Talk about ladies of the 80’s and Cyndi Lauper is sure to be mentioned. The American veteran singer-songwriter and actress has had a successful career spanning over 3 decades. Though far from her prime, Lauper continues to remain relevant in the entertainment industry. Her most recent album, Detour, was released in 2016. She continues to tour and make new music mostly film soundtracks. A recipient of the coveted EGOT, Lauper’s career is one to be envied. Her legacy would no doubt live on for ages to come.
Cyndi Lauper Bio
Cyndi was born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper on June 22, 1953, in Astoria, New York to Fred and Catrine Lauper (nee Gallo). From her father’s side, Cyndi has German and Swiss roots and from her mother’s side, Italian origin.
As a kid, Cyndi grew up with her siblings; older sister Ellen and younger brother Fred, in Brooklyn. When she turned five, her parents divorced. Cyndi struggled with self-image while growing up and performed poorly in high school, as a result, she was expelled from a couple of schools. She was voted most likely to fail by her friends while her teachers predicted that she’d either become an artist or die. Lauper would later earn a high school equivalent degree.
From her teens, she began expressing herself by dressing in eccentric clothing and wearing vibrant colored hairstyles. She also became very much interested in music and began playing the guitar and writing her own songs as a teenager. At the age of 17, she ran away from home, in a bid to escape her abusive step-father.
Right after leaving home, Lauper spent a fortnight in a Canada living in the woods with her dog, a period she said helped her to find herself. She then moved to Vermont and turned her focus towards pursuing a music career. To support herself, she worked a variety of odd jobs from singing at a Japanese bar for money to working as a waitress and office assistant.
Her first taste of musical success was with the band Blue Angel. In the late 1980s, long after she had found fame, Lauper branched into acting.
When Did She Become Famous
After a couple of years of pursuing a music career, Cyndi Lauper achieved instant fame in 1983 with the release of her debut album She’s So Unusual. She had previously been part of a band named Blue Angel. The group achieved mild success by landing a record deal and releasing their debut album. However, their success was not enough to thrust Lauper into the spotlight.
As a solo act, Lauper immediately established her impact in the music scene. Her debut solo album broke many records including becoming the first female debut album to produce four songs on the Billboard Hot 100 Top 5. Those singles included; Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “All Through the Night,” “Time After Time,” and “She Bop.”
Making Lauper more visible in the media were her colorful hairstyles and eccentric dressings, a punk image that was the brainchild of stylist Patrick Lucas. Lauper immediately became a teenage idol. Her debut album won her a Grammy for Best New Artist as well as various other nominations including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”), and Song of the Year (for “Time After Time”).
At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, Cyndi’s video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” won the inaugural award for Best Female Video. In the same year, Lauper’s fame saw her appear on the covers of magazines like Rolling Stones, Time, Newsweek, and People.
Cyndi Lauper’s Net Worth
With over 50 million albums and 20 million singles sold worldwide, Cyndi Lauper sure gets a bulk of her fortune from her career as a musician. Her contributions to the entertainment industry in music film and TV have earned her a fortune valued at $30 million.
Husband, Son
In the early 90s, Lauper opened a fresh chapter of her life when she married actor David Thornton on November 24, 1991. The age difference between them is just 10 days with Lauper being the older.
Thornton was born on June 12, 1953. His father is Robert Donald Thornton. He was an international authority on the Scottish poet Robert Burns and taught English at Harvard for over 4 decades.
Lauper’s husband is an alumnus of the Yale Drama School. He also honed his skills at Lee Strasberg’s Actors’ Studio. Interestingly, their careers picked up at the same year 1983, while Lauper had found immense fame with her debut album, David began landing parts in TV shows. He is known for films like John Q, Home Alone 3, Law & Order, The Notebook, and The Other Woman.
Together the couple has one son Declyn Wallace Thornton born on November 19, 1997.
