The musician attached her name to two huge hits, linked to films containing the dreams of glory of American youth in the post-disco years.
by Bruno Lesprit
There are the “One-Hit Wonders”, these without tomorrow successes that interpreters have been able to know forever associated with a single song. Dead on November 25 in Miami (Florida) at the age of 63, the American singer Irene Cara will at least double the bet, since her name is attached to two huge tubes, linked to films telling more or less the same story : artistic aspirations and dreams of glory of American youth in post-disco years.
In Fame (1980), directed by Alan Parker, Irene Cara played the first role, that of Coco Hernandez, a student so good that she was accepted in the three departments (dramatic art, music and dance) of the High New York School of Performing Arts. And she interpreted the title song. She only contented herself with singing for Flashdance (1983), by Adrian Lyne, evocation of a worker of the steelworks of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), dancer in the evening, this time embodied on the screen by Jennifer Beals. Composed by the famous Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, Flashdance… What a feeling made a misfortune worldwide, number 1 in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Australia or Japan.
Born on March 18, 1959, this native of the Bronx district in New York, was in any case completely credible in the skin of Coco Hernandez for Fame. Of Puerto Rican origin by his father and Cuban by his mother, Irene Cara spoke and sang in Spanish, and had trained in comedy as in dance. She tried herself at everything from an early age, songs from the age of 8 for the Latin market, musicals with small roles on Broadway, but also television (the educational program The Electric Company then the Roots series: The Next Generations and Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones). In 1976, here she is already at the top of the poster for the musical film Sparkle, by Sam O’Steen, more or less inspired by the history of the vocal group The Supreme. It will be a scathing failure despite a soundtrack entrusted to the great Curtis Mayfield.
Oscar and Golden Globe
She takes her revenge with Fame. More than her acting talent, we retain her interpretations from two songs from the soundtrack which will be rare, both in racing for the Oscars as the best original song. Fame, the song, will not surprise the detriment of Out here on my own. The music for the film was composed by Michael Gore, a little brother of the successful singer Lesley Gore, solicited by Alan Parker after the refusals of Giorgio Moroder (who had worked with him for Midnight Express) and Jeff Lynne, the demiurge d ‘Electric Light Orchestra. Gore was largely inspired by the disco creations of Moroder for Donna Summer. And it is probably no coincidence that the rehearsals of the dancers for the film were made on the rhythm of Hot Stuff.
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