Jun 14, 2018
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper, born
June 22, 1953 is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT
rights activist. Her career has spanned over 30 years. Her debut
solo album She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut female album
to chart four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"Girls Just
Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through
the Night"—and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th
Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack
for the motion picture The Goonies and her second record True
Colors (1986). This album included the number one single "True
Colors" and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number three.
Since 1989, Lauper has released nine
studio albums and participated in many other projects. In 2010,
Memphis Blues, became Billboard's most successful blues album of
the year, remaining at number one on the Billboard Blues Albums
chart for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2013, Lauper won the Tony Award
for best original score for composing the Broadway musical Kinky
Boots, making her the first woman to win the category by
herself.[4] The musical was awarded five other Tonys
including Tony Award for Best New Musical. In 2014, Lauper was
awarded the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for the
cast recording. In 2016, the West End production won Best New
Musical at the Olivier Awards. Lauper has sold over 50 million
albums and 20 million singles. She has won awards at the Grammys,
Emmys, Tonys, the New York's Outer Critics Circle, MTV Video Music
Awards (VMAs), Billboard Awards, and American Music Awards (AMAs).
An inductee into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lauper is one of the few singers to win
three of the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT).
Lauper won the inaugural Best Female Video prize at the 1984 VMAs
for “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. This music video is recognized
by MTV, VH1 and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest music videos
of the era. She is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Museum's Women Who Rock exhibit. Her debut album is included in
Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, while
“Time After Time” is included in VH1's list of the 100 Best Songs
of the Past 25 years. VH1 has ranked Lauper No. 58 of the 100
Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. Lauper is known for both her
distinctive image featuring a variety of hair colors, eccentric
clothing and is particularly known for her powerful and distinctive
four-octave singing range. Lauper has been celebrated for her
humanitarian work, particularly as an advocate for LGBT rights in
the United States. Her charitable efforts were acknowledged in 2013
when the singer was invited as a special guest to attend U.S.
President Barack Obama's second-term inauguration. Life and career
1953–1979: Early life Lauper was born at Boulevard Hospital in
Astoria, Queens, New York City, to a Catholic family. Her father,
Fred, was of German and Swiss descent. Her mother, Catrine Gallo,
is Italian American from Sicily. Lauper's siblings are younger
brother Fred (nicknamed Butch), and older sister, Ellen. Lauper's
parents divorced when she was five. Her mother remarried and
divorced again. Lauper grew up in the Ozone Park neighborhood of
Queens ( a NYC borough) and as a child, listened to such artists as
The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Billie Holiday. At
age 12, she began writing songs and playing an acoustic guitar
given to her by her sister. Lauper expressed herself with a variety
of hair colors, eccentric clothing[27] and even took a
friend's advice to spell her name as "Cyndi" rather than "Cindy"
and her quirky sense of style led to classmates bullying her, with
some cruel children literally throwing stones at her (presumably
for being unashamedly “different"). Lauper went to Richmond Hill
High School, but was expelled, although she later earned her GED.
She left home at 17, to escape her abusive stepfather, intending to
study art. Her journey took her to Canada, where she spent two
weeks in the woods with her dog Sparkle, trying to find herself.
She eventually traveled to Vermont, where she took art classes at
Johnson State College and supported herself working odd jobs. In
the early 1970s, Lauper performed as a vocalist with various cover
bands. One, called Doc West, covered disco songs as well as Janis
Joplin. A later band, Flyer, was active in the New York
metropolitan area, singing hits by bands including Bad Company,
Jefferson Airplane and Led Zeppelin. Although Lauper was performing
on stage, she was not happy singing covers. In 1977, Lauper damaged
her vocal cords and took a year off from singing. She was told by
doctors that she would never sing again, but regained her voice
with the help of vocal coach Katie Agresta. 1980–1982: Blue Angel
In 1978, Lauper met saxophone player John Turi through her manager
Ted Rosenblatt. Turi and Lauper formed a band named Blue Angel and
recorded a demo tape of original music. Steve Massarsky, manager of
The Allman Brothers Band, heard the tape and liked Lauper's voice.
He bought Blue Angel's contract for $5,000 and became their
manager. Lauper received recording offers as a solo artist, but
held out, wanting the band to be included in any deal she made.
