Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 22nd, 1953. Cyndi grew up with one sister, Elen, and one brother, Fred, who was named after their father. At age 12, Cyndi first started playing the guitar and writing song lyrics; the first song she ever learned to play was "Greensleeves." She spent her teens hopping from high school to high school, going to a total of four before earning her honorary high school diploma. During the mid-1970s, Cyndi performed with various bands in New York, singing covers of songs by such groups as Jefferson Airplane and Led Zeppelin, in addition to other top 40 hits. In 1977, Cyndi suffered serious damage to her vocal chords, and it would take a year of therapy for her to strengthen her voice again. As soon as she had regained her voice, she formed a new band, Blue Angel, which released a self-titled album in 1980. In the spring of 1983, Cyndi signed on with Portrait Records as a solo artist, and later that year released her first solo album, She's So Unusual. Selling over 4.5 million copies in the United States alone, the record was an unprecedented success. She's So Unusual was the first female debut album to have four top-five singles: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," "She Bop," and "All Through the Night." Cyndi received a number of Grammy nominations, winning as the Best New Artist of 1984; the American Music Awards, MTV, and Rolling Stone all concurred. Throughout the '80s, Cyndi continued to tour relentlessly, and received several more Grammy nominations, although she didn't win. In 1985, Cyndi co-wrote the theme song to The Goonies, the fantasy film executive-produced by Steven Spielberg (who had a cameo in the music video). In 1988, she traveled to the then USSR for a kind of Soviet-American songwriters' convention.



Although a five song EP of the same name was made available through her website and at Tower Records, the full-length album concept was scrapped. The five song EP was released in June of 2002, and was made available at, "Best Buy." An album of, "Shine" remixes was eventually released through, "Tower Records."



Cyndi took part in, "VH1 Divas Live" with Patti La Belle, Jessica Simpson, Debbie Harry, Ashanti, Sheila E., and the Pussycat Dolls.



Cyndi has recorded an album of all new material, entitled "Savoir Faire," that she says will be released early 2008. She has described it as a mainly dance album with good rhythm. She has performed some of the songs at her concerts.