“We have a tendency in this country that when we say Black it automatically means Black Americans. But that's a big mistake, and that keeps us divided. There are Blacks all over this entire world-even in Africa.” -Irene Cara

She probably didnt sleep around and the industry banned her.

Saying a woman is difficult to work with is code for she can't be controlled, mistreated, or lying on her back for some producer with power. 💐🕊

There’s ALOT of colorism still in the Hispanic / Latin / Spanish speaking communities! 😩😞

She was different and wouldnt compromise with the "industry" standards. We miss you Irene Cara..RIP Queen.

Racism comes in many colors and nationalities. It is extremely tiresome. Everyone should have just been focused on her TALENT.

I'm glad she continued to fight for her royalties. Took ten years but she won a million dollar settlement. But she deserves much more

What a true gem we lost. REST IN POWER QUEEN IRENE.

I cried when Irene Cara passed. "Flashdance (What a Feeling" is one of my favorite songs 💐🌸🌹🌼

She was so beautiful and talented. RIP Irene

My heart broke when I heard Irene Cara passed away. She was SO talented in an industry in the 70/80s that was truly ruled by the old boys club. If you look at any picture of her, she is always smiling and glowing! Her music and talent will always live on in our hearts.

She was a beautiful woman of color. Period!

Hearing Irene makes me want to get the girls together, wear off shoulder sweatshirts and go to the gym and lift dumbbells. Still one of my favorite movies. ❤

Just because you’re not African American doesn’t mean you’re not black it’s just a different history. Growing up my family always called me sparkle ❤ my mom is half Puerto Rico and she is a black women our dna comes back majority Nigerian

Yes black Hispanic are not acknowledge in the Hispanic community. There are lots of actors who are great actors and the Black American community acknowledges their talent, at the end of the day the world sees you as black and there is nothing wrong with that I think is wonderful. Irene Open doors for Black African American and also Black Hispanic American and I think that is wonderful! 💐🌹🌺🌷🌸💮🏵️🌻🌼

I grew up loving her! She was such a triple threat. (Singer, dancer and actor) And the industry refused to pay her worth. She stood up for what was right back in the 80's and they made her suffer for it!!! I truly miss this beautiful talent!💐💐💐

I cried when she passed. Hollywood was and is a crazy lifestyle. That beautiful woman probably did not bend for them. I can careless what they thought about her getting an award. She was an actress, she earned it and she repped women. RIP QUEEN 💐🌺🌸

I also was curious after Fame why I never heard too much about her. I used to love watching the show Fame when I was little, I'm 49. I remember when Debbie Allen was on the show Fame. I remember watching Flashdance.

Irene was the real deal, a remarkable talent and beauty. Truly underrated. She should have been a bigger star.

*_🎶Baby, look at me and tell me what you see. You ain't seen the best of me yet. Give me time, I'll make you forget the rest. I've got more in me, and you can set it free. I can catch the moon in my hand. Don't you know who I am? Remember my name!...🎶_* I ❤️ Irene Cara! RIP. 💐🌹🌷🌺🌻🌼💐

She was so talented. I longed to go to a school like Fame. My favorite song of hers is Out Here On My Own. Once again the industry strikes again. May she rest in peace💐⚘💖💞💕🕊

Flash dance was a Huge HIT I was in jr high & we loved all the dancing music & Irene . 🌹🌷 and we didn’t care if she was black or afo Latina.. all we saw was a great dancer& singer. & a great movie!! ❤️

Thanks for covering Irene!! But "a little bit of colorism?" Even to this day, the intra-racism in that community is off the chain. You know their saying...improve the race and it's meaning. I remember her on The Electric Co. However, Irene was Afro-Latina. Period. She broke ground but during that time if you wanted to work you had to basically pick a group for lack of decent opportunities from either side in the industry. She did consider herself "Blk." 🌹🌷🌸🌸🌺🌺

Black or white, all women need women like this to look up to. Strong minded, bold, having high standards, and pride in herself. Beautiful, talented lady. Thanks for telling her story.

