[2][3] In the early 1980s, through a chance meeting with Harry Belafonte, Starr landed a role in his 1984 hip hop film, Beat Street; she appeared in it, as herself, as a singer at an open-microphone audition.

The lead single, "Pickin' Up Pieces", written by Arthur Baker and Lotti Golden, was a local club sensation and national hit, peaking at No.

[6] Starr's eponymous sophomore LP, which she released in 1987 on the MCA Records label before it became part of the present-day Universal Music Group, included what is considered her signature song, the power ballad "I Still Believe", which peaked at No.

Starr learned Spanish to help rejuvenate her career, successfully reinventing herself as a salsa, tropical and Latin pop artist.

Starr was also a disc jockey at MIX 102.7, WNEW-FM, where she presented a request program titled "Under the Stars" from 9 pm to midnight on Sunday nights before the station changed formats.

"Tu Eres", the lead single from her seventh album, Atrevete a Olvidarme, earned her a nomination from the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2006.