"Here I Am, Just Like I Said I Would Be"...

Here is part 2 of the Galaxy's look at the career so far of Miss Cyndi Lauper to celebrate her upcoming concert in Reykjavik, Iceland.



When Cyndi started out in 1983, another "simular" singer was also making it big. That would of course be Madonna! Critics were quick to bet on Cyndi as the new queen of pop, most saying that Madonna would be gone in 6 months. Well, by 1986 it was already clear that would not be the case. Madonna released "True Blue", which went on the enter the Guinness Book Of Records as the biggest selling album of all time by a female artist. But Cyndi was far from gone.



The same year on September 15th, Cyndi released her second album, "True Colors".



The album charted at number 4 on the Billboard Albums chart and went double platinum. It went numer one in Australia, but in most other countries it failed to match the success of her debut album (in the UK, the album only made it to number 25).





On this album, Cyndi increased her involvement both in production and songwriting. Guests on the album included (amongst others) Nile Rodgers, The Bangles, Billy Joel and Aimee Mann. The beautiful album cover was shot by Annie Leibovitz, who had also shot her fist album cover. The album included tracks such as "911" which earned her a Grammy nomination for vocals, and a brilliant cover of Belle Stars "Iko Iko".



The first single from the album was the stunning title track. At the time Cyndi was starting to work on the album, a very close friend of hers was in the hospital in the final stages of AIDS. He asked her to write a song for him, but she was absolutely devestated and simply couldnt create a song she felt was good enough. Her friend died before she could come up witht he song. But very shortly after, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly presented "True Colors" to her. Billy had originally written the track about his own mother, but Tom altered the first verse before they presented it to Cyndi. Their demo was in a form of piano based gospel ballad. Cyndi completely dismantled that sort of traditional arrangement and came up with something that sounded a lot deeper. She felt that the song had been sent to her to make for her friend - it was the exact song she had wanted to write for him, but just couldnt at the time. She has said that every time she performs the song live, she is singing it to her friend.



The song went to number #1 in the US and became a worldwide hit. It is, like her previous classics, a song that will probably live on forever. It has been covered countless of times, been used as the theme song for several major sport events and most importantly of all, it has become an absolute classic in the gay community. It also became the theme song for a series of concert tours she did much later in career with the likes of Erasure and Debbie Harry to promote human rights.





The second single was the upbeat, hard sounding "Change Of Heart". It went to number #3 in the US and became an instant fan favourite.







That was followed by her critically acclaimed cover of Marvin Gay's "What's Going On", which went to number #6 in the States.





The fourth single from the album was "Boy Blue", which is about her friend that had died from AIDS. Proceeds from the sale of the single were donated to AIDS organizations. Charting at just #71 on the Hot 100, it was Lauper's first solo single that failed to make a real impact on the charts.

''"I tried to write about my friend. I knew he really loved "That's What Friends Are For". I know that maybe he would have liked me to do a song like that. Instead I wrote about him personally. I don't know that my lyrics were good enough, I don't know that anything was good enough. Maybe it was too personal. I don't know. But I wrote it for him. It was because of him that I keep trying to do stuff. And other friends. So many talented people, so many of our friends and so many gifted people have passed on. Or struggle everyday. Just to live. And it was because of my friends and others that I do this. Maybe that song wasn't good enough I don't know."

Talking about her intense live performance that was released as the video for the song:
"I used to cry every night when I sang that song. I was so mad. You know, you go through so much and I was so mad. I was mad that my friend was gone, I was mad at the way people treated me...We didn't know what the hell it was. We didn't know anything. Then all of a sudden it was out in the open and everyone was talking about it, but when he first told me about it I didn't understand. I didn't know. And then all of a sudden my friend was ill and ill and ill and then...It was so hard. I was so angry and every night I would sing my guts out, but you'd open your eyes after and it was the same. But sometimes, in a lot of ways, it was healing."





"Maybe He'll Know" was the final single, released only in Holland. Cyndi had originally recorded this song with Blue Angel.





By the time the album had run its course on the charts, it seemed clear that while Cyndi received generally good reviews for her work, she was already having a hard time fitting into the quickly changing music industry in the latter half of the 80s. "True Colors" is however one of my absolute favourite Cyndi albums.





In 1987 Cyndi released the concert film Cyndi: Live in Paris. The concert was broadcast on HBO that same year and received a Grammy nomination for Outstanding Long Form Music Video. It was made available years later on DVD in Brazil, which is well worth hunting down.







Cyndi made her film debut in August 1988 in the quirky comedy Vibes, alongside Jeff Goldblum, Julian Sands, and Peter Falk. Lauper played a psychic in search of a city of gold in South America. The film was produced by Ron Howard . It was poorly received by critics and commercially flopped. It seemed that by the late 80s, screwball comedies were falling out of fashion fast. While by no means a masterpiece, I have always loved that film as a very enjoyable guilty pleasure. It was released on R1 DVD a couple of years ago.











Cyndi contributed a track called "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" to the film. The music video includes a high energy, comic action/adventure romp through a Chinese laundry (but of course). The song stalled at a disappointing #54 on the US charts, but fared better in Australia, peaking at #8 and becoming her fifth and final Top 10 single in Australia.



Lauper was also getting ready to release an album later that year called "Kindred Spirit" but the release was canceled, most likely due to the lack of success of the single, which had been supposed to launch the album. Some proof sheets of the original album artwork exist with the alternate title and track listing.



The album was finally released on May 9th 1989, now called "A Night To Remember" (and not including "Hole In My Heart", except as a bonus track in Japan). The album did not do as well as her previous albums and neither the recording industry or casual fans took much interest in the project. In the US the album charted at just #37, although surprisingly it charted at number #9 in the UK.

The album was a very difficult one to make for Cyndi - she had constant battles with Sony Records, who wanted to shove in every direction imaginable, just because they "didnt know what to do with her". Her personal life was also in shambles at the time, as her boyfriend/producer and her were breaking up.



The only hit from the album was the first single, the excellent "I Drove All Night". The track was written by Tome Kelly and Billy Steinberg (who co-wrote a lot of the album), although this track had originally been written for Roy Orbinson. He recorded the track in 1987, but it wasnt released until after it had been a hit for Cyndi. She took it to the top 10 in both the US and the UK - it would become her last US top 10 hit. In 2003, the song became a hit for Celine Dion.

Several more singles were released from the album in different parts of the world, but none of them becoming big hits: "My First Night Without You", "Heading West", "A Night To Remember", "Primitive" and "Unconditional Love".

The disappointing sales of the album "A Night To Remember", a canceled United States tour due to low ticket sales and the pressures of celebrity led Lauper to "retire" from her "singing." She toured South America and Japan successfully into the early stages of 1990 and then retreated into acting.

I still quite like that album. At the time of release I remember it felt dated - but it does include a lot of great tracks (just not many hits). I still play it on regular basis (like right now)!



TO BE CONTINUED