Ms. Irene was a beautiful Afro-Latina and an excellent artist. My favorite role of hers was as Sparkle the original and best 💐😍✨️

SPARKLE!!!! I absolutely LOVE Irene Cara!!!!! Gonna go watch Fame in her honor!!!❤❤❤🌹🥀🥀🥀🌹

I miss her! She was way underrated. ❤ She deserved way more flowers than she got. 💐 🌹 🌸 🏵 🌼 💐 🌹 🌸 🏵 🌼 💐 🌹 🌸 🏵 🌼 💐 🌹 🌸 🏵 🌼 💐 🌹 🌸 🏵 🌼 💐 🌹 🌸 🏵 🌼 💐 🌹

Irene Cara was so beautiful and talented. Another one who didn't receive her flowers she deserved before she passed away. R.I.P.❤❤❤

Irene Cara was an american idol in the 80’s. She deserved every award she received because she was a hard worker and because she was so talented. It’s a shame that she was cancelled, because she was fighting for her own money and this hasn’t changed a bit nowadays. Wow it’s so sad how her career ended. 💐💐💐💐💐💐💐

Irene Cara is so beautiful & Very Talented. What did you expect from Hollywood? Look at the mess that Hollywood & Jennifer Lopez, P Diddy & Clive Davis & J-Z including Ellen DeGeneres have Done!!!! Plus so many other Uber Rich People.

I met her a few years before she passed, and she was looking and just an amazing person. We sat down and had a conversation which loves you girl she was amazing still is.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

🌺🌸🌼🌻🌼🌺🌸🌼🌺🌸 I never saw her as black or latin, I just saw her as talented!

Clicked on this IMMEDIATELY! Irene Cara was/is one of my FAVORITES. So beautiful. So TALENTED! I still own multiple movies featuring her songs and great acting. I haven't seen Sparkle or Fame since.... My heart STILL hurts. May Miss Cara rest in paradise! 💐😔🙏🏾❤️🕊️

"What A Feeling" is a God-given song. It lifts your spirit to another level. You can feel it!"The opening portion was from her movie SPARKLE from the 70s.

Irene was a multitalented entertainer. She was beautiful and could sing. She wrote two back to back monster hits of the 1980’s that shot to number one; Fame & What a Feeling. Her unique career in film, music, and television was a rarity. The fixation on race is really daunting. Irene was a multifaceted entertainer who unfortunately was black balled and had to travel to Europe later in her career to sustain her livelihood.

Irene Cara had the beautiful hue of the indigenous people of Puerto Rico just as some of us have it from here! I grew up admiring Irene Cara and never thought about her ethnicity. Thank You for you videos Karine Alourde!

What a voice! Irene Cara is one of the 80's pop Star, she will be always remembered!

Thanks for making this vid!!! I always wondered why Irene disappeared 😕. I'm a multi-ethnic blk woman. Yes, that's a thing. I'm Latina, Black and Caucasian. More than one thing can be true at once. How can you take away roles from a group you're still in??? White presenting Latinas get to play the roles of Hispanics, it's just how it goes. Colorism exists in every race and ethnicity; darker=bad, less than, and that's still happening now. Irene could've been Diana Ross and Beyonce before Beyonce!!! She could sing, dance, AND act. She was an entire triple threat! This just goes to show you that talent is NOT enough to be a permanent star in the entertainment industry. You only can by doing unsavory things behind the scenes. Check out Karine's other vids if you don't believe that yet 😐...

Wow she was georgous! I truly believe it was jealousy surrounding her career was hindered by so many negative people that was not in her best interest. I didn't know it was her that made that song too. May she rest in peace she definitely deserve her flowers 💐

Irene was so beautiful and talented. I loved her growing up. Over the years, I used to wonder what happened to her and why she wasn't working. Thank you, Karine, for covering her.

I had no idea she sung all of these amazing songs. Thanks for sharing.

