Irene could sing, dance and act. Not only that, but she was very pretty too. It seems like she could have been a big star, but it just never happened for her.
Fame costs.
shareIn addition, she was bilingual.. I think she refused to play their corrupt games. Very sad,she was talented. I never saw her dance.
sharei wondered about this before she died.
shareSHE CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN BLACKBALLED BY THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY OVER AN UNPAID EARNINGS LAWSUIT AGAINST HER LABEL IN THE 80S. NOEMOJI
sharehttps://www.datalounge.com/thread/32074667-breaking-irene-cara-dead-at-62.
Irene Cara endured a series of career setbacks due to personal and professional obstacles throughout the 1980s. The culmination of these issues led to her fleeing the spotlight while feeling completely disenchanted with the entertainment industry, music in particular. Some of these problems and missteps include.share
The Lawsuit - The biggest setback for Cara was a lawsuit against her record label, Network Records, and her management team, Al Coury Inc. She sued them for $10 million in unpaid royalties on her hit songs . It took years to reach a settlement, and during that time she spent all of the little money she had on lawyer fees, leaving her broke. The suit slowed her music career to a halt since she wasn’t recording any new material. Though she ultimately won $1.5 million from the lawsuit, she may have lost more than she gained from overall opportunity cost.
Tarnished Reputation - Cara has claimed in interviews that she was blacklisted in the music industry. The word around town was that she was difficult to work with, so nobody wanted to hire or collaborate with her. She claims this was related to the lawsuit.
Poor Movie Choices - People often forget that Irene Cara not only performed two of the key songs in soundtrack of the movie Fame, but she also played Coco Hernandez in the movie. And she was really good: so good that she earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress (she lost to Sissy Spacek). But she also starred in over a dozen other roles after this performance. She never found the same level of success, and progressively took smaller and smaller roles, and eventually only got work as a voice actor. Her acting career faltered, and she also didn’t get any juicy soundtrack songs, which leads to…
Continued:
Compartmentalized Music Success - Cara failed to leverage her success on movie soundtracks into her own personal songs and albums. Her main studio albums - 1982’s Anyone Can See and 1983’s What a Feeling - didn’t give fans much of what they wanted, so despite having massive commercial success for soundtrack songs “Flashdance… What A Feeling,” “Fame” and “Out Here On My Own,” they didn’t translate commercial success for her two studio album projects. Her third album, Carasmatic, was shelved by Elektra Records. When it was finally released, it was a critical and commercial failure (and it arrived years after it her peak time, so it already faced an uphill battle).
Personal issues - She downplays this, but she was a known coke user, possibly connected to the stress of her case. She also divorced her husband at an already tumultuous time in her life.
The above-mentioned points did not completely ruin her career. After her personal and professional downfall in Hollywood, she started recording and performing overseas, and found some success. She also did some stage work. Still, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been if she had better luck.
by Anonymous reply 30 November 26, 2022 3:17 PM
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Irene-Caras-career-peter-out-after-Flashdance
Some good responses in the first post above. I didn't know she used coke. It seems like she caused too many waves and was probably shut out or burned herself out and walked away.