1953: June 22nd Cyndi Lauper (full name: Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton), is born in Brooklyn-New York on June 22nd 1953 (note that a lot of biogaphies are wrong at this purpose: this is the correct date). Her father is named Fred Lauper, her mother Catrine Dominique (present in several videos), her sister Elen Lauper (this one was, in politics, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and she was a candidate for the mayor of Phoenix. She is now an accupuncturist in Glendale) and her brother Fred (nicknamed as Butch).
Cyndi took up playing the guitar and writing lyrics at the age of twelve. The first song she learnt to play was “Greensleeves”.
She went to 4 high schools. The one that gave her the honorary high school diploma was Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, NY.
1977 In the mid-seventies she performed as a vocalist with various cover bands in the New York metropolitan area. She sang some songs of Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and some top 40 covers… The names of the cover bands were “Doc West”, “Flyer”, … In 1977, Cyndi extensively damaged her vocal cords, leaving her virtually voiceless.
1980 After a full year of therapy with voice coach Katie Agestra, Cyndi’s voice was back and soon Cyndi and multi-instrumentalist John Turi formed a new band, ‘Blue Angel’, which released its self-titled debut album in 1980. This album included Maybe He’ll Know and Lauper’s soaring rendition of Gene Pitney’s I’m Gonna Be Strong.
1983 Cyndi Lauper signed with Portrait Records as a solo artist in the spring of 1983. Her first solo album, She’s So Unusual, was released at the end of the year and went on to sell more than 4,5 million copies in the United States alone. Moreover the album was the first of a female artist to score four Top Five singles from a debut album: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop and All Through The Night.
Recognition soon followed:
– American Music Awards for Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock – American Music Awards for Favorite Female Vocalist Video Pop/Rock – a Grammy award for Best New Artist – “Rolling Stone” Best New Artist and Best Female Video Artist – MTV Best Female Video Artist – … and many others
1984 In 1984, Cyndi worked 350 days and neared her 300th concert mark. She performed or promoted her records in 150 cities. But she also found time to sit down and design all the T-shirts sold at her concerts.
1986 In ’86 True Colors was launched, the cast of this album including notables such as Billy Joel, Nile Rodgers, Rick Derringer, Aimee Mann and The Bangles. Cyndi received a Grammy nomination for the single True Colors. Cyndi co-produced this album.
1988 In October 1988, Cyndi travelled to the Soviet Union as one of a group of American songwriters collaborating with Soviet counterparts. The outcome is a great song: Cold Sky found on the album Music Speaks Louder Than Words.
1989 In 1989, Cyndi recorded the album A Night To Remember of which some songs were re-released on a single in January 1990. She again received a Grammy nomination for the single I Drove All Night.
Hit records, performances during mega-events as The Wall, award-winning videos, sold-out concert tours and very positive media acclaim; the rest, to use Lauper’s expression, is “herstory”.
80s flashback 