Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper (born June 22, 1953)
[1] is an American singer, songwriter, actress and
LGBT activist.
[2][3]
Her career has spanned over 30 years.
[3]
Her debut solo album
She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut female album to chart four top-five hits on the
Billboard Hot 100—"
Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "
Time After Time", "
She Bop", and "
All Through the Night" earned Lauper the
Best New Artist award at the
27th Grammy Awards in 1985.
Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture
The Goonies and her second record
True Colors (1986). This album included the number one hit
of the same name and "
Change of Heart" which peaked at number 3.
Since 1989, Lauper has released nine studio albums and participated in many other projects. Her most recent album,
Memphis Blues, became
Billboard's most successful blues album of the year, remaining at #1 on the
Billboard Blues Albums chart for 13 consecutive weeks.
In 2013, Lauper won the
Tony Award for Best Original Score for the Broadway musical
Kinky Boots, making her the first woman in history to win the composing category by herself.
[4]
She became the first artist in over 25 years to top the dance charts with a Broadway tune. In 2014, Lauper was awarded the
Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for
the cast recording.
Lauper has established herself as a
pop icon[5] winning awards at the
Grammy,
Emmy,
Tony, New York's Outer Critics Circle,
MTV VMA,
Billboard, and
AMA awards.
[6]
Lauper won the inaugural Best Female Video prize at the 1984 VMAs for
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
This
music video is recognized by
MTV,
VH1 and
Rolling Stone as one of the greatest ever music videos.
[7][8][9][10]
She is featured in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum's
Women Who Rock exhibit.
[11] Her debut album is included in
Rolling Stone's list of the
500 Greatest Albums of All Time,
[12] while
Time After Time is included in
Vh1's list of the 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 years.
[13]
VH1 has ranked Lauper No. 58 of the
100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.
[14]
Lauper is one of only twenty artists to achieve "GET" status by
winning competitive Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards.
Lauper is also noted
for appearing in the first-ever
WWE WrestleMania, managing wrestler
Wendi Richter who won the
WWF Women's Championship in 1985.
[15]
In 2015 Lauper was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame.
[16]
To date she has sold over 50 million records and 20 million singles.
[17][18]
Lauper has also been celebrated for her humanitarian work,
particularly as an advocate for gay and transgender rights in the United
States.
Her charitable efforts were acknowledged in 2013 when the
singer was invited as a special guest to attend President
Barack Obama's second-term inaugural.
[19]
| Cyndi Lauper |
|---|
Cyndi Lauper performing in Australia, 2011, during the Memphis Blues Tour
|
| Born |
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
June 22, 1953 (age 62)
Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Singer, songwriter, actress, activist |
| Years active |
1980–present |
| Spouse(s) |
David Thornton (m. 1991) |
| Children |
1 |
| Website |
www.cyndilauper.com |
| Musical career |
| Genres |
Pop, rock, new wave, synthpop, blues, soul |
| Instruments |
Vocals, guitar, dulcimer |
| Labels |
Portrait, Epic, Daylight, Downtown |
| Associated acts |
Blue Angel, The Hooters |
Life and career
1953–1979: Early life
Lauper was born in
Queens,
New York[20]
to a Catholic family.
Her father, Fred, was of German and Swiss
descent. Her mother, Catrine (née Gallo), is Italian American (from
Sicily).
Lauper's siblings are younger brother Fred (nicknamed Butch), and older sister, Ellen.
[21]
Lauper's parents divorced when she was five
[3] and her mother remarried and divorced again.
[22]
Lauper grew up in the
Ozone Park[23] neighborhood of Queens and as a child, listened to such artists as
The Beatles,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Judy Garland and
Billie Holiday.
At age 12, she began writing songs and playing an
acoustic guitar given to her by her sister.
[24]
Lauper expressed herself with a variety of hair colors, eccentric clothing
[25] and even took a friend's advice to spell her name as "Cyndi" rather than "Cindy".
[23]
Lauper was accepted to a public high school for students with talent in the visual arts but dropped out; she later earned her
GED.
[26][27]
She left home at 17, to escape her abusive
stepfather,
[23]
intending to study art.
