irene Escalera to a Cuban mother and Afro-Puerto Rican father — brought her full self to the stage, setting the tone for a career that would proudly embrace...
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