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True Colors
Background:
“Sometimes when I’m singing, I feel like I’m floating. I feel like I’m like this
tall and I feel like I could do anything. I think that’s why I’ve always sang
because I’m addicted to it, because it feels like flying. If you're lucky, you
take people on the flight with you. If you’re lucky, you can create a space and
bring other people inside. It’s like an inner space that goes outside. It’s very
scientific.”
Enjoying meteoric success with her platinum solo debut album She’s So Unusual
(1983, dispatched the single “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”), singer/actress
Cyndi Lauper soon took home a Grammy Award and two American Music Awards, as
well as two Grammy nominations. Lauper also earned platinum certification for
her sophomore album, True Colors (1986, featuring the title track as the first
single).
As an actress, Lauper won an Emmy Award and received another Emmy nomination
thanks to her witty portrayal of Marianne Lugasso in several episodes of the
sitcom “Mad About You” (1993, 1995, 1999). The recipient of the 1985 Women in
Film Crystal Award, Lauper was also seen in such films as the fantasy comedy
Vibes (1988), Off and Running (1991), the comedy movie Life With Mikey (1993)
and The Opportunist (2000).
On a more private note, the 58th woman on VH1’s “100 Greatest Women of Rock N
Roll” has a famous Manhattan apartment house on the West Side called “The
Apthorp” and a beach house in South Carolina. She is married to actor David
Thornton and is the mother of a son.
Damaged Vocal Chords
Childhood and Family:
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper, who would later be famous as Cyndi Lauper, was
born on June 20, 1953, in Ozone Park, New York, to Catrine Dominique and Fred
Lauper. Cyndi, who learned playing guitar and writing lyrics at age 12, decided
to quit her studies at Richmond Hills High School and pursued her passion for
music.
After briefly traveling to Canada, Cyndi joined some cover bands. In 1977, she
had some damage on her vocal chords, which made her take a year off to train
with a vocal coach before recording an album with new material.
Formerly having a romantic relationship with manager David Wolff, Cyndi then met
actor David Thornton while filming Off and Running (1991). They tied the wedding
knot on November 24, 1991, and have a son named Declyn Wallace (born in 1997).
So Unusual
Career:
After singing cover songs with the bands “Doc West” and “Flyer,” Cyndi Lauper
became a member of the band Blue Angel and wrote original songs for their
self-titled album, released on Polydor Records in 1980. However, the album did
not make much of an impact and the group disbanded shortly after. Lauper, who
then returned to cover songs to support her life, met future manager David Wolff
and was signed to a subsidiary of Columbia Records called Portrait Records.
“Who is this girl Cyndi Lauper, and why is she SO Unusual?” Cyndi Lauper
On the new label, Lauper released the immediate hit album She’s So Unusual
(1983) and set off the single “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” whose video
received heavy airplay on MTV. The platinum recording also broke the charts with
the ballad “Time After Time,” “She Bop” and “All Through the Night.” Before
long, Lauper won a Grammy for Best New Artist and was nominated for two others
(one for Album of the Year, one for Record of the Year). In addition, the singer
took home two American Music awards, a Rolling Stone award and an MTV award for
Best Artist.
The fame soon brought Lauper to the screen, where she first took part in the
direct-to-video short project Prime Cuts (1984). The singer also sang in the
choir for the benefit single “We Are The World” (1985), participated in several
WWF projects (such as the video-released Wrestlemania, 1985) and provided
chart-burning soundtracks for Steven Spielberg’s The Goonies (1985, sang “Good
Enough” and “What A Thrill”).
