Showtune Sunday: All About Irene Cara…

So sad about the passing of Irene Cara who was just 63.

She’s best-known, of course, for the massive hits Fame and Flashdance… What a Feeling as well as several other hits. My favorite of all is the beautiful ballad Out Here on My Own from Fame.

Cara won a Grammy for Pop Vocal Performance and an Oscar for co-writing Flashdance. The success of that song was bittersweet because she had to sue for decent royalties and felt that that got her blackballed in show business. Such a pity because she was such a talented singer and actress who was in Roots: The Next Generation and was a regular on The Electric Company and the daytime soap Love of Life. Her movie roles included Sparkle, City Heat, DC Cab, Certain Fury, Killing ‘em Softly, and Sister, Sister.

Cara appeared in on- and off-Broadway theatrical shows including the musicals Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Me Nobody Knows (which won an Obie Award), Maggie Flynn opposite Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, and Via Galactica with Raúl Juliá.

She will never be forgotten!