Cyndi Lauper Biography

Birth Name: Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper

Birth Place: New York, NY

Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 06/22/1953, Cancer

Profession: Singer; songwriter; actress

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper was born on June 22, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Lauper felt like an outcast. Her parents divorced when she was 5. Lauper and her two siblings were raised by her mother, who worked as a waitress to support the family. She did not do well in school, and was reportedly kicked out of several parochial schools in her youth. Despite her hard times, she discovered a love of singing at an early age, and was writing her own songs by the age of 12.

After eventually getting a high school equivalency degree, Lauper worked a number of odd jobs before her music career took off. She waitressed, served as an office assistant, and even sang in a Japanese restaurant for a time. During this time, Lauper also played in a number of bands. She had her first taste of success with the band Blue Angel, which landed a record deal. The group made one record together before splitting up.

She started 1985 by participating on USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World", singing the climactic soprano part of the bridge. Interestingly, during the taping of the song, the audio engineers were having problems discovering what was causing a clicking noise in the recording. It was discovered to be coming from Lauper's jewelry. Also, in 1985, Lauper won a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category. At the event, she appeared with WWF Superstar Hulk Hogan, who played her "bodyguard". In return, she made many appearances as herself in a number of the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" events, including the inaugural WrestleMania event, where she was the manager of Wendi Richter. Their entrance music was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".

Steven Spielberg had asked Lauper to be the musical director of his latest film The Goonies, an adventurous family film about lost treasure. Lauper had the power to choose whom she wanted on the soundtrack, so she tried to make the album very diverse. The Bangles were just one of the bands that contributed to the soundtrack. Lauper stated in a 1986 interview that she had been working 12 hour days and had gynecological problems. Lauper had a minor operation and spent some time in the hospital. Her doctors told her that she needed some rest. This was the reason she was not able to participate in the Live Aid concert. Lauper's "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The video featured many guests including WWF Wrestlers such as the Iron Sheik, Captain Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, Andr? the Giant, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, The Fabulous Moolah and Nikolai Volkoff, the Goonies cast as well as The Bangles. The video was split up into two acts, making Lauper the very first artist to have a two-part video. Spielberg even allowed her access to the set pieces from the film. The soundtrack album reached #73 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Lauper has been quoted as saying that she had long despised the song due to Richard Donner's insistence on everything being perfect for the video shoot. In behind-the-scenes footage of the video, you can see Lauper physically exhausted from the work on the video. The video was released in 2 parts. The 1st part premiered on MTV before The Goonies was released in theaters and the 2nd part came after the movie had opened. Her hatred for the song caused it to be omitted from her Twelve Deadly Cyns (Greatest Hits) album and disappointed many fans.