Cindy Lauper Biography

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953), better known as Cyndi Lauper, is an American pop singer, New Wave artist and actress whose melodic voice and wild costumes have come to epitomize the 1980s, the decade in which she first came to fame.

Cyndi Lauper was born in Brooklyn, New York to Swiss German-American Fred Lauper and Sicilian Italian-American Catrine Dominique. She began her career in a cover band, but soon began performing her own songs - though she almost quit singing altogether due to strained vocal cords in 1977). By 1980 she'd released a rockabilly album on Polydor with the band Blue Angel. Despite much critical acclaim, the album "went lead" as Lauper says, and the band split as Lauper filed for bankruptcy.
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In 1983, David Wolff (who also began managing as well as dating Ms. Lauper) produced She's So Unusual, the worldwide hit which made Lauper a household name. The album was a mixture of teen-friendly pop-rock, well orchestrated synthesizer dance music, and for the mainstream of the time, "unusual" punk-edged vocals. The record's biggest hit single, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", quickly established itself as a female anthem, and a famed MTV video. Lauper won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards of 1984, and became the first female artist to have four consecutive Hot 100 Top 5 hits from one album.

She's So Unusual also included "She Bop", a paean to masturbation, the romantic ballad "Time After Time", a ballad which has since been covered by over 70 artists (most notably Miles Davis), and "Money Changes Everything" a deft cover of a tune by The Brains. Lauper was popular with teenagers, in part because of her quirky image which took the popular late 1970s punk look and marketed it to a mainstream audience. At this stage in her career, it was predicted that she would surely outlast Madonna as a pop icon.

From 1984 to 1985, she appeared as herself in a number of WWE professional wrestling events, where she supposedly was the manager of Wendi Richter. This cross-promotion arranged by David Wolff and Vince McMahon also lead to a number of professional wrestlers appearing on her early videos. She later described the period as fun, but a distraction to her musical ambitions, and largely stopped her WWE appearances after 1985.

In 1986, after recording the song "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" for the 1985 film The Goonies, Lauper released her second album, True Colors. Revealing a more mature sound and sensibility, it reached number 4 on the Billboard 200. The title song went on to become her second Platinum number 1 hit. She also sang the jaunty theme song for the series, "Pee-wee's Playhouse", under the name Ellen Shaw, as well. The album sold 12 million copies worldwide.

In 1987, Cyndi traveled all the globe with the True Colors World Tour.

In 1988 she appeared as the female lead in the quirky comedy Vibes, which was poorly received by critics and a commercial flop. Her soundtrack contribution, "Hole In My Heart (All the Way to China)", also flopped.

Lauper's third album, 1989's A Night to Remember, though critically well-received, was not as commercially successful as its predecessors, spawning just one hit, "I Drove All Night", which was originally penned for Roy Orbison. Orbison's version was not released until 1992, three years after Lauper's version and four years after Orbison's death. "A Night To Remember" sold 5 million copies. Cyndi received a Grammy nomination for her vocals on "I Drove All Night".

In 1990 she joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin (her performance of Another Brick in the Wall part II was criticized, even described by the All Music Guide as "ruining the spare funk with over-enthusiastic yelping" [1]). Her second film, Off and Running, went un-noticed, but she did meet future husband - actor David Thornton - on the set.

Lauper took a break from singing at this point, but didn't disappear from show business, and in 1993 she played Michael J. Fox's secretary in Life with Mikey. She released the critically acclaimed album Hat Full of Stars in the same year, but once again sales were poor. With a smooth new R&B sound and production by Junior Vasquez, she tackled such topics as spousal abuse and abortion.

In 1995 Lauper won an Emmy award for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series" for her portrayal of wealthy contessa Marianne Lugasso in Mad About You. She also released 12 Deadly Cyns... and Then Some, a greatest hits compilation that included two new tracks, one of which was a reworking of her first big hit, newly christened "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)". The album was released under a number of different titles, packaging and track listings around the world. "Twelve Deadly Cyns" sold over 10 million copies worldwide and she began a world tour to promote the album.

Her 1997 album Sisters of Avalon brought her back into the limelight. With subject matter even more adult than before, it was quickly embraced by the gay community for its dance and club stylings. The topicality of the album also contributed to its "pink" appeal: the song "Ballad of Cleo and Joe" addressed the complications of a drag queen's double life, while "You Don't Know" tackled the thorny issue of coming out. The album's singles were remixed to great acclaim, and Lauper began performing as a featured artist at gay pride events around the world.

In 1999 she co-headlined a tour alongside Cher, and contributed a cover version of The Trammps's classic "Disco Inferno" to the soundtrack of the film A Night at the Roxbury, which earned her another Grammy nomination. The remixed version becoming a club hit. She also garnered critical plaudits for her roles in several independent films including The Opportunists (with Christopher Walken).

In 2001 Lauper prepared an album, Shine, which saw her returning to her early pop/rock sound without losing the "maturity" she had embraced on later records. Just weeks before the album's scheduled release, however, her label, Edel America Records, folded, and the tracks were leaked to the public. Although a five song E.P. of the same name was made available through her website and at Tower Records, the full length album concept was scrapped.

She undertook her second co-headlining tour with Cher in 2002.

In 2003, an EP of remixes from the unreleased Shine album was sold on the Edel America Records website. Additionally Lauper's former label Sony issued a new greatest hits CD entitled The Essential Cyndi Lauper. She then re-signed with Sony/Epic Records, the label that made her a star, and a new album called Naked City was in the works.

In November 2003 an album of standards was released entitled At Last (formerly Naked City), which became a top 40 hit in the U.S. and Australia. It showed off her skills as a unique interpreter and critics agreed the Lauper's voice - always a force to be reckoned with - was even stronger at age 50 that it had been in her heyday. In March of 2004 the full length Shine album was finally released, though exclusively in Japan. She was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award for "Best Instrumental Composition Accompanying a Vocal" for her interpretation of the song "Unchained Melody" on the At Last album.

In 2004, Lauper was invited to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, in Oslo. She performed on stage 3 times during the concert. Her most notable performance of the evening was the timeless classic, "Time After Time", which included Chris Botti and Arvid Solvang. The trio were accompanied by a full orchestra.

In November of 2005 Lauper released The Body Acoustic, an album which featured acoustic reinterpretations of tracks from her back catalog as well as two new songs. Featuring guest appearances by artists such as Shaggy, Ani DiFranco and Sarah McLachlan, the collection debuted and peaked at #112 on the Billboard chart and upon its UK release in March 2006, accompanied by a promotional tour, it entered at UK #55, becoming her first UK chart album for nine years and her biggest chart success in the UK for 12 years. Lauper continues to tour the world performing live, and is noted as an energetic live performer. Lauper appeared as herself on the Showtime series Queer as Folk. She maintains a devoted fanbase and lives in New York with her husband, and their child.

In March of 2006 Lauper took on her first starring Broadway role as "Pirate" Jenny Diver in the musical The Threepenny Opera. The Roundabout's production of Threepenny Opera received a 2006 Tony nomination for best revival as well as Jim Dale for best featured actor in a musical. Lauper was honored for her work in Threepenny at the Drama League Awards.

CINDY LAUPER PICTURES

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CINDY LAUPER BIOGRAPHY