Blue Angel was eventually signed by Polydor Records and released a
self-titled album on the label in 1980. Lauper hated the album
cover, saying that it made her look like Big Bird, but Rolling
Stone magazine later included it as one of the 100 best new wave
album covers (2003). Despite critical acclaim, the album sold
poorly ("It went lead", as Lauper later joked) and the band broke
up. The members of Blue Angel had a falling-out with Massarsky and
fired him as their manager. He later filed an $80,000 suit against
them, which forced Lauper into bankruptcy. After this Lauper
temporarily lost her voice due to an inverted cyst in her vocal
cord. After Blue Angel broke up, Lauper spent time, due to her
financial problems, working in retail stores, waitressing at IHOP
(which she quit after being demoted to hostess when the manager
made a pass at her), and singing in local clubs. Her most frequent
gigs were at El Sombrero. Music critics who saw Lauper perform with
Blue Angel believed she had star potential due to her four-octave
singing range. In 1981, while singing in a local New York bar,
Lauper met David Wolff, who took over as her manager and had her
sign a recording contract with Portrait Records, a subsidiary of
Epic Records. 1983–1985: She's So Unusual On October 14, 1983,
Lauper released her first solo album, She's So Unusual. The album
peaked at No. 4 in the US, and became a worldwide hit. The
primary studio musicians were Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (of The
Hooters), Rick Chertoff, Richard Termini and Peter Wood. Lauper
became popular with teenagers and critics, in part due to her
hybrid punk image, which was crafted by stylist Patrick Lucas.
Lauper was interested in writing her own songs, but the record
company provided her with songs to record that were written by
other writers. Lauper sometimes changed the lyrics in the material
she was given by the record company; such is the case with "Girls
Just Want to Have Fun". Lauper found the original lyrics to be
misogynistic, so she rewrote the song as an anthem for young women.
The album's second single "Time After Time" was co-written by
Lauper and Rob Hyman. "Time After Time" hit No. 1 on both the
Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. The song would
earn Lauper an RIAA Gold certification for record sales that
reached 500,000 copies, and was later covered by Miles Davis on his
album “You’re under arrest”. It became a staple of Davis’s live
shows at the time, featuring on the live album “Live around the
world”. The other Billboard Hot 100 singles on She's So Unusual
were "She Bop" (No. 3), "All Through the Night" (No. 5),
written by Jules Shear, and "Money Changes Everything" (No.27). The
album includes five cover songs, including The Brains' new wave
track "Money Changes Everything" (No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100)
and Prince's "When You Were Mine". The album made Lauper the first
female to have four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 top five hits
from one album. The LP stayed in the Top 200 charts for more than
65 weeks, and since has sold 16 million copies worldwide. Lauper
won Best New Artist at the 1985 Grammy Awards. She's So Unusual
also received nominations for Album of the Year, Record of the
Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for "Girls Just Want to
Have Fun"), and Song of the Year (for "Time After Time"). It also
won the Grammy for Best Album Package, which went to the art
director, Janet Perr. The video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
won the inaugural award for Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video
Music Awards, and made Lauper an MTV staple. The video featured
professional wrestling manager "Captain" Lou Albano as Lauper's
father, and her real-life mother, Catrine, as her
mother,[48] and also featured her attorney, her manager,
her brother Butch, and her dog Sparkle. In 1984–85, Lauper appeared
on the covers of Rolling Stone magazine, Time, and Newsweek. She
appeared twice on the cover of People, and was named a Ms. magazine
Woman of the Year in 1985. In 1985, Lauper participated in USA for
Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World",
which sold more than 20 million copies since then. Lauper appeared
with professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, who played her "bodyguard"
and would also later make many appearances as herself in a number
of the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection"
events, and played Wendi Richter's manager in the inaugural
WrestleMania event. Dave Wolff, Lauper's boyfriend and manager at
the time, was a wrestling fan as a boy, and engineered the rock and
wrestling connection. In 1985, Lauper released the single "The
Goonies 'R' Good Enough", from the soundtrack to the movie The
Goonies, and an accompanying video which featured several wrestling
stars. The song reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
