With her definitive Queens, New York accent and wild hair that changed colors often, Cyndi Lauper burst onto the music scene in the 80s and has proven her staying power in the entertainment arena for over 40 years.
Born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper on June 22, 1953, growing up she often felt like an outcast, but grew to love music as an antidote to her discontent. As a child, Lauper already had an eclectic collection of musical tastes, running the gamut from The Beatles to Judy Garland.
As a preteen, she began writing and playing songs on an acoustic guitar given to her by her sister. It was actually a friend who suggested she change the spelling of her name to Cyndi to stand out from other new singers, but that didn’t convince peers to welcome her into the fold. Her unconventional sense of style coupled with flamboyantly colored hair led to constant bullying and even having stones thrown at her. “I’ve colored my hair since I was nine.”
At a Catholic high school in Queens, Cyndi Lauper was expelled, an experience repeated at the next high school as well. Though she didn’t excel in scholastics, she felt it important enough that she earned a high school equivalency degree.
“My mother said I was an odd little kid,” Lauper has said. “I was alone a lot, but I didn’t feel alone. When I sang with those records my mom had, I’d be Julie Andrews and there was Rex Harrison sitting on my mother’s bed. I was Mitzi Gaynor. I was Enzo Pinza. I was pretty good until they sang duets.”
Cyndi Lauper: The early days
Lauper left home at 17 to escape her abusive stepfather and ended up at Johnson State College in Vermont with intentions of studying art. To make ends meet, she worked at a number of odd jobs such as waitressing, office assistant and even sang in a Japanese restaurant for a time. Her first taste of musical success was with the band Blue Angel, but the group split up after their first record album.
Undeterred, Lauper began singing in local New York clubs while waitressing at IHOP to meet financial obligations. It was in 1981 while singing at a New York bar that she met David Wolff, who remembered Lauper’s four octave range while catching her earlier gigs with Blue Angel. He signed up as her manager and got her a contract with a subsidiary of Epic Records. “I lucked out when I started to sing. I had already experienced failing at everything else.”
Cyndi Lauper 80s: “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” fame
She’s So Unusual was Lauper’s first solo album, released in 1983, which became an international hit and the girl from Queens was on her way to stardom thanks to her punk image. Critics and teenagers loved her voice and singing style while youngsters just loved her overall style.
The album spawned hits such as “Time After Time” and “She Bop,” but it was “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” that was an overnight sensation and has become an anthem for women of all ages. Thanks to the success of the album, Lauper won Best New Artist at the 1985 Grammys. True to her unconventional and rebellious nature, she was adorned with a pound of necklaces at her award ceremony — a classic Cyndi Lauper 80s moment.
Related: 20 Early ’80s Songs That Are So Catchy We Bet You Can’t Resist From Singing Along
The “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” video won at the 1984 MTV awards and went on to make Lauper an MTV staple. In preparing for the music video, the budget was abysmal, so Lauper bought furniture and painted the sets for the living room and her bedroom, handed out her personal collection of sunglasses to all the girls for the shoot and shared her personal makeup.
“When that song and video came out, I was thirty. They were saying How old are you? And even then, I was like, why? You think I’m a car? You need to check under the hood and kick the tires?”
Due to her popularity and social activism, Lauper was invited to appear in the music video and sang in the choir on the song “We Are The World.”
