The True Colors...

Here is the fourth (and final) blog where the Galaxy takes a look back at the career (so far) of the wonderful Cyndi Lauper. (For the three previous posts, scroll down to the bottom of this post for the links).



Cyndi started the new decade by recording a new album, titled Shine. Unfortuneatly, just weeks before the album's scheduled release on September 11, 2001, her label Edel America Records folded, and the tracks were leaked to the public. Although a five track EP of the same name was made available in June 2002 through her website (and through Tower Records, where it became a big hit), the full-length album was scrapped. The complete album was finally released on April 21, 2004, exclusively in Japan.





In 2003 Cyndi signed a new contract with her old record company Sony (which she had left after her 1997 christmas album). The first album released under this new contract was the covers album At Last (orignal title of the album was Naked City). The album was a success - it took Cyndi back into the US top 40 albums chart, received good reviews and was nominated for a Grammy. The track "Walk On By" from the album was remixed and became a top 20 club hit in the States.







A wonderful DVD from the concert tour that followed the album was released in 2004, becoming the first (and so far only) widely available live DVD from Cyndi.





The same year Sony released a new compilation album as a part of their successful Essential series, and Cyndi teamed up with Cher for a concert tour.
During these years Cyndi started to make a lot of high profile TV apperances in the States again, including several apperances at VH1 Divas.



Her next album release was Body Acoustic, released on November 8th 2005 - an album that featured acoustic reinterpretations of tracks from her back catalog, along with two new tracks - and a lot of musical guests. Personally I always felt that this would have been the perfect time to release a full on commercial album with new material. But then again, this is Cyndi!





A new version of "Time After Time" (with Sarah McLachlan) was sent to US radio to promote the album. "Body Acoustic" peaked at #112 in the US and #55 in the UK.



Cyndi remained very busy throughout the following years. For example, she made appearances on the US TV show Queer As Folk in 2005.





In 2006 she made her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera in 2006 (with Alan Cumming and Carlos Leon).











In 2007 and 2008 Lauper headlined the True Colors Tour for Human Rights through the United States and Canada. The tour included many guest stars, such as Erasure, Debbie Harry, The Puppini Sisters, Sarah McLachlan, The B-52s, The Gossip, Amanda Lepore, Rufus Wainwright and comedian Margaret Cho.

The tour (sponsored by Logo, the MTV Networks channel targeting gay audiences) provided information to fans who attended, as well as purple wristbands with the slogan "Erase Hate" from The Matthew Shepard Foundation.  A CD was also released, which included a remix of "True Colors" as well as a remix of the track "Early Bird" by Erasure and Cyndi.



Logo aired a half-hour TV special in 2007 titled Shining Through: Behind the Scenes of True Colors. During the special, Cyndi explained the purpose of the True Colors Tour:

Friends, family, plus the community is a lot of people and together, we make a very loud sound; and I believe that people don't know the facts. They don't know that you can be fired from your job in 33 states if you're gay and lesbian and transgender and bisexual. They don't know that the hate crime bill does not extend to everyone...Education is so important. So that's what we are trying to do - in a fun, loving way.

Cyndi recorded an album of all new material during 2007 - her first in 10 years. The working title given to the project was Savoir-faire, but she announced in February 2008 that the name of the album was Bring Ya To The Brink and that it would be released in the spring. In preparation for the album, Lauper visited England and France during summer 2007 to write for the album and wrote songs with dance artists like Axwell, The Scumfrog, Basement Jaxx, Dragonette, Kleerup, Digital Dog and others. She described it as a mainly dance album with good rhythm. Most of the album was recorded in Sweden. The album was released on May 27, 2008 in the United States - it charted at #41 in the US and at #11 in Japan and received generally good reviews. The album is listed at #7 on the Attitude Magazine's top ten albums of 2008 and also came in at #8 on Amazon's Best Pop albums of 2008 - and it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. IMO it is one of her best albums to date.



The first single released from the album was the Japan promo single "Set Your Heart" which gained significant airplay there and was used in the advertising campaign for 2008 Toyota Car Model. It peaked at #11 on the Japanese singles chart.





The first official single from the album was "Same Ol´Story", which became a number 1 club hit in the US.



It was followed by one of the best songs of Miss Lauper's career - the fabulous "Into The Nightlife". A song with massive commercial appeal, it didnt have the push behind it which could have made it Cyndi's biggest hit since "Hey Now" back in 1994. It did become a big underground hit however, with various radio stations all over the world playing it and it sold well over time on digital downloads - not to mention becoming another #1 at the US club chart!

The video was directed by Cyndi and features Colton Ford and Ari Gold, as well as many of Cyndi's fans.





In November 2008 Cyndi released a duet with Swedish rock band The Hives. It was a christmas song called "A Christmas Duel", which peaked at number #3 in Sweden.



A remix album, Floor Remixes, was released February 2009 as a limited edition CD/DVD set and a regular edition in Japan.



A single called "Girls Just Wanna Set Your Heart" was released to promote the album. It is a mashup of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Set Your Heart".



Cyndi continued to make high profile TV apperances in 2009 including the American soap opera As The World Turns, supporting gay rights, and promoting her True Colors tour and album, Bring Ya to the Brink.



She appeared on the live finale of the eighth season of Idol, performing "Time After Time".



She also appeared on the 2009 TV Land Awards dressed as the Emperess of Evil to perform the theme song for Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.



Lauper performed a duet with Leona Lewis  on VH1 Divas 2009 singing "True Colors" and also appeared with Eminem for a comedy skit at the MTV VMA's in September 2009. In addition, Lauper played herself on 30 Rock's third season finale. She also played a psychic on the Season 5 premiere of the hit show Bones. She also appeared once again on Letterman, this time around with Wyclef Jean, performing a track called "Slumdog Millionaire".
Lauper also signed a book deal for an autobiography, which should be out soon.





In January 2010, American toy company Mattel released a Cyndi Lauper Barbie doll as part of their "Ladies of the 80s" series. Very cute, eh?

On March 2010, NBC began airing season 9 of "The Celebrity Apprentice",featuring Cyndi and other celebs. Lauper donated her winnings to her own True Colors Fund and said that the only reason she had done the show was to promote her message of equality.



On April 1, 2010, Lauper launched the Give A Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the GLBT community. The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay community and stop the discrimination.



Two new Cyndi songs were released in April 2010 on the compilation album Here Lies Love. The album featured the Cyndi songs "Eleven Days" and a duet with Tori Amos called "Why Don't You Love Me".



On June 22, 2010 Cyndi released her 11th album - the blues record Memphis Blues. It debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at #1, and it debuted on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart at #26, becoming the third-highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 of her career. Memphis Blues was ranked Billboard's #1 Blues Album of The Year, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.









The track "Just Your Fool" was released as a promo single for the album. In March of this year Cyndi made the international news. While waiting for a delayed flight at an airport in Buenos Aires she gave an impromptu performance of Girls Just Want to Have Fun, as other passengers joined in and sang along with her.





Which brings us up to today. Cyndi has been touring to support the album, and on June 12th she will start the Euro leg of the tour with a concert in Reykjavik, Iceland. I have front row tickets to see the woman that made such a big impact on me when I was just 5 years old, and whom I have continued to follow ever since. It will be wonderful to finally see her live in person - and in concert, no less. She has had a fascinating and unique career so far, whcih I hope I have done justice in these series of blogs. In the near future we can expect a live DVD from Cyndi, a biography and no doubt more music. This girl is still having her fun!

I will of course post a review here after the concert - I'm sure it will be amazing!



The previous parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3