1986–1988: True Colors and Vibes Lauper received two nominations at
the 1986 Grammy Awards: Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for
"What a Thrill" and Best Long Form Music Video for Cyndi Lauper in
Paris. Lauper released her second album, True Colors, on September
18, 1986.[58] It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200
and sold 2 million copies in the US. She increased her involvement
in production and songwriting on her second album, co-writing most
of the songs with Essra Mohawk, John Turi, Billy Steinberg, and Tom
Kelly. Guests included Angela Clemons-Patrick, Nile Rodgers, Aimee
Mann, Billy Joel, Adrian Belew, The Bangles, Ellie Greenwich and
Rick Derringer. True Colors was not as commercially successful as
She's So Unusual, but it did contain three high-charting singles,
including the title track, "True Colors", which became Lauper's
second song to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; "Change of
Heart" (No. 3); and a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"
(No. 12). A fourth single from the album, "Boy Blue", did not
reach the top-40. She donated the proceeds of that song to AIDS
research. The song "True Colors" (written by Steinberg and Kelly)
was licensed to Kodak for use in its commercials. In 1986, Lauper
appeared on the Billy Joel album The Bridge, with a song called
"Code of Silence". She is credited as having written the lyrics
with Joel and she sings a duet with him. In the same year, Lauper
also sang the theme song for the series Pee-wee's Playhouse,
credited as "Ellen Shaw". In 1987, David Wolff produced a concert
film for Lauper called Cyndi Lauper in Paris. The concert was
broadcast on HBO. Lauper made her film debut in August 1988 in the
quirky comedy Vibes, alongside Jeff Goldblum, Peter Falk, and
Julian Sands. Lauper played a psychic in search of a city of gold
in South America. Deborah Blum and Tony Ganz produced the film,
with David Wolff as associate producer. To prepare for the role,
Lauper took a few classes in finger waving and hair setting at the
Robert Fiance School of Beauty in New York, and studied with a few
Manhattan psychics. The film flopped and was poorly received by
critics But would later be consider a cult classic by fans alike.
Lauper contributed a track called "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to
China)" for the Vibes soundtrack, but the song was not included. A
music video was released, a high energy, comic action/adventure
romp through a Chinese laundry. The song reached No. 54 on the
US charts, but fared better in Australia, reaching No. 8.
"Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" became the opening song
on her 2008 Australian tour. 1989–1992: A Night to Remember and
marriage A Night to Remember – Lauper's third album – was released
in the spring of 1989. The album had one hit, the No. 6 single
"I Drove All Night", originally recorded by Roy Orbison, three
years before his death on December 6, 1988. Lauper received a
Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the
1990 Grammy Awards for "I Drove All Night", but overall album sales
for A Night to Remember were down. The music video for the album's
song "My First Night Without You" was one of the first to be
closed-captioned for the hearing impaired in which Cyndi would
later drop from the music industry due to feeling miserable &
Depressed about her singing career & the company that own
rights to her music. On July 21, 1990, Lauper joined Roger Waters
and other artists performing "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II"
as part of the concert The Wall in Berlin. As part of the concert,
Lauper also performed "The Tide Is Turning" with Waters, Joni
Mitchell, Bryan Adams, Paul Carrack and Van Morrison. Three hundred
thousand people attended the concert and over five million people
worldwide watched on live television. Because of a friendship with
Yoko Ono, Lauper took part in the May 1990 John Lennon tribute
concert in Liverpool, performing the Beatles song "Hey Bulldog" and
the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero".[64] She also
took part in Ono and Lennon's son Sean's project called "The Peace
Choir", performing a new version of Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance".
On November 24, 1991, Lauper married actor David Thornton.
1993–1995: Hat Full of Stars and Twelve Deadly Cyns Lauper's fourth
album Hat Full of Stars was released in June 1993 and was met with
critical acclaim, but failed commercially, unsupported by her
label. The album, which tackled such topics as homophobia, spousal
abuse, racism, and abortion sold fewer than 120,000 copies in the
United States and peaked at No. 112 on the Billboard charts.
The video for the album's song "Sally's Pigeons" features the
then-unknown Julia Stiles as the young Cyndi. Lauper co-wrote
several songs for the album with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ailee
Willis, Nicky Holland, Tom Gray, Hugh Masekela and The Hooters.
