Songoftheday 12/11/12 - First, when there's nothing but a slow glowing dream that your fear seems to hide deep inside your mind...

Irene Cara - "Flashdance...What A Feeling"
from the albums Flashdance (Original Soundtrack) and What A Feelin' (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (six weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 20

Today's Song of the Day is the theme to the immensely popular music/dance movie from 1983, Flashdance, sung by Bronx-born Irene Cara.The story of a woman working in a steel mill but with dreams of studying dance, the film was an unexpected success, becoming the third-highest grossing movie of the year (behind Return Of The Jedi and Terms Of Endearment).

For it's title song, songwriter/producer Giorgio Moroder, who originally had come up with the song from a man's perspective, recruited Irene Cara to change it to a female celebration of empowerment. Cara, who started out acting on stage and on TV, got her first big break when she played the title character in the film Sparkle (yes, the one just redone with Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks). After that, her turn as the aspiring singer Coco in Fame earned Cara not only a top-10 hit with the title song but a spot singing at the Oscars, where "Fame" took the award for Best Song.

With "Flashdance" ("What a Feeling" was tacked on since the full word doesn't show up in the song), Cara took "Fame" one step farther, and it became her trademark hit...

Like the movie, the song ended up being the third-biggest hit of 1983 (this time behind "Every Breath You Take" and "Billie Jean"). Besides topping the pop and the dance chart, "Flashdance" would reach the top-5 on the R&B and adult-contemporary format lists as well in Billboard magazine. It also was huge around the world, placing at #2 in Britain, and topping the chart in Canada, Australia, Japan, and all over Europe.

And not only would Irene get the Grammy for Female Pop Performance (and get a nom for Record of the Year), but the song would grab the Oscar for best Original Song for her, Moroder, and co-writer Keith Forsey.

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Before she became a worldwide sensation, Celine Dion recorded the song live in 1985...

A year later, novelty doo-wop act Big Daddy restructured the song altogether...

In 1998, Australian singer and Idol judge Marcia Hines had a minor hit down under with her take on it...

Swiss DJ Bobo hired Cara to recreate her hit for a single that went top-10 all through Continental Europe in 2001...

In 2005, Austrian dance act Global Deejays did a filter-sample remake of the song that made the top-5 on the US dance chart as "What A Feeling (Flashdance)"...