She’s So Unusual. Never have three words so completely captured the essence of an artist. Cyndi Lauper is truly iconic, from her distinctive four-octave voice and eclectic mix of pop, rock, reggae, funk, and dance styles to her multicolored hair and eclectic wardrobe. Lauper broke down barriers for waves of future artists and empowered them to perform as their unique, authentic selves.  

A record for women musicians at the time, Cyndi Lauper’s debut album She’s So Unusual (1983) included four consecutive Top Five U.S. singles – “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” and “All Through the Night” – and earned her two Grammys. Dua Lipa, awarding Lauper with the 2018 Billboard Icon Award, called She’s So Unusual, “a multiplatinum declaration of independence and an important statement about the right of women to define themselves and their place in the world on their own terms.” Lauper’s cowrite “Time After Time” has been covered by over 100 artists and is featured in Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Songs of All Time. 

By the end of 1985, Cyndi Lauper had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, and over the next 15 years she grew as a writer, producer, and advocate. Lauper’s 1986 sophomore album True Colors reached Number Four on the Billboard 100 and included the commercially successful singles “True Colors” and “Change of Heart.” Lauper’s four albums from the 2000s explored and celebrated such musical genres as pop standards, electronic/dance music, blues, and country. A lifelong advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, she founded True Colors United in 2008 to support LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness. In 2013 she became the first solo woman to win a Tony award for Best Score for the queer-positive Broadway hit Kinky Boots.  

Cyndi Lauper’s rebellious influence on the attitudes, sound, and fashion of the music industry for the past 40 years is evident in the work of other iconoclastic artists like Alanis Morissette, P!nk, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj.