The song "Maniac" from the film
Flashdance (1983), which he co-wrote with
Michael Sembello and which Sembello performed, reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in September 1983, and was subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It lost to another song from the film, "Flashdance... What a Feeling", written by
Giorgio Moroder,
Keith Forsey and
Irene Cara, which was also performed by Cara.