Short Biography
Iconic performer Cyndi Lauper is returning to Australia for a number of performances from March 2011. Tickets go on sale around the country on November 25.
Cyndi Lauper was the first artist to have five top ten singles from a debut album which included her mega hit Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Cyndi has sold 25 million albums, received 13 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards, two American Music Awards, and 18 MTV Video Music Awards and continues to lead as a singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and activist.
With her recent album Memphis Blues, a collection of blues cover songs, she is once again reinventing herself by putting her unique twist on one of music's most beloved genres. The collection of blues cover songs ranges from the harmonica blues ballad Just Your Fool to Don't Cry No More, originally a hit for Bobby "Blue" Bland. Memphis Blues has been at the top of the Blues charts for several weeks. "Australia is one of my favorite places and I am looking forward to visiting again in early 2011," said Cyndi Lauper. "We always have a great time when we come to Australia."
Her 2008 studio album, dance-oriented, Grammy-nominated Bring Ya to the Brink, featured collaborations with a cadre of cutting-edge producers and spawned two No. 1 Billboard Hot Dance Club Play singles. In 2009, the long-time actress appeared on such red-hot television shows as 30 Rock, Gossip Girl, Bones, and American Idol (performing with contestant Allison Iraheta), and was a surprise guest at the resurrected concert event VH1 Divas. In addition to her love of performing, Cyndi is unwavering in her commitment to social activism, creating the True Colors Fund as a show of solidarity against discrimination and to raise awareness about the issues facing the GLBT population.
In-depth Biography
Cyndi Lauper was one of the biggest stars of the early MTV era, selling five million copies of her debut album, She's So Unusual, as well as scoring a string of four Top Ten hits from the record, including the major hits "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time." Lauper's thin, girlish voice and gleefully ragtag appearance became one of the most distinctive images of the early '80s, which helped lead her not only to the top of the charts, but also to stardom. Throughout America, there were numbers of teenage girls dressing like Lauper and using "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" as an anthem, a call to arms for self-expression. At first, her music was a bright, colorful new wave fusion of a number of styles, including new wave, post-punk, reggae, pop, and funk. Both her music and her appearance helped popularize -- and just as importantly, sanitize --- the image of punk and new wave for America, making it an acceptable part of the pop landscape. Lauper didn't follow through on the success of She's So Unusual, choosing to turn toward middle-of-the-road balladry and mainstream pop, but her first album remains a benchmark of the early '80s.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in the neighboring borough of Queens, Lauper (born June 22, 1953) dropped out of high school in her late teens, choosing to sing in a number of local cover bands instead. Eventually, her voice was so strained she turned to voice lessons from Katherine Agresta, a well-known vocal teacher in New York. In 1977, Lauper began writing her own material with keyboardist John Turi. The duo formed Blue Angel that same year. Over the next few years, the group built up a solid following in New York, culminating in the release of an eponymous debut album on Polydor in 1980. The Blue Angel record flopped and shortly afterward, Lauper filed for bankruptcy, which led to the disbandment of Blue Angel.
Following the breakup of the group, Lauper sang in local clubs and restaurants. In 1983, her manager and boyfriend David Wolff managed to secure her a contract with Portrait. At the end of the year, she released her debut album, She's So Unusual. Helped by heavy MTV support of the album's first single/video "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," She's So Unusual became a major hit in the spring of 1984, eventually climbing to number four on the U.S. charts; it would wind up going platinum five times, as well as becoming a hit in the U.K. and Europe. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" peaked at number two, while its follow-up, the ballad "Time After Time," reached number one; two other songs, "She Bop" and "All Through the Night," went Top Ten.
With the success of She's So Unusual under her belt, Lauper was an official star, yet she wasn't able to maintain her popularity. During 1985 she worked on her follow-up album; her only release of the year was "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough," the theme song from the children's adventure film The Goonies. Her second album, True Colors, appeared in the fall of 1986, and while it was successful -- the title track went to number one, while the album peaked at number four and went platinum -- its softer, adult contemporary sound lost Lauper some fans. Lauper's career continued to lose momentum, as her feature film debut in 1988's comedy Vibes bombed. A Night to Remember, her third album, was released to weak reviews in 1989, and although it spawned the Top Ten hit "I Drove All Night," it suffered from disappointing sales, peaking at number 37. The next year, she severed her relationship with Wolff and married actor David Thornton.
After taking a few years off, Lauper returned in 1993 with Hat Full of Stars, an album where she co-produced and co-wrote all of the tracks. The record stiffed, peaking at 112. The following year, the hits compilation Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some was released in the U.K.; the album reached number two, while a remixed "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" became a number one hit. Twelve Deadly Cyns was released in America the following year to less attention. Lauper released Sisters of Avalon, her first album of new material in four years, in the spring of 1997 to generally positive reviews, yet the record didn't chart. Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life! followed in late 1998. After a long hiatus, Lauper returned to the studio in 2003 for At Last, a collection of pop standards that garnered favorable reviews and spawned a live DVD, Live...At Last. The Body Acoustic, a collection of stripped-down reinventions of previous hits, followed in 2005. In 2008, Lauper released her tenth studio album, the dance-oriented Bring Ya to the Brink. She then switched gears for 2010's Memphis Blues, which featured her versions of several classic blues songs. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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