British film-maker Alan Parker started his career writing and directing television adverts before he decided to go into proper movies and created Bugsy Malone, a parody on both gangster flicks and musicals using child actors only. The musical theme would stay with him throughout his career, with such gems as Pink Floyd – The Wall, The Commitments or Evita, but today we’re going to focus on 1980’s movie Fame.

Parker wanted to do a musical that was atypical in that it wouldn’t stop for the musical numbers at certain points in time, the music should just come out of real situations. It was also important to him that the film would depict real life at such a school, so he went out of his way to talk at great lengths to actual students from the High School of Performing Arts and he rewrote the original script, replacing some of the sheer joy of being able to perform with the typical angst and problems of people at that age. He was invited to a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show by several of the students as well, an experience which consequently made it’s way into the movie. While he was not allowed to film at the actual school it does exist which over the years produced such famous alumnis as Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston, Liza Minnelli or Nicki Minaj. Originally named “Hot Lunch” the film was renamed to “Fame” after learning the former meant oral sex in New York’s slang of the time.

One of the dancers cast was Irene Cara, who previously had some minor roles in film and television, but also landed the title character in the 1976 musical drama Sparkles. When the producers and screenwriters heard her voice they realised they had a star in their hands, so they rewrote the role of Coco Hernandez as a main character. She sang on several tracks of the movie and was so exceptionally good at it, that she would write history at the Academy Awards: For the first time ever two songs from the same film, sung by the same artist were nominated for Best Original Song. “Fame” would win over “Out Here On My Own”.

Three years later Cara would win another Oscar for best song, this time for her own song. She had both written and sung “Flashdance… What A Feeling”, the title song of the musical movie by the same name. In 2002 she re-recorded that song together with DJ BoBo, to have a little Swiss-connection in here as well, but by that time the peak of her career had already come and gone.

Alas, “I’m gonna life forever!”, was always meant in the memory of people, not in the physical flesh. Cara died last Friday at the age of 63. R.I.P.