1953: June 22nd Cyndi Lauper (full name: Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton), is born in Brooklyn-New York on June 22nd 1953 (note that a lot of biogaphies are wrong at this purpose: this is the correct date). Her father is named Fred Lauper, her mother Catrine Dominique (present in several videos), her sister Elen Lauper (She is now an accupuncturist in Southern California) and her brother Fred (nicknamed as Butch). Cyndi took up playing the guitar and writing lyrics at the age of twelve. The first song she learnt to play was "Greensleeves".
She went to 4 high schools. The one that gave her the honorary high school diploma was Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, NY.
1977 In the mid-seventies she performed as a vocalist with various cover bands in the New York metropolitan area. She sang some songs of Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and some top 40 covers... The names of the cover bands were "Doc West", "Flyer", ... In 1977, Cyndi extensively damaged her vocal cords, leaving her virtually voiceless.
1980 After a full year of therapy with voice coach Katie Agestra, Cyndi's voice was back and soon Cyndi and multi-instrumentalist John Turi formed a new band, 'Blue Angel', which released its self-titled debut album in 1980. This album included Maybe He'll Know and Lauper's soaring rendition of Gene Pitney's I'm Gonna Be Strong.
1983 Cyndi Lauper signed with Portrait Records as a solo artist in the spring of 1983. Her first solo album, She's So Unusual, was released at the end of the year and went on to sell more than 4,5 million copies in the United States alone. Moreover the album was the first of a female artist to score four Top Five singles from a debut album: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop and All Through The Night. Recognition soon followed:
American Music Awards for Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock American Music Awards for Favorite Female Vocalist Video Pop/Rock a Grammy award for Best New Artist "Rolling Stone" Best New Artist and Best Female Video Artist MTV Best Female Video Artist ... and many others
1984 In 1984, Cyndi worked 350 days and neared her 300th concert mark. She performed or promoted her records in 150 cities. But she also found time to sit down and design all the T-shirts sold at her concerts.
1985 In 1985, Cyndi contributed her writing and singing talents to the movie, The Goonies. She provided the Goonies theme song entitled (The Goonies 'R') Good Enough. It became a top 10 hit.
1986 In '86 True Colors was launched, the cast of this album including notables such as Billy Joel, Nile Rodgers, Rick Derringer, Aimee Mann and The Bangles. Cyndi received a Grammy nomination for the single True Colors. Cyndi co-produced this album.
1988 In October 1988, Cyndi travelled to the Soviet Union as one of a group of American songwriters collaborating with Soviet counterparts. The outcome is a great song: Cold Sky found on the album Music Speaks Louder Than Words. Also in 1988, Cyndi made her motion picture debut in the movies, Vibes. She co-starred with Jeff Goldblum and they both played psychics. Even though most fans love this movie, it was panned by the critics.
1989 In 1989, Cyndi recorded the album A Night To Remember of which some songs were re-released on a single in January 1990. She again received a Grammy nomination for the single I Drove All Night. Hit records, performances during mega-events as The Wall, award-winning videos, sold-out concert tours and very positive media acclaim; the rest, to use Lauper's expression, is "herstory".
1990 Cyndi filmed her second movie entitled Off and Running. She met her husband David Thornton on the set.
1991 She got married to actor David Thornton on November 24th 1991 at the Friends Meeting House in New York. Little Richard led the couple in the recitation of their non-traditional vows, and Patti Labelle sang the wedding theme "Come What May". Cyndi's fourth album is Hat Full Of Stars. It's maybe the most critically acclaimed to date:
The Village Voice said: "Hat Full Of Stars is startingly wonderful. The singing is stellar, the arrangements are happening". Rolling Stone gave the album 3 1/2 stars and said: "Her multi- octave voice has never sounded better". The New York Times said: "... Her new songs are strong, the new Cyndi Lauper still embraces the old one". The Los Angeles Times called Hat Full Of Stars: " ... her most consistently tuneful and ambitious album". When talking about this album Cyndi says: "I wanted to make the album I always needed to make. I had to say the things I never could." In addition to co-producing and co-writing this album, Cyndi is also directing three videos from it, making her one of the few artist/directors in the pop world today.
1994 In 1994, Cyndi released Twelve Deadly Cyns... And Then Some. This album contains a lot of the singles hits. Although this album has been released worldwide in 1994, it is only released in July 1995 in US.
Cyndi also made her first appearance on the sitcom, Mad About You. She was even nominated for an Emmy award, however, she did not win.
1995 Cyndi made her second appearance on the sitcom, Mad About You. Again, she was nominated for an Emmy award. This time, she won.
1996 In 1996, Sisters Of Avalon, the best album so far is released in Japan. For the first time, Cyndi took part in the writing of every song. Jan Pulsford, the keyboardist co-wrote 11 songs. They are now "Sisters Of Avalon".
1997 The album Sisters Of Avalon is released worldwide. Cyndi is pregnant with her first child, a boy. She announced it for the first time during 'Fox After Breakfast' on April 28th. She said: "I'm in my eleventh week and I know I'm having a football player or model. I feel like this kid should be in college by now, it's taking so long." While pregnant, Cyndi tours in US as special guest of Tina Turner for her "Wildest Dreams" tour for 3 months. Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper is born on November 19th 1997.
1998 Cyndi worked on her sitcom which unfortunately won't never be broadcasted... Then in October, she released her Christmas album. This album was the last one with Sony.
1999 Cyndi continued to work on her sitcom, appeared twice in Mad About You and did a US Tour as a Cher's special guest. Disco Inferno was a hit in the US clubs during summer. She is still looking for a new label.
Cyndi also filmed a movie, The Opportunists, with Christopher Walken. It was Cyndi's first dramatic role in a movie.
2000 The Opportunists was released in limited release. Cyndi got good reviews.
2001 Cyndi's new album, Shine, was supposed to be released by Edel, but the label went under and the 12 track Shine album never saw the light of day... that is, until it was leaked onto the internet.
2002 Once again, Cyndi joined Cher on tour and got excellent reviews. Cyndi also released a 5 track EP containing some of the Shine songs. It was a success. Cyndi also did several in-store signings.
2003 Cyndi hopes to release a full album later in 2003. She is also continuing a solo tour.