Her journey took her to Canada, where she spent
two weeks in the woods with her dog Sparkle, trying to find herself.
She eventually traveled to
Vermont, where she took art classes at
Johnson State College and supported herself working odd jobs.
[27]
In the early 1970s, Lauper performed as a vocalist with various
cover bands.
One was called Flyer in the New York metropolitan area, singing hits by bands including
Bad Company,
Jefferson Airplane and
Led Zeppelin.
Although Lauper was performing on stage, she was not happy singing
covers.
In 1977, Lauper damaged her vocal cords and took a year off from
singing.
She was told by doctors that she would never sing again, but
regained her voice with the help of vocal coach Katie Agresta.
[28]
1980–1982: Blue Angel
In 1978, Lauper met saxophone player
John Turi through her manager Ted Rosenblatt.
Turi and Lauper formed a band named
Blue Angel and recorded a demo tape of original music.
Steve Massarsky, manager of
The Allman Brothers Band,
[29] heard the tape and liked Lauper's voice. He bought Blue Angel's contract for $5,000 and became their manager.
[30]
Lauper received recording offers as a solo artist, but held out,
wanting the band to be included in any deal she made.
Blue Angel was
eventually signed by
Polydor Records and released a self-titled album on the label in 1980.
Lauper hated the album cover, saying that it made her look like
Big Bird, but
Rolling Stone magazine later included it as one of the 100 best
new wave
album covers (2003).
Despite critical acclaim, the album sold poorly
(or " It went lead", as Lauper later joked.) and the band broke up.
The
members of Blue Angel had a falling out with Massarsky and fired him as
their manager.
He later filed an $80,000 suit against them, which forced
Lauper into bankruptcy.
[31]
After this Lauper temporarily lost her voice due to an inverted cyst in her vocal cord.
[32]
After Blue Angel broke up and due to her financial problems, Lauper spent time working in retail stores, waitressing at
IHOP (which she quit after being demoted to hostess when the manager made a pass at her),
[23] and singing in local clubs.
Her most frequent gigs were at El Sombrero.
[32]
Music critics who saw Lauper perform with Blue Angel believed she had star potential due to her four-octave singing range,
[33]
In 1981, while singing in a local New York bar, Lauper met David Wolff,
who took over as her manager and had her sign a recording contract with
Portrait Records, a subsidiary of
Epic Records.
[34]
1983–1985: She's So Unusual
On October 14, 1983, Lauper released her first solo album,
She's So Unusual.
The album peaked at No. 4 in the US, and became a worldwide hit.
The primary studio musicians were
Rick Chertoff,
Eric Bazilian, and
Rob Hyman (of
The Hooters),
Richard Termini
and Peter Wood. Lauper became popular with teenagers and critics, in
part due to her hybrid punk image which was crafted by stylist Patrick
Lucas.
[35]
Lauper was interested in writing her own songs, but the record
company provided her with songs to record that were written by other
writers.
Lauper sometimes changed the lyrics in the material she was
given by the record company; such is the case with "
Girls Just Want to Have Fun".
Lauper found the original lyrics to be misogynistic, so she rewrote the song as an anthem for young women.
[36]
The album's second single "
Time After Time" was co-written by Lauper and Rob Hyman.
"Time After Time" hit No. 1 on both the
Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts.
The song would earn Lauper an
RIAA Gold certification for record sales that reached 500,000 copies.
The other
Billboard Hot 100 singles on
She's So Unusual were "
She Bop" (No. 3), "
All Through the Night" (No. 5), written by
Jules Shear and "
Money Changes Everything" (No.27).
[37]
The album also includes two cover songs,
The Brains' new wave track "
Money Changes Everything" (No.27 on the
Billboard Hot 100) and
Prince's "
When You Were Mine".
The album made Lauper the first female to have four consecutive
Billboard
Hot 100 top five hits from one album.
The LP stayed in the Top 200
charts for more than 65 weeks, and since has sold 22 million copies
worldwide.
[38]
Lauper won
Best New Artist at the
1985 Grammy Awards.
She's So Unusual also received nominations for
Album of the Year,
Record of the Year,
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"), and
Song of the Year (for "Time After Time").
