Cyndi Lauper Mug

Cyndi Lauper is an American icon who rose to fame in the highly visual era of the 1980's. Her family-friendly punk rock look (wild hairstyles and thrift store clothing) often overshadowed the legitimate brilliance of her music. During that era she exploded with seminal music hits from her first two albums, such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," "She Bop," "Money Changes Everything", "The Goonies 'R Good Enough," "True Colors," and "Change of Heart". Her 1989 third record was a success abroad but failed in America. Around this time she began her foray into acting with the comedy disaster "Vibes". There was a five year break and then Lauper came back with a greatest hits album which reworked her hit "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," making it a hit all over again. Lauper continued to pursue acting, and received accolades for smaller roles in films such as "Life With Mikey;" ultimately she received an Emmy award for her work on the program "Mad About You". Though most of her acting work since has been limited to small featured roles, she received massive critical acclaim for her performance opposite Christopher Walken in the 2000 film "The Opportunists". Lauper continued to release a steady stream of albums, including "Hat Full of Stars" (1993) and "Sisters of Avalon" (1996.) Though both spawned dance chart hits, they were again internationally successful but not popular in America. Following a 1998 Christmas album, Lauper finished a record called "Shine" which was meant to be released in 2001, but the label that produced it folded. In 2003 Lauper released a standards album called "At Last", and the critical praise that followed (including universal praise of her version of the classic title cut) thrust her into a new category of performers: legendary diva. Suddenly instead of being looked at as an under-the-radar pop star of the past, Lauper became a massive musical icon. She toured for two years with Cher, and released the forgotten "Shine" album in 2003 (exclusively in Japan.) Lauper was then cast in the iconic role of Pirate Jenny in a Broadway revitalization of the Brecht musical "The Threepenny Opera," for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2005 she released "The Body Acoustic," an album which took her clasic songs and re-imagined them as fully acoustic versions. In 2007 lauper headlined "The True Colors Tour" and set out in support of GLBT rights. She performed topless at the "Broadway Bares" concert in New York City. Plans are in motion to release an album in early 2008 called "Saviour Fare".