cyndilauper

As 5’3″ Cyndi Lauper once noted, “You have to remember’ no matter what you’re told’ that God loves all the flowers, even the wild ones that grow on the side of the highway.” Ms. Lauper still believes that.

And she also believes she can act. You’ll be surprised to find that you agree when you see her emote as Christopher Walken’s girlfriend in The Opportunists, a tongue-in-cheek indie about a small time crime caper that takes place in Queens, New York. It’s not going to set film history on fire but it’s beautifully shot and does show off a newly toned-down Cyndi.

With a voice that doesn’t grate and a hair color your mother might choose, she’s utterly convincing as a tough but sensitive bar owner who wants her beau Walken to just be a good guy and marry her.

In person, however, Cyndi was back to purple tresses, although her hair style and her garb were rather classy. The girl was fit and ready to let loose.

PlanetOut: At the Joni Mitchell tribute concert which was recently broadcast over TBS, some folks said you gave the best performance. You were the one who brought the house down. Did you find many people shocked Cyndi Lauper was doing Joni? Most music fans probably only know of your early career.

CL: Oh, no! If you listen to “Time After Time,” you see how the poetry had to be influenced by somebody, and it certainly wasn’t the Beatles. I mean they were excellent and they influenced me in a lot of ways, and their writing was incredible … and I can’t say that John Lennon wasn’t a wonderful poet, but because, my God, he was, and he did influence me. But then there’s some stuff in there that definitely came from growing up and listening to Joni Mitchell.

PlanetOut: When you sing a song like “I’m Going to Be Strong,” you just milk it brilliantly. That’s a sensational performance. But do you get upset with folks who can’t see past your outrageous persona? Your outfits?

CL: You know, maybe for a time I did. But it’s been such a long time now, I’ve just come to settle on how I feel about myself. I like color. I do do funny things, and I am kind of funny sometimes even when I don’t mean to be. Maybe part of it’s stupidity. You know what I mean. But I think you’ve got to be who you are. It isn’t my issue to tell everybody what it is that I do. My issue is to keep doing it and to keep the channel open because while you’re doing it, and you’re in the moment of doing it, sometime greatness touches you.

PlanetOut: Well, being a great artist, one has to be selfish. Look at Tchaikovsky. [Cyndi laughs] Lots of gays are going to be seeing this film, The Opportunists, because they adore you. You have done so much for the gay community and AIDS.

CL: All right! Let me just say one thing. I’ve done what I could. I wish I could have done something really incredible. I only did what I could do, but it’s not like a separate community for me. I’m a friend and family member, OK, and when you have a gay person in your family or they are your close friends, you’ve got to stand up and say, “Hey, I’m proud of you. You’re a great guy. You’re a great gal. I’m proud of you.” Because if you don’t, and you really love that person, and you don’t show up, that’s really sending the wrong message to the person.

To the world. We’re all blessed to be born in this country because this is a wonderful country of real opportunity. I mean it’s hard but we weren’t born in a war torn country. We didn’t have major volcanoes all over us. You know we don’t have earthquakes. We do but we haven’t been devastated like other parts of the world, right? I mean Serbia. What if you were born in Serbia, what would your career be like then?

PlanetOut: Sadly, financially, not much different.

CL: Well, the only thing that I see that’s unfortunate about this country is not what happens to us, it’s what we do each other. And so if we can extend our arms and give support to each other and celebrate our differences, we got something. Me, growing up, my sister is a lesbian. She’s one of the most fantastic people I know. She’s always been heroic to me. She has always tried to do something good in the world. She’s been an inspiration to me, and I know I’m not just … I ain’t just talking, you know.
Everybody in this country has somebody in their family. Like I used to go to weddings, and they’d be like, “Oh, you’re sister’s the . . .” And I’d go, “The photographer” because you know … and I wore a tuxedo too because I knew they were going to give her a problem. And this is way before k.d. lang. So if you don’t stand up for each other, what’s going to happen? What are we going to do? Closet ourselves again? I’m not up for it. And that’s a little arrogant of me and it’s a little selfish of me because I’m comfortable within the community because that’s kind of like an extension of my own lifestyle except I’m not gay. I’m heterosexual, but I could give a (leaves a pause for an expletive) you know, if you are or not. It’s who you are. I have so many wonderful [gay] friends and my family whom I love deeply, you gotta show up. It’s just a … You gotta show up. It’s half-selfish, and half I feel an obligation, so I do what I can. I don’t see it as a heroic thing because it ain’t.