It also won the Grammy for
Best Album Package, which went to the art director,
Janet Perr.
[39]
The video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" won the inaugural award
for Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, and made
Lauper an MTV staple.
The video featured professional wrestling
manager "Captain"
Lou Albano as Lauper's father, her real-life mother, Catrine, as her mother,
[40] and also featured her attorney, her manager, her brother Butch, and her dog Sparkle.
[39]
In 1984–85, Lauper appeared on the covers of
Rolling Stone magazine,
Time, and
Newsweek. She appeared twice on the cover of
People, and was named a
Ms. magazine woman of the year in 1985.
[41]
In 1985, Lauper participated in
USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "
We Are the World", which sold more than 20 million copies since then.
[42]
Lauper appeared with
professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, who played her "bodyguard"
[43][44] and would also later make many appearances as herself in a number of the
World Wrestling Federation's "
Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" events, and played
Wendi Richter's manager in
the inaugural WrestleMania event.
[45]
Dave Wolff, Lauper's boyfriend and manager at the time, was a wrestling
fan as a boy, and engineered the rock and wrestling connection.
[46]
In 1985, Lauper released the single "
The Goonies 'R' Good Enough", from the soundtrack to the movie
The Goonies, and an accompanying video which featured several wrestling stars.
The song reached number 10 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart.
[47]
1986–1988: True Colors and Vibes
Lauper received two nominations at the
1986 Grammy Awards:
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "What a Thrill" and
Best Long Form Music Video for
Cyndi: Live in Paris.
[48]
Lauper released her second album,
True Colors, on September 15, 1986. It reached No. 4 on the
Billboard 200
and sold 2 million copies in the US.
She increased her involvement in
production and songwriting on her second album, co-writing most of the
songs with
Essra Mohawk,
John Turi,
Billy Steinberg, and
Tom Kelly.
Guests included Angela Clemons-Patrick,
Nile Rodgers,
Aimee Mann,
Billy Joel,
Adrian Belew,
The Bangles, Ellie Greenwich and
Rick Derringer.
[citation needed]
True Colors was not as commercially successful as
She's So Unusual, but it did contain three high-charting singles, including the title track, "
True Colors", which became Lauper's second song to hit No. 1 on the
Billboard Hot 100; "
Change of Heart" (No. 3); and a cover of
Marvin Gaye's "
What's Going On" (No. 12).
A fourth single from the album, "
Boy Blue", did not reach the top-40.
She donated the proceeds of that song to
AIDS research.
The song "True Colors" (written by Steinberg and Kelly) was licensed to
Kodak for use in its commercials.
[citation needed]
In 1986, Lauper appeared on the
Billy Joel album
The Bridge,
with a song called "Code of Silence".
She is credited as having written
the lyrics with Joel and she sings a duet with him. In the same year,
Lauper also sang the
theme song for the series
Pee-wee's Playhouse, credited as "Ellen Shaw".
In 1987, David Wolff produced a concert film for Lauper called
Cyndi: Live in Paris. The concert was broadcast on
HBO.
[49]
Lauper made her film debut in August 1988 in the quirky comedy
Vibes, alongside
Jeff Goldblum,
Julian Sands,
Elizabeth Peña, and
Peter Falk. Lauper played a psychic in search of a city of gold in South America.
Ron Howard produced the film, with David Wolff as associate producer.
To prepare for the role, Lauper took a few classes in
finger waving
and hair setting at the Robert Fiance School of Beauty in New York, and
studied with a few Manhattan psychics. The film flopped and was poorly
received by critics.
[22][50]
Lauper contributed a track called "
Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" for the
Vibes
soundtrack, but the song was not included.
A music video was released, a
high energy, comic action/adventure romp through a Chinese laundry. The
song reached No. 54 on the US charts, but fared better in Australia,
reaching No. 8.
"Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" became the
opening song on her 2008 Australian tour.
[citation needed]
1989–1992: A Night to Remember and marriage
A Night to Remember – Lauper's third album – was released in the spring of 1989.
The album had only one hit, the No. 6 single "
I Drove All Night".
Lauper received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the
1990 Grammy Awards for "I Drove All Night", but overall album sales for
A Night to Remember
were down.
