Beloved “Fame” and “Flashdance” singer Irene Cara reportedly lived like a “recluse” in her final days before her unexpected death on November 25, 2022, say neighbors. The Oscar winner died at her Florida home. Her publicist confirmed on Twitter at the time that the cause of death was “unknown and will be released when information is available.”
Irene Cara was the voice of the 1980s
Cara was well-known by music and movie fans for her work on the Fame and Flashdance soundtracks. She also starred in the 1980 film about student life at New York’s High School of Performing Arts, where Cara played the lead role of Coco Hernandez alongside Debbie Allen, Anne Meara, Judd Nelson, and Barry Miller. Her performance on the soundtrack led to a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and Best Pop Performance of the film’s title song, “Fame.”
Three years after Fame, Cara was tapped to sing the theme song from the 1983 film Flashdance, starring Jennifer Beals. Cara won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Flashdance…What A Feeling,” along with songwriters Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey. The song also won two Grammy awards. Cara was known as an artist as influential as another female singer and songwriter of the decade, Donna Summer.
Cara continued to act and make music into the 1990s. However, she was reportedly blacklisted from the industry after she filed a lawsuit in 1985 against a record executive, Al Coury, and a firm of his, Network Records, wrote The New York Times.
Cara sued Coury for $10 million. She accused him of exploiting her trust and withholding royalties from the Flashdance soundtrack and her first two solo records. The singer eventually settled for $1.5M. She told People Magazine of the lawsuit, “I’ll never be that trusting again,” she says, “believing accountants and lawyers have my best interests at heart.”
Irene Cara lived like a ‘recluse’ in her final days, say, neighbors
Cara lived out the final years of her life in a home in Largo, Florida. The entertainer reportedly kept to herself, claimed neighbors who spoke to The New York Post.
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“She was a recluse; she didn’t talk to anyone,” Roseann Nolan, who lived across the street from Cara, said in a statement to The New York Post. “I didn’t even know it was her living there until a few years ago. It was the best-kept secret ever.”
Cara kept to herself and lived quietly in her home, preferring to refrain from participating in activities with her neighbors. The singer reportedly fiercely guarded her privacy and didn’t invite anyone into her home to socialize.
The singer’s manager and publicist said she had been trying to revive her career ahead of her death
This is the absolute worst part of being a publicist. I can’t believe I’ve had to write this, let alone release the news. Please share your thoughts and memories of Irene. I’ll be reading each and every one of them and know she’ll be smiling from Heaven. She adored her fans. – JM pic.twitter.com/TsC5BwZ3fh
— Irene Cara (@Irene_Cara) November 26, 2022
Cara’s representative, Judith Moose, and manager Betty McCormick told The New York Post that the singer had been trying to revive her career in recent months. McCormick stated that neither drugs nor alcohol played a part in Cara’s death.
However, she did reveal that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had been difficult for Cara. “She was very afraid of getting the [COVID] virus,” McCormick said to The Post. “She struggled during that period.”
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