Cyndi Lauper
Pop | 2006Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Cyndi Lauper began her career singing in local cover bands. Eventually, she began writing her own material with keyboardist John Turi. The duo formed Blue Angel and built a following in New York, culminating in the release of an eponymous debut album for Polydor in 1980. In 1983, Lauper secured a solo contract with Portrait Records, and at the end of the year, she released her debut album, She’s So Unusual, which would go on to sell five million copies, reach No. 4 on the Billboard album chart with four Top 10 singles, and turn Lauper into one of the biggest stars of the early MTV era. In 2013, she won a Tony Award—Best Original Score—for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. Lauper is also an Emmy Award winner and multiple Grammy Award winner.