Tune Tuesday – Fame

It was on this day in 1982 that the TV adaptation of Fame first aired on NBC. The TV series was based on the 1980 hit movie, which started Irene Cara as Coco Hernandez. 

The movie is about students at Fiorello LaGuardia High, also known as the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. It’s a real school whose alumni include Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston, Liza Minnelli and Nicki Minaj.

Irene Cara had a top five hit in the US with “Fame,” while it went to number one in the UK.  Did you know another familiar voice is on the track?  That familiar voice contributed quite a bit to the song.

From Song facts:

A very distinctive feature of this song is the background vocals that trail out the word “remember” after the line “baby, remember my name.” It was Luther Vandross who came up with that part and sang it with backup singers Vivian Cherry and Vicki Sue Robinson.  Vandross was not yet a solo star, but was in demand as a backup vocalist. He was the contractor on this session, meaning he was in charge of the backup vocals.

Songwriter Dean Pitchford explained in his Songfacts interview: “He came in, listened down to the track. We got to the end of the chorus and he said, ‘Back it up, back it up! Check this out.’ And Irene Cara sang, ‘Baby remember my name,’ and he went, ‘Remember, remember, remember…’ and we all went, ‘Oh! That’s terrific!’ Luther Vandross is the one who not only came up with ‘remember, remember, remember…’ but he also stacked the voices on top of, ‘I’m going to learn how to fly high.’ He did that. He made a couple of other contributions around the edges, but the ‘remember’ was the major one.”

Here is the movie version:

The TV series starred many of the films stars, including Debbie Allen.  For television Erica Gimple played Coco and also sang the theme song in the first four seasons.

In Seasons 5 and 6, Gimple left the show.  The theme was then performed by Loretta Chandler, who played Dusty.

Usually, there is a big difference in cover versions, but honestly, to me there is very little difference between these versions. What do you think?