PlanetOut: So you’re a mother now. … What’s his name?

CL: Declyn. We spell it the Scottish way. … He’s 2 and 1/2. … He’s a great guy. He’s very funny. I’m enamored with the kid. Yeah, he’s my kid. He’s fantastic. He’s a lot like his dad. Unfortunately he has my temperament. I hope he has my voice. because if has my temperament and his father’s voice, we’re all in trouble.

PlanetOut: Getting back to the gay thing, you’re just being modest.

CL: No. No. No. If family members like me would stand up as opposed to not saying anything and if they’d say, “I’m loud and proud,” it would send a message out into this country that we’re not all bigots and homophobic and you know what I mean. You got to stand up and say it.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 7, 2000 — To find your favorite ’80s music icon, one can merely flip to VH-1’s “Behind the Music” special and learn about their bouts with depression, drugs, breakups and comeback attempts.

To find Cyndi Lauper, flip to a “Mad About You” rerun, and you’ll likely see her in her Emmy-winning role as Marianne, Ira’s loud ex-wife. Or check out the big screen this summer, where she’ll be costarring with Christopher Walken in First Look Pictures’ “The Opportunists.”

Walken plays an ex-con now trying to live an honest life as an auto mechanic. But when a stranger (Peter McDonald) who claims to be an old cousin arrives and asks him to help in a last heist, Walken risks his stable life for the money. Lauper plays his girlfriend Sally, who loves him but doesn’t want to watch him go to jail.

“That was the tough one,” Lauper says of her character’s dilemma. “But sometimes you gotta just do the right thing, otherwise it’s just gonna get worse, or that’s what I thought she was thinking.”

While Lauper is sporting a mane of purple/white/black hair nowadays (purple is a “healing color,” she says), her character in “The Opportunists” is much more subdued, the opposite of her gum-snapping “Mad About You” role. Lauper says she was attracted to the film, after previous big-screen turns in “Vibes” and “Life With Mikey,” because of its realistic portrayal of down-on-the-luck life in Queens.

“I’ve been told my whole life there’s a list of rules about what’s right and what’s wrong, but all my life there’s been a gray area where real people live. And I guess that’s what attracted me to this film, too, because this was the gray area where real people live,” Lauper says. “They don’t have cars blow up, big shoot ’em up, blah blah blah. … This is where real people live and where real people can’t deal with the rules cause they’re different or whatever.”

Lauper is no stranger to breaking rules; after all, her first album, appropriately titled “She’s So Unusual,” spawned four Top Five singles and established the singer-songwriter as the force behind the happy anthem “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Fifteen years later, the wacky wife and mother (son Declyn Wallace was born in 1997) is still moving with the times.

“I oughtta tell all those people who used to yell at me all the time and call me ‘comedian,’ that now I have an Emmy to prove it,” Lauper laughs.

Lauper’s next album is due in 2001. In the meantime, “The Opportunists” is set to open Aug. 11.

Cyndi Lauper’s career has been as unpredictable as her hair color, but her new movie, The Opportunists, might be her most surprising twist yet: silly singer goes serious thespian.