That same year, Lauper recorded "Boys Will Be Boys" with The
Hooters for their album Out of Body. The Hooters dedicated their
song "Private Emotion" to her. Her greatest hits album, Twelve
Deadly Cyns...and Then Some, was released outside of the US in 1994
and reached US audiences in summer of 1995. The album sold over six
million copies worldwide. It included two re-recorded tracks, "I'm
Gonna be Strong", originally recorded with Blue Angel, and a
reworking of her first hit, newly christened "Hey Now (Girls Just
Want to Have Fun)”. In 1993, Lauper returned to acting, playing
Michael J. Fox's ditzy secretary in Life with Mikey. She also won
an Emmy Award[68] for her role as Marianne Lugasso in
the sitcom Mad About You. 1996–2000: Motherhood and Sisters of
Avalon On November 19, 1997, Lauper gave birth to her son Declyn
Wallace Thornton. Her fifth album, Sisters of Avalon, was released
in Japan in 1996 and elsewhere in 1997. The album was written and
produced with the help of Jan Pulsford (Lauper's keyboard player)
and producer Mark Saunders. As in Hat Full of Stars, some of the
songs in Sisters of Avalon addressed dark themes. The song "Ballad
of Cleo and Joe" addressed the complications of a drag queen's
double life. The song "Say a Prayer" was written for a friend of
hers who had died from AIDS. "Unhook the Stars" was used in the
movie of the same name. Again without support from her label, the
release failed in America, spending a single week on the Billboard
album chart at No. 188. This album also met with much critical
praise, including People magazine, which declared it "90s
nourishment for body and soul. Lauper sets a scene, makes us care,
gives us hope.” In November 1998, Lauper released the Christmas
album Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life. The album contained both
original material and standards, and was co-produced and mixed by
William Wittman. On January 17, 1999, Lauper appeared as an
animated version of herself in The Simpsons episode "Wild Barts
Can't Be Broken", singing the National Anthem to the melody of
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun". In the same year, Lauper opened for
Cher's Do You Believe? Tour alongside Wild Orchid.She also appeared
in the films Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and The
Opportunists. Lauper contributed a cover version of The Trammps'
"Disco Inferno" to the soundtrack for the film A Night at the
Roxbury. The song was also released as an EP and earned Lauper a
nomination 1999 Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording. In 2000,
Lauper contributed the song "I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever"
to the children's movie Rugrats in Paris. The song was written with
Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO). In 2000, Lauper also co-wrote the song
"If You Believe" with Faye Tozer of the British pop group Steps,
for the band's third studio album, Buzz. 2001–2004: Shine and At
Last In 2001, Lauper prepared a new album Shine. The album was a
return to her early punk-rock sound and featured Japanese pop
superstar Ryuichi Sakamoto, and George Fullan of Train. Just weeks
before the album's scheduled release on September 11, 2001, her
label (Edel America Records) folded. A five-song EP of Shine was
released in June 2002, but the full-length album was released
exclusively in Japan. An album of Shine remixes was eventually
released through Tower Records. On October 12, 2000, Lauper took
part in the television show Women in Rock, Girls with Guitars
performing with Ann Wilson of Heart and with the girl group,
Destiny's Child. A CD of the songs performed was released
exclusively to Sears stores from September 30 to October 31, 2001,
and was marketed as a fundraiser for breast cancer. In 2002, Sony
issued a best-of CD, The Essential Cyndi Lauper. Lauper also
released a cover album with Sony/Epic Records entitled At Last
(formerly Naked City), which was released in 2003. At Last received
one nomination at the 2005 Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental
Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), for "Unchained Melody". The
effort was also a commercial hit, selling 4.5 million
records. In April 2004, Lauper performed during the
VH1's benefit concert Divas Live 2004 alongside Ashanti, Gladys
Knight, Jessica Simpson, Joss Stone and Patti LaBelle, in support
of the Save the Music Foundation. 2005–2007: The Body Acoustic In
2005, under a new contract with Sony Music, Lauper released The
Body Acoustic, an album that featured acoustic reinterpretations of
tracks from her repertoire. The album also included two new tracks
including "Above the Clouds". Guest performers on the album
included Shaggy, Ani DiFranco, Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday,
Jeff Beck, Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah McLachlan, and Vivian Green. "Time
After Time" with Sarah McLachlan charted on the Billboard Adult
Contemporary chart. She made appearances on Showtime's hit show
Queer As Folk in 2005, directed a commercial for Totally 80s
edition of the board game Trivial Pursuit in 2006, served as a
judge on the 6th Annual Independent Music Awards and made her
Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated The Threepenny Opera as Jenny.
