With her distinctive four-octave voice and songwriting chops, Cyndi Lauper broke down barriers for waves of future artists and empowered them to perform as their unique, authentic selves. Lauper became one of the biggest stars of the 1980s with her eclectic mix of pop, rock, reggae, funk, and dance styles. Her record-breaking debut album She’s So Unusual featured 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. Through MTV, Lauper brought her unique look, style, and sound to living rooms throughout America – inspiring legions of young fans, her video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” also won the inaugural VMA for Best Female Video. 

By the end of 1985, Cyndi Lauper had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, and over the next fifteen 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 chart-topper “True Colors” and Number Three “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.  

When Lauper was awarded the Billboard Icon Award in 2018, Dua Lipa 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.” In 2024, Lauper embarked on a sold-out worldwide farewell tour and was the subject of the documentary Let the Canary Sing. 

Further cementing her legacy, Lauper’s “Time After Time” has been covered by over 100 artists and is featured in Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Songs of All Time. Cyndi Lauper’s rebellious influence on the attitudes, sound, and fashion of the music industry for the past forty years is evident in the work of other iconoclastic artists like P!nk, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and Chappell Roan.