The music video for the album's song "My First Night Without
You" was one of the first to be closed-captioned for the hearing
impaired.
[51]
On July 21, 1990, Lauper joined
Roger Waters' and other artists performing "
Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" as part of the concert
The Wall in Berlin.
As part of the concert, Lauper also performed "
The Tide Is Turning" with Waters,
Joni Mitchell,
Bryan Adams,
Paul Carrack and
Van Morrison.
Three hundred thousand people attended the concert and over five million people worldwide watched on live television.
[citation needed]
Because of a friendship with
Yoko Ono, Lauper took part in the May 1990
John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool, performing the Beatles song "Hey Bulldog" and the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero".
[52]
She also took part in Ono and Lennon's son
Sean project called "The Peace Choir", performing a new version of Lennon's "
Give Peace a Chance".
[53]
On November 24, 1991, Lauper married actor
David Thornton.
[54]
1993–1995: Hat Full of Stars and Twelve Deadly Cyns
Lauper's fourth album
Hat Full of Stars
was released in June 1993 and was met with critical acclaim, but failed
commercially, unsupported by her label.
The album, which tackled such
topics as
homophobia,
spousal abuse, racism, and abortion sold less than 120,000 copies in the United States and peaked at No. 112 on the
Billboard charts.
[55]
The video for the album's song "
Sally's Pigeons" features the then-unknown
Julia Stiles as the young Cyndi.
[citation needed]
Lauper co-wrote several songs for the album with
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ailee Willis, Nicky Holland,
Tom Gray,
Hugh Masekela and
The Hooters.
That same year, Lauper recorded "Boys Will Be Boys" with The Hooters for their album
Out of Body. The Hooters dedicated their song "
Private Emotion" to her.
[citation needed]
The greatest hits album,
Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some,
was released outside of the US in 1994 and reached US audiences in
summer of 1995.
It included two re-recorded tracks, "I'm Gonna be
Strong", originally recorded with Blue Angel, and a reworking of her
first hit, newly christened "
Hey Now (Girls Just Want to Have Fun)".
In 1993, Lauper returned to acting, playing
Michael J. Fox's ditzy secretary in
Life with Mikey. She also won an
Emmy Award[56] for her role as Marianne on the sitcom
Mad About You.
[citation needed]
1996–2000: Motherhood and Sisters of Avalon
Lauper performing in 2000
On November 19, 1997, Lauper gave birth to her son Declyn Wallace Lauper Thornton.
[57]
Her fifth album,
Sisters of Avalon,
was released in Japan in 1996 and elsewhere in 1997.
The album was
written and produced with the help of Jan Pulsford (Lauper's keyboard
player) and producer Mark Saunders.
As in
Hat Full of Stars, some of the songs in
Sisters of Avalon addressed dark themes. The song "
Ballad of Cleo and Joe" addressed the complications of a
drag queen's
double life.
The song "Say a Prayer" was written for a friend of hers
who had died from AIDS. "Unhook the Stars" was used in the
movie of the same name.
Again without support from her label, the release failed in America, spending a single week on the
Billboard album chart at No. 188.
This album also met with much critical praise including
People magazine, which declared it "90s nourishment for body and soul.
Lauper sets a scene, makes us care, gives us hope."
[58]
In November 1998, Lauper released the Christmas album
Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life. The album contained both original material and standards, and was co-produced and mixed by William Wittman.
[citation needed]
On January 17, 1999, Lauper appeared as an animated version of herself in
The Simpsons episode "
Wild Barts Can't Be Broken".
In the episode, Lauper sings the National Anthem to the melody of
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun".
In the same year, Lauper opened for
Cher's
Do You Believe? Tour alongside
Wild Orchid.
[citation needed]
She also appeared in the films
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and
The Opportunists.
[59][60]
Lauper contributed a
cover version of
The Trammps's "
Disco Inferno" to the soundtrack for the film
A Night at the Roxbury.
The song was also released as an EP and earned Lauper a nomination
1999 Grammy Awards for
Best Dance Recording.
In 2000, Lauper contributed the song "I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever" to the children's movie
Rugrats in Paris.
The song was written with
Mark Mothersbaugh.
