Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer-songwriter, activist, and film and television actress. Over the course of her 30-year career, she has firmly established herself as a pop culture icon. Her well-deserved success has its roots in a very tough childhood and youth. Escaping from an abusive stepfather, a 17-year-old Lauper first travelled to Canada and from there to Vermont, US, where she took art classes and did odd jobs to support herself. She began her singing career by performing with several cover bands and later teamed up with saxophonist John Turi to form ‘Blue Angel’. In 1983, after the group’s break up, she released her debut solo album ‘She’s So Unusual’. Since then, she has put out ten more albums and has sold over 20 million records and 50 million singles. She is one of the very few performers to win three out of four major American entertainment awards, registering two Grammy, one Tony, and one Emmy victories. Dubbed by AllMusic’s Lindsay Planner as “an iconoclastic vocalist who revolutionized the role of women in rock and roll”, Lauper has been inducted in both Songwriters Hall of Fame and Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is also credited with bringing punk music into the forefront of America’s pop landscape. As an activist, she is a lifelong supporter of women and LGBT rights.