Actress/singer Irene Cara was no stranger to successful movie soundtracks when her single from the movie "Flashdance" was released in 1983. Cara had first come to pop culture prominence singing the Oscar-winning theme to the movie "Fame" three years earlier. Not only did she star in the movie, the song took Cara into the Top Ten on the pop charts.

The movie "Flashdance" became a surprise hit and one of the biggest films of 1983 and Cara-sung theme rocketed onto the charts. It cracked the US Top 40 in April and six weeks later was entrenched in the Top Ten. It would remain there for three and a half months, spending six weeks at #1. It would also reach the top of the club charts and peak inside the Top Five on the adult contemporary and R&B singles charts.

Cara would include the song on her own What A Feelin' album released later in 1983 and the song, which she co-wrote, would win an Academy Award and a pair of Grammy awards the following spring.

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