Girls just want to have fun, but for now a cup of coffee will do. Just hours off the red-eye back to New York from a weekend of shows in California, Cyndi Lauper is slumping in the makeup chair of a photo studio located between a housing project and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where the next generation of Dolces and Gabannas are honing their craft. Lauper says the California gigs-including an appearance at San Diego’s gay pride festival-were a blast, but it seems all they’ve left her with are exhaustion and rainbow-colored nails, which, she says, sadly, will have to be changed for the shoot. Pride’s become an annual tradition for married mama Lauper, and she speaks of it in terms of a deep obligation.

“You have to stand up for your friends and family and be proud of them,” she says simply.

Set in Lauper’s old Queens stomping grounds, The Opportunists (First Look Pictures) also stars Christopher Walken, but both he and Lauper have been cast against type-so don’t buy a ticket expecting him to play another psycho while she busts out the Betty Boop shtick for comic relief.

“It’s very simple, very to the point,” she says of the film. “No violence, no cursing, and it holds your attention with no sex.” It doesn’t have a lot of laughs either. From her riotous early videos through her Emmy-winning guest spot on TV’s Mad About You, Lauper has always been a crack-up, but as Walken’s long-suffering barkeep gal pal Sally, she holds her own in a dramatic setting and looks great doing it.

Like all the roles she chooses, the resilient Sally is reminiscent of “people I knew, who I grew up with, who were the foundation of what I thought the world was like. It’s shocking once you leave Queens!” More movie roles are a possibility if the right part comes along, though nothing’s set for now. Plans for a sitcom are on the back burner, too, while she plots her next musical direction.

Currently, Lauper’s writing new material with none other than Junior Vasquez. Their collaboration dates back to 1992’s Hat Full of Stars album, on which they shared writing and producing chores; most recently, they teamed up on a Grammy-nominated remake of Disco Inferno for the A Night at the Roxbury soundtrack.

Though Hat Full of Stars ran a gamut of moods and pop styles, Inferno was the kind of dance floor call-to-feet Vasquez is best known for.

“Junior feels like we should do a whole album of dance,” says Lauper, “but I can’t. I don’t wanna be homogenized.”

Though it’s been awhile since she’s been a presence on the radio, Lauper’s records have sold consistently, and with the recent rise of gutsy, flame-haired singers like Pink and Gwen Stefani-not to mention the return of the World Wrestling Federation-her tutti-frutti worldview has come full circle. It’s not that big a step from Girls Just Want to Have Fun in vintage petticoats to “girl power” in Union Jack platforms, so did Lauper feel any kind of kinship with the Spice Girls? She scoffs, “I like things with a little more edge, like Cibo Matto and Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.”

The makeup’s on, the pride manicure is gone, and the camera’s loaded. Jet lag be damned-suddenly, Lauper comes alive. The camera loves her, and the feeling is mutual. Having given lighting tips to the photographer, using the books of old silent movie stills she brought along as examples, she works those Clara-Bow-meets- Louise-Brooks features for all they’re worth.

Costume No.1, a vaguely monastic black getup, is rejected-“too Sister Mary Scary”-though the contrast of her pale skin is radiant in the Polaroids.

The studio office assistant doubles as a DJ and starts a set by spinning Prince’s Lady Cab Driver, while Lauper, in a marabou-trimmed number, makes like graduation day at the Barbizon modeling school, “I’m wearing feathers, and I’m happy,” she laughs. “You know, I saw Mahogany! I didn’t really-I just saw the coming attraction where the guy says ‘You’re fabulous, you’re fabulous!'”

It’s just as well she was spared the unhappy ending.

Costume No.3’s a purple brocade coat-“A steal!”-over a black skirt with roses. Soon she hikes those roses skyward and, with an imp ish grin, thrusts her bare foot at the camera. The rainbow manicure may have been painted over, but the gay-pride pedicure is taking a defiant turn in front of the lens. Beautiful like a rainbow, Lauper’s true colors are still shining through

For Grammy Award winner Cyndi Lauper, there’s not such a huge difference between singing and acting. In her first serious role co-starring with Chris Walken in The Opportunists, Lauper described how she goes about mixing and matching musical energy with drama. Lauper gives a standout performance rich in local color as a temperamental Queens barmaid. She also hinted about what’s up with her music lately, and a new direction we’ll be hearing soon from the girl who still just wants to have fun.

