Irene Cara Escalera was born 63 years ago in The Bronx, New York, USA and is divorced with no children. She sings and writes songs, is a dancer as well as an actress.
At the age of 5, she started taking dancing, acting and music lessons. This led her to commence her career by appearing in various TV and theatrical shows singing and dancing as well as regularly participating in an educational programme way back in the 70’s.
The movie ‘Fame’, released in 1980, was a huge success for Irene. She had originally been chosen to perform as a dancer, however, when the producers heard her voice, they decided otherwise and matter of factly, she ended up singing both songs found in the movie: ‘Fame’ and ‘Out here on my Own’. ‘Fame’ peaked to No 1 in several hit parades worldwide.
Irene did appear in a few more movies in the following years, however, it was in 1983 that she reached the top in her career with the song ‘Flashdance…what a Feeling’, which was written for the movie ‘Flashdance’. This was also a number one hit in several countries. Additionally, Irene was honoured with various awards for this song.
She continued releasing songs and formed a band ‘Hot Caramel’ in 1999, with whom she still performs to this day.