FLORIDA (CelebrityAccess) – Actress and singer Irene Cara, a Grammy and Oscar winner, best known for her theme songs from Fame and Flashdance, has died. Her publicist, Judith Moose, confirmed the news that she passed away in her Florida home. A cause of death has not been released. She was 63.
Moose wrote on Cara’s social media account today (November 26) that her cause of death was “currently unknown.” Moose continued, “Irene’s family has requested privacy as they process their grief. She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films.”
Born in the Bronx neighborhood of NYC, she began as a child actor with a regular stint on the 70s TV show, The Electric Company. It was the movie Fame that catapulted Cara into stardom. She played Coco Hernande in the musical about New York’s High School for the Performing Arts. She sang the title track that was nominated for an Academy Award for best original song, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. Three years later, Cara accepted an Oscar for best original song for “Flashdance … What a Feeling,” along with the songwriting team of Flashdance, the movie in 1983.
She had other hits, including “Why Me” and “Breakdance.” She also acted in movies such as City Heat with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood and Certain Fury with Tatum O’Neal.
Moose posted on Twitter that she 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.”
No memorial plans have been released.