PRARIE MILLER: I hear you went on a pub crawl to prepare for this movie.

CL: Oh yeah! I had to research. I knew what barmaids kinda look like. And I know that like when you’re a barmaid, it’s the crowd you bring in. You have like your own crowd, if you’re a draw. So being a musician in a band, and having different nights of the week in different clubs, you gotta draw, you know what I mean? So everybody has their thing.

PM: Now were you in these bars undercover, or did you mingle?

CL: You know, I guess it’s been so many years since I’ve been famous, that I don’t bother looking not to be seen anymore. And at the height of my fame, it was very hard for me. Because my method of writing lyrics would be walking around endlessly, and watching. Now how can you do that, if everybody knows who the hell you are? You don’t get a second. One time a car pulled up, and all the people jumped out and came rushing towards me. It was just an autograph thing, but after that I was like, I can’t deal with this. And I got kinda worried.

But now I figure, you know what? It’s not my issue, it’s not my problem. And if they recognize me, don’t lie because that’s nasty. So I just say yeah, I’m her. But in the bars, they kinda didn’t do that. My hair was kinda fading from pinkish orange maybe, and I had to wash it out. You know how that is, the stuff washes out. So it was different every time. And now basically I just put my jeans on, and we went out and had a beer. And it was great. Because these bars are different than the others bars. This was an old Irish neighborhood. And as a musician I like Celtic stuff. I like the whole mix, You know, this is America, so we’re rich and full with everything. I feel lucky I was born here. So when I went into these bars, you go and there’s bagpipes playing in the next room.

But I got to see a lot. And there’d be the drinkers at the bar with the ruddy complexions. They’d tell you, hey go home and visit your family! Because they never go home. They’re always there.

PM: What about getting the local female look just right?

CL: Well, I’m there looking at a lady, and her hair of course was the blonde with the roots. And the eye makeup that closes up your eyes. But I couldn’t do that in the film, because they always have like a heart attack. Like. ‘It can’t be that real! They’ll never see inside your eyes!’ So I just watched.

PM: Where do you see your musical side fitting in with acting in The Opportunists?

CL: Well, you know, I’m a musician. I’m a lifer. I’ve always been. And I loved doing this movie, I learned so much. When you’re a musician, everything’s based on rhythm. Being creatures of rhythm, we always respond to that. It’s all rhythm, including the rhythm of our speech and action. And you snap into a different reality. You can be so in it, that it’s lyrical. So it was a wonderful experience, it was magical. So that’s more of what I do. I have a wonderful imagination that I’m very grateful for, and you can use it in a lot of different mediums. If I couldn’t sing though, I don’t think I could feel as alive as I do. There’s something about music that keeps me very much alive and vibrating.

PM: What were you doing before you made it as a musician?

CL: I worked in a department store. Because when you’re in a band, where are you gonna get a job? My hair was funny, my clothes were weird, I worked until dawn. And then you know, you show up cross eyed, at eleven or twelve o’clock. Who’s gonna hire you? So I worked at a concession stand. And one of my first fans was the assistant manager. And he got me a gig with Doris, the lady there who engraved jewelry. But what that taught me was how to write an autograph. You know, it was always like, ‘Dear Grandma, Merry Christmas.’ So I got a lot of practice on a pie plate. But hey, everything comes in handy.

PM: Your look is still pretty…unusual. What does your son think about that?

CL: He’s still too young to say Ma, why can’t you look like everyone else? He’s only two.

PM: Were you a little intimidated working with Christopher Walken on The Opportunists?