She performed with Shaggy, Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver/Stone
Temple Pilots, Pat Monahan of Train, Ani DiFranco, and The Hooters
in the VH1 Classics special Decades Rock Live. In 2007, she sang
"Beecharmer" with Nellie McKay on McKay's Pretty Little Head album,
and "Message To Michael" with Dionne Warwick. On October 16, 2006,
Lauper was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
2008–2009: Bring Ya to the Brink In 2009, Lauper took a role and
wrote a song for the Serbian movie Here and There, which stars her
husband, David Thornton. Lauper's sixth studio album, Bring Ya to
the Brink was released in the United States on May 27,
2008.[78] By the time of the album's US release, the
single "Set Your Heart" had already had significant airplay in
Japan, and Lauper had begun an Australian tour with Katie Noonan
and Kate Miller-Heidke. The album featured dance tracks written
with artists including Axwell, The Scumfrog, Basement Jaxx, Digital
Dog, Dragonette, Kleerup, and others. Bring Ya to the Brink
received one Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album and
charted two #1 hits on the Billboard Dance chart. "Set Your Heart"
was used in the Japanese advertising campaign for the 2008 Toyota
MarkX ZIO. Other projects for 2008 included the True Colors Tour
and a Christmas duet with Swedish band The Hives, entitled "A
Christmas Duel". The song was released as a CD single and a 7"
vinyl in Sweden.[79] Lauper also performed on the "Girls
Night Out", headlining it with Rosie O'Donnell in the
US.[80] Lauper's TV appearances in 2009 included the
American soap opera As the World Turns, performing "Time After
Time" as a duet with Allison Iraheta, on the season 8 finale of
American Idol and at the 2009 TV Land Awards on April 19 dressed as
the "Empress of Evil" for a musical tribute to Sid and Marty
Krofft. Lauper performed a duet with Leona Lewis on VH1 Divas on
September 19, 2009, singing "True Colors", and performed a comedy
skit with Eminem at the MTV VMA's in September 2009. She also
played herself in 30 Rock's third season finale and appeared as
Avalon Harmonia, a psychic, on the Season 5 premiere of Bones. On
November 17, 2009, Lauper performed a collaborative work with
Wyclef Jean called "Slumdog Millionaire", performing it on the Late
Show with David Letterman.[82] The collaborative effort
stems from Jean's latest album: Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut,
To the Projects, To the Mansion. 2010–2012: The Celebrity
Apprentice, Memphis Blues, memoir In January 2010, Mattel released
a Cyndi Lauper Barbie doll as part of their "Ladies of the 80s"
series. In March 2010, Lauper appeared on NBC's The Celebrity
Apprentice, coming in sixth place.[84] She donated her
winnings to her True Colors Fund. Lauper also performed a song from
her upcoming album Memphis Blues in the show's live season finale.
Memphis Blues—Lauper's 7th studio album—was released on June 22,
2010 and debuted on the Billboard Blues Albums chart at No. 1, and
at No. 26 on the Billboard Top 200. The album remained No. 1
on the Blues Albums chart for 14 consecutive weeks; Memphis Blues
was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 2011 Grammy
Awards. Lauper made international news in March 2011 for an
impromptu performance of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" while
waiting for a delayed flight at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos
Aires. A video was later posted on YouTube. In November 2011, she
released two Christmas singles exclusive to iTunes. The first
release was a Blues-inspired cover of Elvis Presley's classic "Blue
Christmas", and the second was a new version of "Home for the
holidays", a duet with Norah Jones. In June 2012, Lauper made her
first appearance for WWE in 27 years, to promote WWE Raw's 1000th
episode to memorialize "Captain" Lou Albano. In September 2012,
Lauper performed at fashion designer Betsey Johnson's 40 year
Retrospective Fashion show.[90] She also released a New
York Times Best Selling memoir that detailed her struggle with
child abuse and depression. 2013–2015: Kinky Boots, She's So
Unusual: A 30th Anniversary Celebration & Songwriters Hall of
Fame Lauper composed music and lyrics for the Broadway musical
Kinky Boots, with Harvey Fierstein writing the book. The musical
was based on the 2006 independent film Kinky Boots. It opened in
Chicago in October 2012[92] and on Broadway at the Al
Hirschfeld Theatre on April 4, 2013. In May, Lauper won for best
score for Kinky Boots at the 63rd annual Outer Critics Circle
Awards.[94] The musical led the 2013 Tony Awards, with
13 nominations and six wins including Best Musical and Best Actor.
