Romeo irene cara biography
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Black Film Archive by Maya S. Cade
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Will “somebody, anybody sing a Black girl’s song,” Ntozake Shange offers in her formative choreopoem, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide.” For generations of Black girls, Irene Cara answered the evolving call to sing a Black girl’s song.
Irene Cara Escalera (b. March 18, 1959, d. November 25, 2022) was first widely recognized for singing the Black girl’s song when she rose to international stardom for her breakout role in “Fame” (1980). Performing the Oscar-winning, jubilant title track and representing Black girls destined to make something out of nothing, Cara played Coco Hernandez in the film about the competitive nature of young stardom on the battleground of a performing arts high school. In a character that reflected Cara’s reality, Coco was an Afro-Latina bur
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The death of Irene Cara and the broken promise
As I walked down the dark alley towards the glowing light, the opening bridge of the song called to me. “Baby, look at me and tell me what you see, You ain’t seen the best of me yet, Give me time, I’ll man you forget all the rest, I got more in me…”
The movie “Fame” had just komma out and its anthem theme song was HOT. The glowing light that night was a gay disco, tucked away from heterosexual view, while gay bashers circled in trucks a few blocks away. That safe haven in the dark alley allowed me, a 20-year old ungdom, a path out of the closet in which I emotionally and sexually had residence. To me, the words of the song “Fame,” and its overwhelming delivery, was my inner drive and conviction that I could be me, and my own personal superstar.
The young woman delivering the song was barely an adult herself. Irene Cara had been a child performer and was now breaking into the fame she was singing about. S
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Albeit Irene Cara does not need any introduction, permit us to refresh your memory by presenting a summary of her professional accomplishments. Irene T. Escalera was born and raised in New York, more specifically in the South Bronx to a family of five children (two brothers and two sisters). Mrs. Cara is the youngest of the siblings. She was nicknamed ‘Carrot’ because she came to this earth with red hair. Her mother, Louise Cara, is Cuban-American and her late father, Gaspar Cara (who died in 1994), was Puerto-Rican. He was part of a big merengue grupp in the 50s. According to Mrs. Cara, he brought merengue to the U.S. The grupp had the first hit on the top 40 Latin chart at the time. Cara’s mother is a retired cashier and her deceased father was a professional saxophone player.
At the age of 3, Irene Cara became one of five finalists for the "Little Miss America" pageant. She learned to play the piano at age 4 bygd ear and later she was able to use the keyboard. Since the age