CL: Wouldn’t you be? You know, I took the gig because I met him already. I knew he was nice. Then this opportunity came up, and I said, why not. At first I told myself, you’re out of your mind. But I read for it anyway. He’s great, he’s very artistic. He’s kooky too, okay? Lemme tell you, working with these artistic people, they’re all a little nutty. I know, and I’m sitting here with this purple hair talking like that! But I get there, and it very surreal. The reason I’m saying this is I want you to understand the look of the place, it looked like a painting. Then Chris walks in, and he’s completely in black.

The walls are white, and there was no roof, it was all sky. So I’m sitting in a painting, as far as I’m concerned, okay? Like I went to art school, but not for nothing. This is performance art, this is a painting acting! So they all start doing the reading. And I just went right along with it. Why make waves, right? I may have look different, but I’m a blender, really. And I started reading, but before I knew it, I called him a rat. But it was all within the contents of the scripts, you know?

Then I thought, after it came out of my mouth, I’m done for. That’s it, I called Christopher Walken a rat. But you know, it was in the script. But then the director told me, hey Chris was really impressed that you called him a rat. And I said you know, it was in the script! I mean, I was reading it, and it just slipped out.

PM: How do you think that happened?

CL: Well, I am from Queens. And it’s not like with my husband. He comes from an educated family, so they have discussions. In my neighborhood, it was the loud neighborhood. We didn’t have discussions, we had arguments. And they would…yell. It wasn’t like, I disagree with your point of view. It was, shut up, you’re stupid, what do you know anyway? And that was the end of that. So of course it heightened to, you rat. What can I say? But that was my first actual…artistic thing with him. Now hey, that wasn’t the Readers Digest version, I’m sorry.

PM: No problem. How do you feel about the changing images of young female pop singers like Britney Spears now?

CL: Well, how do you say this in a positive way? I think what’s happening is a little sad. This is a seventeen year old girl whose mom helped her get a boob job, because she felt that’s how she’d become more popular. And what’s sad is, that did help her. Yeah, I used to have fantasies. Yeah, I used to chase after the Monkees. But Chrtina Aguilera, who is all of nineteen, an old lady now compared to the standard. You don’t have to be some little tart. And you know what? It’s great coming to the power of your sexuality. No one wants to take that away. But why the adults have to stick their hands in and muck about, I find very sad.

Now with the heavy saturation of syrupy sweet pop comes the dance trance, the unraveling of the song. And also the cynical lyrical content. The problem is not that you want to discover and make new music. The problem is the negativity. And it’s being perpetuated by people who are in business who don’t live it, who are feeding off of the anger that you feel when you’re coming through puberty.

PM: Where do you see yourself as fitting into all of that?

CL: You’ll hear it very soon. I’m comin’, don’t worry. I’m not gonna not make a statement. I’m comin’. I see the void, there’s a perfect spot for me. And I think somebody’s gotta stand up and do it. I’d like to be the one. We’ll see. But I’m not talking yet! But I got a list, and I’m going down to mess with some things tomorrow. I’m very excited. I want to take some very vibrant energy and life force, and bring it into the forefront. Something with a more positive view or story about humanity. Not unlike this movie. But to me more of a real humanity than, you know, watching a car blow up. Awright, that’s it. Was it too heavy for you? I’m sorry! Awright, I’ll see ya later.

To many people, Cyndi Lauper was the seemingly one-album wonder who only wanted to have fun. To me, she has been a lifelong hero. Her music has played as the soundtrack to my life, sometimes fading in and out, and others, playing loudly in the foreground.

Cyndi Lauper did not have an easy time growing up. There were definite obstacles that stood in her way, but she always had a talent for singing. She had difficulties both at school, due in part to dyslexia and in part to her simply being different, and at home, but her singing was nurtured through the love of her mother and siblings.

From the beginning, Cyndi was always her own person, never afraid of who she was. She realized that in order to find herself, she would have to leave home on her own and find what it was that was truly important to her. Around the age of twenty, she decided to move to Manhattan, not far from her childhood home in Queens just across the bridge, and it was then and there that she discovered that she could really sing and wanted to try and make a life for herself making music.

