Forget non-biased reporting, Cyndi Lauper is fabulous. She was fantastic circa 1983 when she — at age 30, by the way — burst onto the music scene with a Queens, N.Y.. accent, her multi-colored hair, her layered skirts, her four-octave-range and (oh yeah) She’s So Unusual.
In an era when being unusual was, well, unusual, Lauper didn’t just take up for the misfits, art-nerds, sexually-confused and theatrically-disposed, she led the parade.
This quote from wikipedia says a lot: “At the age of seventeen, she left home, planning to study art. Her journey would take her to Canada, where she spent two weeks in the woods with her dog, Sparkle, trying to find herself.”
She’s So Unusual marked Lauper’s biggest hits: The anthemic “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” “When You Were Mine” (written by Prince) and “Money Changes Everything” (penned by Tom Gray of frequent visitors to Asheville, Delta Moon).
Lauper’s follow up album, True Colors was a lesser success but it still charted at #4 on the Billboard 200. And the title track carried on Lauper’s “Free To Be You and Me”/“I Got to Be Me” (to reference Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, the Marlo Thomas of 2010) stand.
And she’s always done everything her way, from career — Broadway, movies (remember Vibes?) — to family — she had her son Declyn when she was 44! — to music choices — she’s collaborated with Japanese pop superstar Ryuichi Sakamoto and George Fullan of Train on the same album. And then there were her appearances on Queer As Folk. And Idol. And The Apprentice.
This year, Lauper launched the Give a Damn campaign “to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the GLBT community as part of her True Colors Fund. The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination” and released blues album Memphis Blues.
On top of all of that, she’ll appear at the Orange Peel on Sunday, Nov. 28, 8 p.m. $36 advance/$40 doors. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Sept. 10, at noon at the Orange Peel or online.
Lauper is for sure the leading lady in show biz today. Who else can be more inspiring, more creative than her? This woman can sing and put up a real show. 2 thumbs up!
Cyndi Lauper is the Queen of Rock n Roll. There has never been anyone like her, and there never will be. She’s indeed so unusual.
Creative? Shes released the same album over and over again just changing the sound and the type.
Goonies or GTFO.
The same album? What are you smoking? Cyndi’s latest album is a blues album. Her last album was a dance album, and before that she did an album of standards. Before that she made an album that was only released in Japan. Before that she made a christmas album. I don’t know where you’ve been for the last 20 years, but Cyndi Lauper has consistently been releasing excellent music for the past 30 years.
And they are all the SAME songs over and over with a different beat or sound, thats not creative that leaching off her original work for years.
Same goes for any type of music, I don’t care if “White Christmas” is sung by Whitney Houston, Mel Torme, Ozzy Osbourne, or Devo or even NIN its still White Christmas . . .. A cover.
Next time you listen to Cyndi Lauper take your meds first, and maybe you won’t keep hearing Girls just want to have fun in your head.
Asheville Dweller often descends into such “logic” when proven so fatally incorrect.