"Irene
Cara Presents Hot Caramel is the best album that I have heard. It is a sonic,
musical and lyrical masterpiece." -Bob Davis, Programmer for the R&B and
Blues channel on Radio.com
Irene Cara is best known
as a beloved triple threat icon and one of the most awarded artists of her
generation. Born in 1962 in New York City, she first dazzled audiences at the
tender age of five performing with her father’s mambo band. She made her first
album at the age of eight in Spanish for the Latin music market before
transitioning to the American entertainment industry co-starring in the
original Sesame Street spin off, “The Electric Company” which starred a
legendary cast namely Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman.
Miss Cara was featured in
various off and on Broadway productions as well as television movies starring
opposite such notable stars as Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Telly Savalas
and a guest spot on the popular sitcom, “What’s Happening”. Her first starring
role in a film where she played the title role was “Aaron Loves Angela”. It was
a small budget type “Romeo and Juliet” love story of two youngsters living in
the hood and was directed by Gordon Parks Jr, the son of the legendary African
American pioneer and director, Gordon Parks Sr. with music by Jose Feliciano.
She then landed the title role of the original 1976 classic “Sparkle” while she
was still in junior high school. This was her first Hollywood movie and
featured such illuminous stars as Philip Michael Thomas, Lonette McKee and Mary
Alice with music by the late great Curtis Mayfield. Long before ‘Dream
Girls” this film told the story of three sisters from Harlem during the 1950’s
and their struggle for fame and success as a singing group. The critics and
reviewers praised Irene’s performance calling her “the classic ingénue”. It has
remained such a beloved film among black audiences that it was recently remade
by the late Whitney Houston.
During her teens she was
honored to have been cast in the ground breaking and Emmy award winning mini-
series “Roots, The Next Generation” playing the role of Alex Haley’s mother
from adolescence through adulthood. This series was the continuation of “Roots”
which pioneered the mini-series genre for television.
While growing up in New
York City, she worked as a background vocalist when she wasn’t acting for such
great recording artist as Evelyn Champagne King, Vicki Sue Robinson and Lou
Reed. It was during her breakout role in the original acclaimed 1980 dramatic
musical ‘Fame” that she became a recording artist in her own right. The Alan
Parker hit movie and platinum selling soundtrack featured Miss Cara’s vocals on
mostly all of the main songs from the film notably the title song, “Fame” and
“Out Here on My Own” which made Oscar history by being the first time two songs
from the same movie were nominated for an Oscar. She also garnered a Golden
Globe nomination for best supporting actress for her performance in the film.
The song “Fame” went on to win on Oscar night and went to number 3 on the
Billboard Charts. Then came the popular film “Flash dance” in 1983. Although
Miss Cara was not in the film, she sang and co-wrote the theme song “Flash
dance, What a Feeling”. This would become her biggest hit with the soundtrack
going multi-platinum and the single going to number one around the globe. The
song “Flash dance” garnered her two Grammys awards including best pop female
vocalist, a Golden Globe award and an Academy Award for best original song in a
movie. She would become the first bi-racial Hispanic to win in any category and
the youngest recipient to win an Oscar as a songwriter.
Since then Miss Cara has
won countless awards for her contribution to the performing arts from a
People’s Choice award, and Obie award for her theatre work as a child, an Image
award, and most recently a Citation of Merit by the president of the borough of
the Bronx and an induction to the Bronx Walk of Fame where they named a street
after her. Her solo effort “What a Feeling” produced two top ten hits with ‘Why
Me” and’ Break dance’ but her third solo effort “Carasmatic” was plagued by an
ongoing lawsuit against her original record label she was handed over to by the
“Fame” film producers. Being that Miss Cara had two of the biggest hits of that
decade and was not receiving her royalties, she had no other recourse but to
file a lawsuit for monies owed her. “Carasmatic” was Irene’s attempt to finally
be on a record label of her choice and was assured that the new label would
stand by her through the lawsuit and promote this new effort. Unfortunately
they reneged on their promise, pulled the single which was out for barely a
week and did not release or promote the album. It would be thirteen years after
her 80’s hits before she would receive any royalties due her but Miss Cara did
win her lawsuit and now owns the masters of “Carasmatic”
She would go on to co-star
in movies such as “City Heat” with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood in which
she again wrote the theme song sung by jazz legend Joe Williams. She starred as
Myrlie Evers in the PBS television movie,” For Us The Living” opposite Howard
Rollins JR, about the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. She has toured
through-out Asia, Europe, Australia and Latin America and in 2001, she teamed
up with Germany’s star rapper, DJ BoBo for a re-make of “Flash dance” “ which
went to number one in seventeen European countries.
She has formed her own
music production company and is currently promoting a double set CD featuring
female musicians and singers called “Hot Caramel” as an independent artist. Her
main influences are Carol King, Gladys Knight and Valerie Simpson.
IRENECARA.COM