After singing for awhile, she began to lose her voice and she realized that this time, it probably wasn’t coming back. Doctors told her that she wouldn’t be able to sing again. However, with the help of a vocal coach and a few months of coaching, Cyndi’s vocal cords had healed and she began to sing again.

At this point in her career, Cyndi joined a band called Blue Angel and with this, met a long-time collaborator. However, the band did not have much success though it was clear that Cyndi’s talent was immeasurable. With the help of her new friend, David Wolff, Cyndi was signed to a record contract.

Cyndi was one of the first women in the music industry to demand that her work be her own.

In 1983, She’s So Unusual was released and Cyndi was practically an instant pop music star. She had the strong desire to express her ideas and feelings in her music and she did not want to be controlled by record executives. This first album of hers was an unbelievable success. It made her name known all over the globe and almost every girl I knew at the time watched in awe as she danced across the screen in those wild outfits around the time of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. With this song and Time After Time, she proved that she could not only sing a rock song, but also a ballad.

Cyndi was a person who’s personality, outfits, colors, and attitude were as much a part of her performance as her music, but it was the music for which she had a true talent.

By the end of 1985, she became the first female rocker to have four songs in the top five on the pop music charts. Her album went platinum and she won Grammy awards, American Music awards, and MTV Music Awards. She was a universal female pop icon. She even participated in the We Are the World fund-raiser for Africa with 45 other top music acts. Her career was taking off.

Soon after, Cyndi released her second album, True Colors. The title track was a hit and the album generated a few other popular songs, but it is said that it simply did not have the same thunder as She’s So Unusual. To me, this is the biggest misconception about the career of this unique and unbelievably talented woman. Cyndi was writing from her heart refusing to be made into a specific image by the music industry. For her, making music was not about being number one, it was about expressing herself musically and creatively and making the music that she wanted to make.

Many people who are not true fans of her person and her music think that Cyndi’s career ended in the 80s after the release of these two albums. However, the truth is that she has continued to make music throughout the years and has several more albums. She may have moved away from making music that made her popular, but Cyndi writes from the soul, from the heart.

To a true fan like me, this woman’s accomplishments are unimaginable. From the time that I was five years old and her first album was released, there was something about Cyndi’s voice that mesmerized me. According to my mother, I used to sit for hours and listen to Time After Time over and over again. There was something in her music, even at such a young age, that touched my soul and inspired me to be my own person… to be an individual and to not be scared of that person I was inside. There has always been something about her, this kind of air she gives off, that is about going out and living life and doing what you want to do.

As I have grown older, I have listened to her music and learned more about Cyndi as a person. Though she has sold less albums more recently than in the beginning of her career, to me this does not mean that she has become less successful. In fact, in my eyes, she has become even more of a success by writing from her heart and writing about the things that truly mean a great deal to her. Cyndi is a non-conformist and that is something that I strongly relate to. I have used her music as an outlet throughout all of my years to deal with many serious issues that have arisen in my own life. I have encouraged others to listen to her and feel what she is trying to say, because for those who feel it, her music is a great inspiration.

Cyndi Lauper has accomplished many wonderful things in her life. Aside from her musical endeavors, she has directed many of her own videos and has acted in a few movies. She has also won an Emmy Award for her guest appearances on the television sitcom, Mad About You. Apart from her professional life, she now has a loving family with her husband David Thornton, an actor, and new son Declyn.

Being a long time fan, I admire both her personal and professional ventures. She has overcome so many obstacles in her life, beginning with her rocky childhood, which is something that was also a prominent aspect of my own life. Though she is almost untouchable, I feel that I can relate to her, both through her experiences and through her music. I have always taken comfort in her voice and her lyrics. They have gotten me through some of the most trying times of my life.

Cyndi has always been my hero and idol-the one person who I found I wanted to model myself after. Her devotion to her individuality and what is in her heart has always been an inspiration in my own life. It has always been my dream to meet Cyndi and tell her all of these things.