I loved her..she was brilliant 💐💐💐💐💐💐RIP Irene Cara ❤

Afro Latina representing ❤

I grew up listening to her and luckily for her May she rest in heaven ❤💐💐💐 💐

Thank you so much, Ms. Karine. I love Ms. Irene Cara. I’m going to be honest, the racial divide between Black and Latino runs deep. It had nothing to do with her. People unfortunately like to place people in categories. I’m 100% Nigerian Igbo from both my parents and was born in the United States. I do accept being identified as Black due to growing up as US citizen. There are always be people who will tell me I’m not black or Nigerian enough. Celebrity figures suffer this and then some. Irene Cara was proud of her Latina identity. Afro Latina is a term that should be used if you have both African and Latin roots. It is often used incorrectly and applied to a person who is a Latin with a darker complexion. Racial identity is often controversial and contradictory because it places people in categories that incorrectly describes their cultural identity and heritage.

Can you please do a video on Lonette McKee

So happy you're talking about Irene. She was multi-talented and beautiful no matter her heritage. However, I understand how some black women, especially equally talented actresses who were looked over. But, I blame racism and colorism which has affected communities of color for centuries, and Hollywood, unfortunately mirrors those concepts. Her passing was so sad. She deserved better treatment. Btw, my favorite song is "OUT HERE ON MY OWN". So moving. RIP Irene Cara🌹

Rip Beautiful Queen 💐💐💐💐💐🙏🏾❤🙏🏾❤

I love Irene Cara!!! ❤❤ she was so beautiful and talented.

She was a pure gem..may she rest easy 🕊🤍🌺

She was also very kind. I played drums with her in the Budhist Marching band.

My mom used to get stopped because people thought she was Irene.

RIP Irene..💐🌸🌺🌻🌹🥀

She was one of the best. She was an actress...period!! This should not be about race!!

She was beautiful & talented. May.her gentle soul rest in perfect peace. ❤🌹 🌸 💐.

Oh wow I didn’t even know she passed! I looked up to her when I was a little girl. She always played strong women roles. 💐

In elementary school music class we learned What A Feeling and it was such a vivid memory for ppl in the class. The soundtrack of my life. Thank you for making this video. May she rest in peace and her legacy keep being passed down to the younger generations

My favorite movie role she played was in the original Sparkle, still my fav and I still know all the dance moves 😂. But this was interesting...I always wondered why she didn't receive the credit she deserved and sad what she encountered back then with her identity and colorism is still occurring today . Rest on to this talented beauty

I remember her when her as a child star on THE ELECTRIC COMPANY, when I was young.😊💐💐💐🕊

She was a stunning black woman. People were just jealous of beauty. Nobody bat an eye when Celia Cruz whom was Afro Latina claimed her blackness.

Irene Cara💐almost passed on working with Giorgio Moroder for the “Flashdance” soundtrack because people had been comparing her to Donna Summer, and working with him would have added to it. Moroder was Summer’s producer and sometimes co-writer on some of her huge disco hits. Summer also sued her record company but was able to come to agreement with them. Cara💐and Summer both died at the age of 63.

Oh I have always liked her song "Out Here On My Own". And she sings it with so much feeling so much heart.

Simply beautiful, I still love the old version of "SPARKLE"🌟🌟,May she cont'u to RIHP🕊🌹🌹🌹🌹🕯

What a beautiful talent. Sparkle one of my favorite childhood movies.

She's so beautiful ❤

OMG!!!! No lie, I was LITERALLY thinking about Irene Cara and how I'd love it if you did a video about her, and then BAM!! Karine, you read my mind 😂💖💖 What a Feeling and Love is the Reason are some of my all-time favorite songs!! God bless Ms. Cara, may she rest easy 🙏🏼💜💜

I wanted to be her when I was a little girl 💚💚💚 thank you for covering her story! You are the best!

Loved her in Sparkle and Fame...such a great all around artist.

😢🥀🥀she special. She was moving up it was💔

Irene Cara was more of a caremel tone thats why alot of people including my self thought she was black athough she was latina .she was viewed more so as a black woman .but she was beautiful Rip Irene Cara 🕊 🙏🏼🕊

I’m so sorry to hear about what she went through in her life. Thank you for sharing this information 🥰

I adored Irene Cara! I wanted to be just like her.

