PRIVATE SESSIONS: Cyndi Lauper

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Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper chats to host Lynn Hoffman about the projects that defined and built her career.

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Cyndi Lauper
born: 22-06-1953
birth place: Brooklyn, New York, USA

The performer also took the opportunity to try acting again. Starring as a lounge singer on a mission to identify her boyfriend’s killer, Lauper began filming ‘Off and Running’ (1991). The movie was only released in Europe, seemingly indicating another doomed attempt to break into Hollywood. However, for the 38-year-old, the film marked a new beginning. It was on the set of this endeavour that Lauper met and fell in love with actor, David Thornton. On 24 November 1991, the singer and the Englishman wed in New York.

With her personal life blossoming, Lauper turned her attention back to business. After contributing two songs to the 1992 French stage show, ‘Starmania’, one of which earned double platinum status in France, she set her mind to releasing her fourth album.

Soul, funk and hip-hop influences filled ‘A Hat Full of Stars’ (1993), allowing the vibrant artist to showcase her diversity. Despite its poor sales, the album, which dealt with difficult issues such as incest and domestic abuse, was critically applauded, Rolling Stone praising the record’s “fresh sound”.

Critical acclaim also followed in 1992, as the aspiring thespian finally fulfilled a long term ambition by joining the cast of the sitcom, ‘Mad About You’ (1989). Her portrayal of the quirky Marianne Lugasso earned her an Emmy award and further recurring appearances on the show. For Lauper, the accolade represented acceptance as an actress.

Lauper returned to the recording studio in 1996. The result was the upbeat dance record, ‘Sisters of Avalon’ (1996), which sold a respectable one million copies worldwide. With issues such as the conflicts of being a drag queen dominating the album, its main impact was in the gay community, where Lauper was hailed as a heroine.

In November 1997, Lauper and Thornton welcomed their son, Declyn Wallace Thornton into the world. Lauper relished her new role as a mother, flaunting her pregnant belly in the video for the song ‘The Ballad of Cleo and Joe’. However, she refused to allow her two worlds of parent and rocker to conflict, and in fact the proud mother cited Declyn as a major inspiration for her 1998 album, ‘Merry Christmas, Have a Nice Life’. She even included his vocals on the song ‘First Lullaby’.

Lauper continued to act, appearing in ‘The Simpsons’ (1989) and independent films such as ‘The Opportunists’ (2000). She also enjoyed touring, joining Cher on her celebrated ‘Do You Believe?’ (1999) and ‘Living Proof’ (2002) tours.

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