A few years ago, this dream came true for me. After twelve years of being what I though was her biggest fan, I finally had the opportunity to see her in concert. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life and I sat in awe next to the stage as I watched her perform all of the songs that I spent my life listening to. After the concert, I had the opportunity to meet with her briefly. Of course, I was a bit starstruck. I mean, here was my lifelong idol sitting right in front of me, but I was able to tell her that I have always been a fan and I admire her with all my heart. She was extremely kind and appreciative and gave me a hug then a picture was snapped. I carry this memory with me always.

I consider myself to be a dreamer and I know that if I try hard enough, someday I will have the opportunity to meet her face to face again. I would just like the chance to express my extreme gratitude to the woman who has inspired me to be the person that I am today. More important than all the crazy outfits and hair colors that she may be known for, to me, it is what is inside her and in her music is what is most significant about this woman’s career.

She is not afraid to speak her mind, be her own person, and make her own music. I think this is a metaphor for life that every girl needs.

Be your own person and don’t let anyone tell you what to wear or who to look like or what to do with your life. Pursue your own dreams and live your life for you because at the end of each day, it is only you that has to be happy with yourself. And Cyndi, if you are out there, thanks for everything.

Fifteen years since her breakout album She’s So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper has reinvented herself. Her remake of The Trammps’ classic “Disco Inferno” (Jellybean) and an opening slot on Cher’s high-profile summer tour have put Lauper back in the limelight – this time in the dance community.

As the Soul Solution-produced “Disco Inferno” continued to impress DJs – dub mixes are available from Boris & Beck – DJ Times caught up with Lauper, who spoke warmly of Cher, her new label and the reception she’s received from clubland.

DJ Times: How did you end up cutting “Disco Inferno”?

Lauper: It was one of my birthing songs. During the last part of my pregnancy, my husband [actor David Thornton] was in the “Last Days of Disco” and he started bringing home the music from Studio 54. It was what I was listening to. There was this idea of doing the song for the movie, but that didn’t work out. Then my manager got it into another movie [“A Night at the Roxbury”], which didn’t do very well. It was released on some compilation and then in January it was nominated for a Grammy. So we got excited and said, “Let’s put it out.” I wanted to redo the vocal and do a dance remix. Jellybean [Benitez] heard it and liked it enough to put it out on his label. I have a single deal, not an album deal.

DJ Times: How have things been with the Jellybean label?

Lauper: It’s a wonderful label. The people you work with are great – they’re all pretty genuine. That’s really different from a major label, where everyone is so inundated that they’re never really happy to see you. At Jellybean’s label, if you talk about a bridge in a song, they understand. They’re music people. I can’t work in a corporate mindset. In a corporate and rigid situation, I just feel like I’m back in Catholic school again. Which has been great with the dance stuff because in that community it doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a guy, if you’re tall or short, or fat or skinny, or white or black or how old you are. In the dance community if it’s good, it’s good. We did this club in Miami and I went out dancing with the promotion guy.

DJ Times: What club did you perform at there?

Lauper: We did the Cher show and then we went over to Salvation. It was such a breath of fresh air. I did live-to-track and I brought Val along, she’s my violin player. I did “True Colors” in honor of Gay Pride Week. I sang “I’m Gonna Be Strong” a cappella. I sang “Fearless.” For “Disco Inferno” I had these dancing firemen – it was tacky and funny. I like to be outrageous. During the Cher tour, I have 45 minutes. Let’s get in; let’s get out. You don’t want to do the theatrics.

DJ Times: What about the club dates?

Lauper: You put on a different hat and go like a diva. People are so supportive. If I don’t have it together, I know some drag queen will help me. It’s great to go on tour and feel so encourag- ed…to sing and find the space within the music where it’s a little bit of heaven, a glimpse of something more than who you are. It’s very addictive – a space where anything is possible. I guess that’s what makes people dedicate their lives to an art or a craft.