In 2000, Lauper also co-wrote the song "If You Believe" with
Faye Tozer of the British pop group
Steps, for the band's third studio album,
Buzz.
[citation needed]
2001–2004: Shine and At Last
In 2001, Lauper prepared a new album
Shine.
The album was a return to her early punk-rock sound and featured Japanese pop superstar
Ryuichi Sakamoto, and George Fullan of
Train.
Just weeks before the album's scheduled release on September 11, 2001, her label (
Edel America Records) folded.
A five-song
EP of
Shine was released in June 2002, but the full-length album was released exclusively in Japan.
An album of
Shine remixes was eventually released through
Tower Records.
[citation needed]
On October 12, 2000, Lauper took part in the television show
Women in Rock, Girls with Guitars performing with
Ann Wilson of
Heart and with the
girl group,
Destiny's Child.
A CD of the songs performed was released exclusively to
Sears stores from September 30 to October 31, 2001, and was marketed as a fundraiser for
breast cancer.
[citation needed]
In 2002, Sony issued a best-of CD,
The Essential Cyndi Lauper. Lauper also released a cover album with Sony/
Epic Records entitled
At Last (formerly
Naked City), which was released in 2003.
At Last received one nomination at the
2005 Grammy Awards:
Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), for "
Unchained Melody".
The effort was also a commercial hit, selling 4.5 million records
[61]
In April 2004, Lauper performed during the
VH1's benefit concert
Divas Live 2004 alongside
Ashanti,
Gladys Knight,
Jessica Simpson,
Joss Stone and
Patti LaBelle, in support of the Save the Music Foundation.
[62]
2005–2007: The Body Acoustic
In 2005, under a new contract with Sony Music, Lauper released
The Body Acoustic,
an album that featured acoustic reinterpretations of tracks from her
repertoire.
The album also included two new tracks one of which was
"Above the Clouds".
Guest performers on the album included
Shaggy,
Ani DiFranco,
Adam Lazzara of
Taking Back Sunday,
Jeff Beck,
Puffy AmiYumi,
Sarah McLachlan, and
Vivian Green.
"Time After Time" with Sarah McLachlan charted on the
Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
[citation needed]
She made appearances on
Showtime's hit show
Queer As Folk in 2005, directed a commercial for
Totally 80s edition of the board game
Trivial Pursuit in 2006, served as a judge on the 6th Annual
Independent Music Awards and made her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated
The Threepenny Opera as Jenny.
She performed with
Shaggy,
Scott Weiland of
Velvet Revolver/
Stone Temple Pilots,
Pat Monahan of
Train,
Ani DiFranco, and
The Hooters in the
VH1 Classics special
Decades Rock Live.
In 2007, she sang "Beecharmer" with Nellie McKay on McKay's
Pretty Little Head album, and "Letters To Michael" with
Dionne Warwick.
[citation needed]
On October 16, 2006, Lauper was inducted into the
Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
[63]
2008–2009: Bring Ya to the Brink
Cyndi Lauper performing in 2008
In 2009, Lauper took a role and wrote a song for the
Serbian movie
Here and There, which stars her husband, David Thornton.
[citation needed]
Lauper's sixth studio album,
Bring Ya to the Brink was released in the United States on May 27, 2008.
By the time of the album's US release, the single "
Set Your Heart" already had significant airplay in Japan and Lauper had already begun an Australian tour with
Katie Noonan and
Kate Miller-Heidke.
The album featured dance tracks written with artists including
Axwell,
The Scumfrog,
Basement Jaxx,
Digital Dog,
Dragonette,
Kleerup, and others.
Bring Ya to the Brink received one Grammy nomination for
Best Electronic/Dance Album and charted two #1 hits on the
Billboard Dance chart.
"
Set Your Heart" was used in the Japanese advertising campaign for the 2008
Toyota MarkX ZIO.
[citation needed]
Other projects for 2008 included the True Colors Tour and a Christmas duet with Swedish band
The Hives, entitled "
A Christmas Duel".
The song was released as a CD single and a 7" vinyl in Sweden.
[64]
Lauper also performed on the "Girls Night Out", headlining it with
Rosie O'Donnell in the US.