Resuming her success, Lauper launched the hit single “True Colors” from her
platinum sophomore album with the same title (1986). Featuring her collaboration
with Nile Rodgers, Aimee Mann, Billy Joel and The Bangles, the No. 4 album on
the Billboard 200 chart sold over 12 million copies worldwide. True Colors also
produced such tracks as “Change of Heart,” “Boy Blue” and the cover of Marvin
Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”
The recipient of the 1985 Women in Film Crystal award made her movie debut as a
psychic named Sylvia Pickel, opposite Jeff Goldblum, in the fantasy comedy Vibes
(1988). For the same movie, she performed the self-produced “Hole in My Heart”
and saw the song make it to the Hot 100 chart. A year later, she co-directed her
own music video for “I Drove All Night,” which was featured in her album A Night
to Remember (1989). After performing in the televised concert The Wall (1990),
the singer starred as struggling actress Cyd Morse in the black comedy thriller
Off and Running (1991, also wrote “The Only Fish (In My Sea)” and sang “Blue
Moon,” “Big Spender” and “Unabbreviated Love”).
Briefly disappearing, Lauper resurfaced on screen with a recurring role as
ex-wife Marianne Lugasso in several episodes of the sitcom “Mad About You”
(1993, 1995, 1999). For her funny performance in the series, the performer won
an Emmy and was nominated for another Emmy. She also accepted the supporting
role of secretary Geena Briganti in the Michael J. Fox-starring comedy Life With
Mikey (1993, also sang the self-penned “Feels Like Christmas”).
Although facing poor sales with the R&B-sounding album Hat Full of Stars (1993),
Lauper hit back with the greatest hits compilation Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then
Some (1995), which featured the rewritten track “Hey Now (Girls Just Want To
Have Fun).” The album sold over 4 million copies worldwide and the first single
was included in the soundtrack for To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie
Newmar (1995).
Lauper’s next studio album, Sisters of Avalon (1997), fared even better with its
social issues-themed tracks, such as the song about a drag queen’s life, “Ballad
of Cleo and Joe,” and the AIDS-themed “Say a Prayer.” The artist then
contributed a cover of The Trammps’s “Disco Inferno” for the comedy film A Night
at the Roxbury (1998) and released the holiday album Merry Christmas...Have a
Nice Life (1998), before co-headlining the Cher’s 1999 “Do You Believe” tour.
On screen, after playing Pidge in the adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s story The
Happy Prince (1999, TV), Lauper co-starred as disgruntled girlfriend Sally Mahon
in the action drama The Opportunists (2000), alongside Christopher Walken. The
next year, the musician tried the stage world with a leading role in New York
Stage and Film’s production of the musical “Largo” (2001). Lauper’s musical
journey continued with the compilation album The Essential Cyndi Lauper (2003),
the US Top 40 cover album At Last (2003, earned a Grammy nomination for the
cover of “Unchained Melody”) and the exclusively-released-in-Japan Shine (2004,
several songs were leaked to the public in 2001).
“I was talking with [A&R executive] David Massey and I realized that I’d never
recorded anything like what we were doing live. I wanted to do a really good
acoustic recording of ‘Time After Time,’ but I didn’t want to just make a ‘best
of’ record.’ So I decided to take a lot of songs that I love, whether they were
hits or should have been hits or were new, and put them into this style.” Cyndi
Lauper on The Body Acoustic (2005)
The multitalented performer, who had minor screen roles in “Higglytown Heroes”
(2004) and “That’s So Raven” (2005), enchanted her fans with the acoustic
recording The Body Acoustic (2005). The recording included guest appearances by
Shaggy, Ani DiFranco, Adam Lazzara, Jeff Beck, Puffy AmiYumi and Sarah McLachlan.
In 2006, Lauper made her Broadway debut in a revival of “The Threepenny Opera.”
Awards:
- Emmy: Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, “Mad About You,”
1995
- Women in Film Crystal: Crystal Award, 1985
- American Music: Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock, 1983
- American Music: Favorite Female Vocalist Video Pop/Rock, 1983
- Grammy: Best New Artist, 1983
- Rolling Stone: Best New Artist and Best Female Video Artist, 1983
- MTV: Best Female Video Artist
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