Lauper won the award for Best Original Score. Lauper was the first
woman to win solo in this category. In the summer of 2013, in
celebration of the 30th anniversary of her debut album She's So
Unusual, Lauper embarked on an international tour covering America
and Australia. The show consisted of a mix of fan favorites and the
entirety of the She's So Unusual record. She was a guest on 36
dates of Cher's Dressed to Kill Tour, starting April 23, 2014. A
new album was confirmed by Lauper on a website interview. Lauper
hosted the Grammy Pre-Telecast at the Nokia Theatre, L.A. on Jan
26,[101] where she later accepted a Grammy for Kinky
Boots (Best Musical Theater Album). On April 1 (March 1 in Europe),
Lauper released the 30th Anniversary edition of She's So Unusual
through Epic Records[103] It featured a remastered
version of the original album plus three new remixes. The Deluxe
Edition featured bonus tracks such as demos and a live recording as
well as a 3D cut-out of the bedroom featured in the 'Girls Just
Want to Have Fun' music video with a reusable sticker set. On
September 17, 2014, Cyndi Lauper sang on the finale of America's
Got Talent. On September 25, as part of the Today Show's Shine a
Light series, Lauper re-recorded "True Colors" in a mashup with
Sara Bareilles' "Brave" to raise awareness and money for children
battling cancer.[106] By October the project had raised
over $300,000. The Songwriters Hall of Fame included Lauper in its
nomination list on October 2014.[108] Also during
October, Lauper's fourth consecutive 'Home for the Holidays'
benefit concert for homeless gay youth was announced. Acts included
50 Cent and Laverne Cox with 100% of the net proceeds going to the
True Colors Fund. In March 2015 Lauper once again guest
starred on the crime show Bones as Avalon Harmonia. On June 12,
2015, Lauper appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside Seth
MacFarlane, Dara O'Briain, and Mark Wahlberg. To promote her work
with the National Psoriasis Foundation and Novartis and revealing
she, herself has suffered from psoriasis for the past five years,
Cyndi appeared on the Today Show in July 2015. During the interview
Cyndi revealed she is working on a project with Seymour Stein.
Later it was revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone she is
working on a country album with Tony Brown, and Seymour Stein as
executive producer. On September 15, 2015, Kinky Boots opened at
the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End. 2016–present: Detour and
more In January 2016, Lauper announced she would release a new
album on May 6, 2016. This composed of her interpretations of early
country classics entitled Detour.[113] The announcement
was supported by a release of her version of Harlan Howard's
"Heartaches by the Number" and a performance on Skyville Live with
Kelsea Ballerini and Ingrid Michaelson. On February 17, 2016 she
released her version of Wanda Jackson's "Funnel of Love". In
February 2016, Lauper was nominated for an Olivier Award for her
contribution to the UK production of Kinky Boots along with Stephen
Oremus, the man responsible for the arrangements.[116]
In January 2017, this production's album was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, Lauper
was featured on "Swipe to the Right" off of Electronica 2: The
Heart of Noise from French producer Jean-Michel Jarre. This second
album of the Electronica project is based on collaborations with
artists related to electronic music (Tangerine Dream, Moby, Pet
Shop Boys, etc.). In October 2016, her son Dex Lauper was the
opening act for her Scottsdale, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada dates
on her Detour Tour.[119] In January 2017, Lauper was
featured on Austin City Limits' 42nd season performing some of her
classic songs alongside country tunes from Detour. The episode
aired on PBS.[120] In October 2017 she released a new
song, "Hope", in honor of World Psoriasis Day. "I know first-hand
the impact psoriasis can have and my goal is to give a voice to the
millions of Americans who may struggle with their psoriasis," said
Lauper. Together with singer Kesha, Lauper performed, amongst
others, the song 'Praying' at the Grammy Award Ceremony in January
2018. In March 2018, it was announced that Lauper together with
co-'Time after time' songwriter Rob Hyman is going to compose the
music for the musical version of the 1988 film 'Working Girl' which
starred Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver. She teamed up with
Hyman because she wanted " the music to sound like the 80s". Also
in March 2018 it was announced that Cyndi Lauper will be one of the
headliners for the 15th annual Rock the Park Festival in Canada on
July 12.