I love about Irene she's beautiful ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Irene Cara was a part of my youth. When I moved to London for work years ago, the first theater production I watched was "Fame." I wanted to see if there were differences between the film, the tv series and the theater production when it came to the songs featured. "Anyone Can See" and "Out Here On My Own" were a part of my go to songs during karaoke nights with friends and family. Just recently though, after the pandemic, she replied to us, her fans (I think it was in her YT channel for her music videos) in real time in the comments section when we mentioned how we loved her music and praised her voice, (it is quite difficult to sing her songs in its original key, to high) thanking everyone. We didn't know or expect that she was reading the comments at that time. So, I felt very sad when she passed away. Had to watch and listen to her music video of "Out Here On My Own" as my tribute to her. Such a humble person and a gifted artist. Rest in peace, Ms. Irene Cara. ❤🎉🎉🎉

I thought, and still do think, Ms. Cara was a beautiful, talented woman. R.I.P. Irene Cara...🏵🌹🌺🌸🌷🌼🌻🌺💐

Always the best of the best gets the ish end of the stick...smh...RIP Sister Irene🎉❤

She was black ⚫ bc she probably rejected somebody ( if u know what I mean) singer mya said that's why her career didn't go far.

I need for ppl to start learning about the phrase Black Diaspora......

Beautiful woman! 🌹🌹🪷🌼🌼

💐🌹🌻🌷💐🌼 props to Irene 😍

🌺🌺🌺Great video. I never really focused on whether she was black or Latin., I just loved her in Sparkle.❤

My favorite 😍 lady since 1970s Rip Ms lady

may she rest in peace, I remember her as a little girl, I use to watch her on tv, I loved her voice, I would by her albums because I love to sing as well, I will always remember her, she was such a great light to so many people.

Fame & Flash Dance still make me feel ALIVE! 😃🌺🪻🌼💐

The first time I saw Irene Cara was in Roots the Second Generation. I thought she was so beautiful. Thank you for your story about her 🎉. I would like to hear about the other two women of Sparkle if you haven't done so already. Lonette Mckee was in quite a few movies in the 70's. I don't know much about the other woman Dwan Smith but it would be interesting to learn about her as well.

I fell in love with her the first time I saw her gorgeous and talented rest in peace my queen ❤

Sooo sad …. I admired her from when I was a child growing up in London… I live down the street from where she passed away in Florida and never knew I was that close to her.. ❤🇬🇧🇬🇧💐💐💐R I P beautiful lady!!!

I love how she was able to show off her powerful voice in so many of her movie roles. She sued the big wigs and won. She owned her music. If you’ve noticed they’ve started using her songs in commercials now that she’s passed. 🌸🌸🌸🌸

Happy Heavenly Birthday Irene 🌸🌸🌸

I Miss seeing her her voice was wonderful she was just Beautiful, I miss her and her beauty was just all the was live RIP Irene you are missed❤🙏🏾🙂

Remember..Remember..FAME!!!!! Oh I’m getting the chills. I used to yell that part out loud as a kid 😊

🎉🎉🎉🎉Another good product! Thank you, as always😊

💐💐💐🕯As a child, "Fame" was the go-to. But with age, "Out Here On My Own," is an all hitter. I sang along to "What A feeling" aisle to aisle at the supermarket tonight when it came on. 😂😂

R.i p... I love you, Irene🎉🎉

I do understand wanting your ethnicity to be respected and acknowledging roots at the same time if she was Afro-Lantina yes ideally she would have been acknowledged that way. It’s just a stop on the boat or acknowledging what empire we were colonized by… if it’s looked at any other way it’s short sighted

Thank you for covering this lovely gem of a human being. She’s still in my playlist. ❤

We did dance routine talent shows in 5th grade (we were probably terrible lol).....her voice was amazing and she was gorgeous ❤❤❤❤❤ can't believe she's gone😢

So glad you did this video! I always wondered what happened to her! Loved her voice!💐

Thank you so much for posting this video to clarify some awful rumors about her... Oh yes! She definitely deserves her flowers !!!! Sure! She's just left an indelible mark in the show business industry thanks to her outstanding acting and single talents...❤🤠😉😘! Yes !! She will always be remembered for those good reasons 👍🏽👍🏽

She was great in Sparkle. RIJM Irene Cara Escalera 🌹🌺🌸🌷