"Fame" is a pop song written by Michael Gore (music) and Dean Pitchford (lyrics) that was released in 1980 and achieved chart success as the theme song to the Fame movie and TV series. The song was performed by Irene Cara, who played the role of Coco Hernandez in the original movie. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for the same.
"Fame" rose to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1980. It also rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for one week, and also topped the ARC Weekly Top 40 chart. The song was not released in the United Kingdom until 1982, so it would coincide with the UK premiere of the Fame television series. It hit #1 for three weeks.
"Fame" is a song recorded by David Bowie.
With the Young Americans sessions mostly concluded in late 1974, the material was delayed while Bowie extricated himself from his contract with manager Tony DeFries. During this time he was staying in New York, and met John Lennon. The pair socialised and jammed together, which led to a one-day session at The Power Plant studio in January 1975. There, Bowie contacted several members of his tour band. Firstly a cover of The Beatles’ "Across the Universe" was recorded. Then a new song called "Fame," inspired by a guitar riff written by Carlos Alomar and with the title from Lennon, was then hurriedly developed by Bowie, and recorded. Both tracks were then added to the Young Americans album. Despite having only a minor contribution, Lennon was given a co-writing credit due to the lyrics (bemoaning the nature of celebrity) being inspired by conversations he had with Bowie on the subject, and because Bowie acknowledged that Lennon singing "Fame!" over Alomar’s guitar riff was the catalyst for the song. Lennon's voice was heard at the ending of the song, repeating the word: "FAME, FAME, FAME", from a fast track to a slow track of his voice, as it started from a high voice, culminating in his regular voice, and ending in a lower deep voice, before Bowie finished the song with the words: "Fame, What's your name, what's your name, what's your name, what's your name, what's your name".
An edited version of "Fame" was issued as the second single from the album, and shot to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (ironically, a few months before a reissue of "Space Oddity" would give Bowie his first UK number-one single). In the UK, "Fame" would only reach number seventeen.
Interestingly, James Brown appropriated the essential musical content and production style in his 1976 single "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)" (R&B #31). Given the long tradition of white musicians' borrowing of the creations of black artists, and the fact that the song's style seems to emulate Brown's own work from that period, many assumed it to have originally been Brown's creation.