[65]
Lauper's TV appearances in 2009 included the American soap opera
As the World Turns, performing "
Time After Time" as a duet with
Allison Iraheta, on the season 8 finale of
American Idol and at the 2009 TV Land Awards on April 19 dressed as the "Empress of Evil" for a musical tribute to
Sid and
Marty Krofft.
Lauper performed a duet with
Leona Lewis on VH1 Divas on September 19, 2009, singing "True Colors", and performed a comedy skit with
Eminem at the MTV VMA's in September 2009.
She also played herself in
30 Rock's third season finale and appeared as Avalon Harmonia, a psychic, on the Season 5 premiere of
Bones.
[citation needed]
On November 17, 2009, Lauper performed a collaborative work with
Wyclef Jean called "Slumdog Millionaire", performing it on the
Late Show with David Letterman.
[66]
The collaborative effort stems from Jean's latest album:
Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, To the Projects, To the Mansion.
[citation needed]
2010–2012: The Celebrity Apprentice, Memphis Blues, memoir
In January 2010,
Mattel released a Cyndi Lauper
Barbie doll as part of their "Ladies of the 80s" series.
[citation needed]
In March 2010, Lauper appeared on
NBC's
The Celebrity Apprentice, coming in sixth place.
[67] She donated her winnings to her True Colors Fund.
Lauper also performed a song from her upcoming album
Memphis Blues in the show's live season finale.
[68]
Memphis Blues—Lauper's 7th studio album—was released on June 22, 2010 and debuted on the
Billboard Blues Albums chart at No. 1, and at No. 26 on the
Billboard Top 200.
The album remained No. 1 on the Blues Albums chart for 14 consecutive weeks;
Memphis Blues was nominated for
Best Traditional Blues Album at the
2011 Grammy Awards.
[69]
Lauper made international news in March 2011 for an impromptu
performance of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" while waiting for a delayed
flight at
Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires.
A video was later posted on YouTube.
[70][71]
In November 2011, she released two Christmas singles exclusive to
iTunes. The first release was a Blues-inspired cover of
Elvis Presley's classic "
Blue Christmas", and the second was a new version of "
Home for the holidays", a duet with
Norah Jones.
In June 2012, Lauper made her first appearance for
WWE in 27 years, to promote
WWE Raw's 1000th episode to memorialize "Captain"
Lou Albano.
[72]
In September 2012, Lauper performed at fashion designer
Betsey Johnson's 40 year Retrospective Fashion show.
[73]
She also released a
New York Times Best Selling memoir that detailed her struggle with
child abuse and depression.
[74]
2013–present: Kinky Boots, She's So Unusual: A 30th Anniversary Celebration & more
Lauper composed music for the Broadway musical
Kinky Boots with
Harvey Fierstein.
The musical was based on the 2006 independent film
Kinky Boots.
It opened in Chicago in October 2012
[75] and on Broadway at the
Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 4, 2013.
[76] In May, Lauper won for best score for
Kinky Boots at the 63rd annual
Outer Critics Circle Awards.
[77]
The musical led the
2013 Tony Awards, with 13 nominations and six wins including
Best Musical and
Best Actor.
Lauper won the award for
Best Original Score.
[78] Lauper was the first woman to win solo in this category.
[79]
In the summer of 2013, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of her debut album
She's So Unusual,
Lauper embarked on an international tour covering America and
Australia.
The show consisted of a mix of fan favorites and the entirety
of the
She's So Unusual record. She was a guest on 36 dates of
Cher's
Dressed to Kill Tour, starting April 23, 2014.
[80][81][82]
A new album was confirmed by Lauper on a website interview.
[83]
Lauper hosted the Grammy Pre-Telecast at the Nokia Theatre, L.A. on Jan 26,
[84] where she later accepted a Grammy for Kinky Boots (Best Musical Theater Album).
[85]
On April 1 (March 1 in Europe), Lauper released the 30th Anniversary edition of She's So Unusual through Epic Records
[86]
It featured a remastered version of the original album plus three new
remixes.
The Deluxe Edition featured bonus tracks such as demos and a
live recording as well as a 3D cut-out of the bedroom featured in the
'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' music video with a reusable sticker set.
