Cyndi Lauper burst onto the world stage as the quintessential girl who wants to have fun. After more than 20 sterling years and global record sales in excess of 25 Million, she has proven that she has the heart and soul to keep her legion of fans compelled by her every creative move.
The beauty of Cyndi Lauper is that she has evolved into a richly multi-faceted renaissance woman who strikes a resonant chord with each project.
At the center of Cyndi’s life is music. With her 2008 Grammy-nominated recording “Bring Ya to the Brink,” she firmly asserted her position as one of the most beguiling, innovative, and downright exciting recording artists of this – and every other – generation. The brilliantly crafted collection revealed a kinetic union between Cyndi’s earthy poetry and world-observations and the grooves of Basement Jaxx, DJ Scum Frog, and Rich Morel, among others.
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“Bring Ya to the Brink” triggered an extensive series of sold-out performances, including the hugely successful “Girls Night Out,” for which she teamed up with pal Rosie O’Donnell. The summer 2008 trek partnered food banks across the country to collect non-perishable food items.
“Girls Night Out” is but one of Cyndi’s philanthropic endeavors. She continues to helm the True Colors Fund, which has previously gathered artists that include the B-52s, Indigo Girls, Deborah Harry, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts for concert tours that successfully merged great music with a show of solidarity against discrimination and for equality and raised public awareness about the issues facing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) population.
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“It is absolutely insane to me that people are not allowed simple civil rights in this country simply because of their sexuality,” Cyndi says.
This year, the organization is offering True Colors Cabaret, for which the True Colors Tour has partnered with Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, Broadway Impact and the True Colors Fund to present the True Colors Cabaret, a monthly series in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) equality. Each show will intertwine performers from the world of Broadway and popular music, along with a celebrity host. One hundred percent of the net proceeds from each show will go directly to the True Colors Fund and Broadway Impact.
“It’s an honor to always have the genuine affection of the gay community,” Cyndi says. “They have never turned their back on me. I will never turn my back on them. We’ve had a long and enduring love affair.”
That affair can began in 1985, during which Cyndi won a Grammy award for Best New Artist and became the first artist in history to have five top-10 singles from a debut album. Along the way, she continually won accolades as a singer, musician, actor, and writer. She has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 2 American Music Awards, 7 American Video Awards, 18 MTV awards.
As an actor, Cyndi has appeared in such motion pictures as Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Fine Line/Mirimax), Life With Mikey (Touchstone), Off and Running (Independent), and Vibes (Columbia/Imagine). Perhaps most notable has been her affecting, acclaimed performance opposite Christopher Walken in The Opportunist (Independent). In 2006, Cyndi made her Broadway debut as Jenny in The Three Penny Opera.
In the realm of television, Cyndi has proven her screen prowess in Queer as Folk (2005), Live and Kicking and Noel’s House Party (both for the BBC), and her Emmy award winning performance (Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series) as Marianne Lugasso on Mad About You (94-99).
Cyndi has also lent her talents to other film and TV projects, voicing animated projects for Disney and The Simpsons, as well as scoring soundtracks for the films Off and Running and Private Property and the title song for Nick Cassavete’s Unhook The Stars.
She will return to television this fall as the bewitching psychic Avalon Harmonia on the season premiere of the Fox-TV hit “Bones.” It’s a role that will unfold on a recurring basis on the program.
Cyndi has enjoyed a sparkling and colorful life that continues to expand to greater creative heights and global prestige. She is currently capturing her journey in literary form for an autobiography that will be released via Simon & Shuster in 2010. It will, no doubt, be another bar-raising milestone in a career continues to leave the world craving more of the artist.
“I still have so much to say and share,” she says. “I’m grateful for each and everyday that I get to make music. As long as there’s a corner of the world where people want to hear me, I’ll be there… singing and acting and writing my heart out.”
