Fame singer and actress Irene Cara has died aged 63, her publicist announced the news on Twitter.

Cara was best known for her role in the 1980 hit film Fame, in which she starred as Coco Hernandez and sang the title song and the film's other single Out Here on My Own.

The title song Fame won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1980 and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song that same year. Cara received a Best Actress nomination at the Golden Globe Awards in 1981.

A few years later the American actress and singer co-wrote the title song for the 1983 movie Flashdance. Called Flashdance...What a Feeling, Cara went on to win an Oscar and a Grammy. She also went on to net a Golden Globe Award and won Best R&B Female Artist and Best Pop Single of Year at the AMAs for the song.

During her career Cara starred in her own sitcom and went on to appear in a number of on-and-off Broadway musicals. She also went on to star in films alongside Clint Eastwood and Tatum O'Neal.

Cara's publicist Judith Moose wrote on Twitter that the star had passed away in her Florida home. "Her cause of death is currently unknown and will be released when information is available," Moose said.

Moose described Cara as a "beautifully gifted soul whose legacy will live forever through her music and films".

https://twitter.com/Irene_Cara/status/1596392865948499968

Cara was born in The Bronx, New York City, in 1959 and was the youngest of five children. Her father was Puerto Rican and her mother was Cuban-American. Cara started her career on Spanish-language television.