[87]
On September 17, Cyndi Lauper sang on the finale of
America's Got Talent.
[23][88]
On September 25, as part of the
Today Show's Shine a Light series, Lauper re-recorded "
True Colors" in a mashup with
Sara Bareilles' "
Brave" to raise awareness and money for children battling cancer.
[89]
By October the project had raised over $300,000.
[90]
The
Songwriters Hall of Fame included Lauper in its nomination list on October 2014.
[91]
Also during October, Lauper's fourth consecutive 'Home for the Holidays' benefit concert for
homeless gay youth was announced.
Acts included
50 cent and
Laverne Cox with 100% of the net proceeds going to the True Colors Fund
[92]
On June 12, 2015, Lauper appeared on
The Graham Norton Show alongside
Seth MacFarlane,
Dara O'Briain, and
Mark Wahlberg.
To promote her work with the National Psoriasis Foundation and Novartis and revealing she, herself has suffered from
psoriasis for the past five years, Cyndi appeared on the
Today Show in July 2015.
During the interview Cyndi revealed she is working on a new album with
Seymour Stein.
Activism
Lauper performing at the Gay Games VII, Wrigley Field, July 22, 2006
Lauper has been an LGBT rights supporter throughout her career, campaigning for equality through various charities and
gay pride
events around the world.
Lauper stated that she became involved in gay
rights advocacy because her sister Ellen was a lesbian and because
Lauper herself was passionate about equality.
Lauper's sister Ellen was a
role model, actively participating in charity work in the gay
community, including working at a clinic for AIDS patients.
[citation needed]
The title track of Lauper's second album, "True Colors", became an
anthem of acceptance and inspiration, particularly for the gay
community.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Lauper performed at pride
events throughout America.
[citation needed]
Her album
Hat Full of Stars contains lyrics that address
homophobia.
Her song "Above the Clouds" celebrates the memory of
Matthew Shepard, a young man beaten to death in Wyoming solely because he was gay.
Kinky Boots addresses the problems of acceptance for drag queens.
As a member of the
Matthew Shepard Foundation Board, Lauper devoted a
concert tour to promoting the Foundation's message of understanding and acceptance.
[citation needed]
She co-founded the
True Colors Tour for Human Rights throughout the United States and Canada in June 2007.
The tour featured Lauper,
Deborah Harry,
Erasure,
The Dresden Dolls, and
Gossip, with
Margaret Cho as
MC. One dollar from each ticket was earmarked for the
Human Rights Campaign, which advocates equal rights for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and
transgender people.
[93]
The
True Colors Tour 2008 debuted on May 31, 2008.
Joining Lauper at various venues were a number of other artists including
Rosie O'Donnell,
The B-52's,
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and
Joan Armatrading.
[citation needed]
In April 2010, Lauper's True Colors Fund launched the Give a Damn
campaign, highlighting the verbal and physical bullying and harassment
faced by LGBT students as well as workplace prejudice.
[citation needed]
Lauper pushed for the
Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which considered assault based solely on
sexual orientation or
gender identity as a
hate crime. In 2009 Lauper attended the law's
signing ceremony.
[citation needed]
In 2012 Lauper started the
Forty to None Project after
learning that while 10% of American youth identify themselves as LGBT,
up to 40% of American homeless youths do so.
She set up the
True Colors Residence in New York City for LGBT homeless youths. The 30-bed facility offers temporary shelter and job placement help.
[94]
Lauper's performances at gay pride events include the closing ceremonies for the 1994 Gay Games IV in New York City.
[citation needed] and as grand marshal for the 2012 NYC Gay Pride Parade.
[95]
In August 2008, she contributed an article titled "Hope" to
The Huffington Post, encouraging Americans to vote for
Barack Obama in the
upcoming United States presidential election.
[96]
Lauper performed alongside
Thelma Houston,
Melissa Etheridge and
Rufus Wainwright at the
2008 Democratic National Convention.
[citation needed]
Lauper helped design a T-shirt for the 2009
Fashion Against AIDS campaign.
