To quote a legendary lyric from her most famous anthem: “I’m gonna live forever — baby, remember my name.”
Irene Cara, the iconic ’80s singer and actress best known for massive soundtrack hits to the films “Flashdance” and “Fame,” has died. She was 63.
The native New Yorker’s publicist Judith Moose announced Cara’s death Saturday morning, saying in a statement she died in her Florida home. The cause of death is unknown and will be released “when more information is available,” she added.
“She was a beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films,” Moose said. “Please share your thoughts and memories of Irene … and know she’ll be smiling from Heaven. She adored her fans.”
She was born Irene Cara Escalera in the Bronx on March 18, 1959, to a Puerto Rican father and Cuban-American mother.
“I don’t mean to sound immodest — but I’d never had any doubt that I’d be successful, nor any fear of success,” the singer-songwriter-actress told Cosmopolitan magazine in 1985. “I was raised as a little goddess who was told she would be a star.”
Cara’s top hits were “Fame” in 1980 and 1983’s “Flashdance … What a Feeling,” the latter of which she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance.
“Flashdance” star Jennifer Beals was among the first of Cara’s colleagues to pay tribute to her talent: “Thank you brilliant Irene for your open heart and your fearless triple threat talent,” Beals, 58, posted to Instagram. “It took a beautiful dreamer to write and perform the soundtracks for those who dare to dream.“
Besides belting the title track in “Fame,” Cara starred in the role of aspiring artist Coco Hernandez, and the song helped…