[citation needed]
On June 28, 2015, Cyndi Lauper was one of the Grand Marshals at the
Toronto Pride parade, riding an allegorical float of her musical Kinky
Boots, dressed as Marie Antoinette.
Artistry
Voice
Lauper possesses the vocal range of a Lyric-
Soprano, which spans approximately 3 Octaves & 4 notes (F3-C7) & The
Whistle Register.
She has an expressive, versatile voice, that can switch from sounding
innocent and sweet like a child to coarse and throaty like a rock star
to crystal clear and dramatic like a diva extraordinaire all within the
space of a lyric.
The voice sounds most impressive when belting clearly
with her dramatic vibrato applied.
Legacy
Lauper was one of the earliest female artists to harness MTV.
She was described by
All Music's Lindsay Planer as an iconoclastic vocalist who revolutionized the role of women in rock and roll.
[97]
Over her thirty-year career, she influenced multiple recording artists including
Alanis Morissette,
Britney Spears,
Christina Aguilera,
India Arie,
Jewel,
Jill Scott,
Joan Osborne,
Kasey Chambers,
Maximum Balloon,
No Doubt,
P!nk,
Sophie B. Hawkins,
Vanessa Paradis,
[98] Tegan and Sara,
[99] Nicki Minaj,
Kelly Clarkson,
Lil' Kim,
Lady Gaga,
Little Boots, and
Yelle.
[100]
Due to her success and influence Lauper has been inducted in to both the Hollywood and Songwriters Hall of Fame
[101]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
Spotify notes that
She's So Unusual
and distinctive idiosyncratic appearance "helped popularize the image
of punk and new wave for America, making it an acceptable part of the
pop landscape".
[98]
Rolling Stone
magazine stated that her debut was "arguably the first time explicitly
punk-influenced elements were front-and-center on the pop landscape,
both musically and via Lauper's Patrick Lucas-styled ensembles, dressing
up the droll Reagan decade in feminist chutzpah."
[102]
The album ranked at #487 on
Rolling Stone 's list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.
The album ranked at #41 on
Rolling Stone 's list of Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012.
[103]
Rolling Stone's
review stated, "A wild and wonderful skyrocket of a voice... Lauper's
extraordinary pipes connect with the right material, the results sound
like the beginning of a whole new golden age."
Thirty years after its
release, the album was praised as 'everlasting' and a 'once in a
lifetime album'.
[104]
Her iconic cover and re-arrangement of "
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" established her as 'a feminist idol'.
[61]
Sheila Moeschen argued that the song 'embodied a different kind of
feminine aesthetic that ran counter to the raw sensuality and edginess
of her contemporaries like Madonna or veteran rockers Joan Jett and Pat
Benatar' that introduced 'a nation of women to a new kind of female role
model, one that celebrated difference and encouraged playfulness in
self-expression'.
[105]
John Rockwell
wrote that the song was "a giddily upbeat attestation to female
pleasure that simultaneously made a feminist statement, fulfilled male
fantasies and—especially in its often-played video version—evoked the
warmth of family and friends."
[106]
The video for "Girls" won the first-ever Best Female Video prize at the
1984 VMAs. It featured a multicultural cast of women with teased,
sideways hair and neon eye shadow, singing alongside Lauper.
[8]
She was the first woman to have four Top 5 hits from a debut album, the
first woman to win the composing category solo during the 2013 Tony
Awards and one of only four women to have won competitive Grammy, Emmy
and Tony awards.
[citation needed]
Lauper's song "Time After Time" has been covered by over 100 artists and was ranked at #22 on
Rolling Stone 's 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years
[107] and at #19 on
VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s.
[108]
"
She Bop", the third single from
She's So Unusual made history as the first and only top ten song to directly mention a
gay porn magazine.
[109]
The single was included in the PMRC's "Filthy Fifteen" list that led to the
parental advisory sticker that marked recordings thought to be unsuitable for young listeners.
[109]
In their 1984 retrospective
Rolling Stone listed She Bop as the 36th best song of that year, praising it for its unusual playfulness regarding sexuality.
[110]
Her song "True Colors" is recognized by many as an LGBT anthem. Her many projects supporting LGBT rights made her a gay icon.
[111]
Source: Wikipedia.org
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