DJ Times: What kind of project are you working on with Junior Vasquez?

Lauper: I wrote a song with him and I’ve been writing with Soul Solution. This is just a way to clear my head. I’m getting a body of work together and eventually I’ll know which way I’m going. I don’t want to do the same thing, although it has been a wonderful progression since I started with the loops in ’91, mixing that stuff together in ’93 and then in ’95 that style of music became really popular. That was encouraging because I knew I was right.

DJ Times: What’s it like working with Cher?

Lauper: I’m on a bill with a woman who’s been written off and put down and ignored at an Oscar – the next year she wins the Oscar. Then she comes back and has a No. 1 song. She goes away and comes back and she’s a dance diva. She’s so inspiring. The tour’s got Wild Orchid, me, and her. We’re all very different from each other and I think that makes it an interesting, fun evening. I turned it down at first. I said I had nothing to sell – but I was quite wrong. All the other stuff doesn’t matter when the music clicks and you feel that kind of joy.

And in the WHERE ARE THEY NOW section, there was as well a mention of Cyndi:

CYNDI LAUPER

Cyndi was the girl with the broken-chalk-on-blackboard voice, the kooky clothes, and the posse made up of wrestling managers. Then Madonna came along with the same account at the jumble store and stole her thunder. As idiosyncratic female icons go, Lauper is one of the best, especially with femme power anthems like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “She Bop”. But where is she now? Is she…

a) Advertising MacDonald’s in Japan?
b) Winning an Emmy?
c) Driving a bus?

SHE’S SO UNUSUAL

With that strange pony-tail crew-cut Lauper was certainly unusual, until she opened her mouth. A cross between Barbra Streisand and Betty Boop, she could go from making you throw your hands in the air to chilling the listener to the very depths of their soul with the awesome ‘Time After Time’. Song for song, including a Prince cover, this is one of the ’80s great pop albums.

In 1977 disco is hot everywhere you go, and everytime you step out on the dance floor, one song rings as the anthem, “Disco Inferno” by the Tramps.

Twenty-two years later, progressive house or techno is the hottest craze.

Dance remixes of radio edits are where the money is at and artist?s flock to find a chart climbing oldie to get their hands on. Most remixes of classics lack the original energy or even style that made it so popular. But occasionally a gem comes along that relives the very reason it was created so many years ago.

Cyndi Lauper just released a dance remix of The Tramps classic “Disco Inferno.” She has come a long way since “True Colors” and proves it with this Billboard Dance Single listing tracking at number 9, beating Donna Summer’s dance track.

This certainly by no means is Cyndi’s first dance remix chart topper but it certainly could be the one that springs her back into popularity. This year Cyndi tours as a special guest with Cher and energizes the audience with her new dance hit. It savors all the original style from the Tramps but adds Cyndi’s spice that she is so well known for. The soundtrack remix is done by Soul Solution again and can be found on Jellybean Records (yes Madonna’s ex-boytoy Jellybean Benitez.) This version keeps all the same lyrics but Cyndi notarizes it with her well-known shrill yell that only she can do. At first listen, one will realize that it is tastefully redone but again not a dance floor anthem.

Hopefully the DJ’s will be smart enough to go beyond the surface and listen to the other remixes such as the Boris & Beck Roxy Edit Dub. This version lacks all but two sentences from the lyrics and has a bass driven beat that will have any club goes dancing on tables. No one artist has been able to be throned as the king or queen of dance releases but the remixes of Disco Inferno sure gives Cyndi Lauper more than her fair share of votes.

American kooks burned our flag to protest same-sex couples, so we might as well give equal time to a pair of visiting American performers who have different views on the subject.

One of them is Cyndi Lauper. Like Cher – who she’s opening for in Skyreach Centre tonight – the singer of Girls Just Want to Have Fun has attracted a large gay following. Lauper was grand marshal of the 1996 Gay Pride parade in New York, her signature tune has enjoyed a revival in gay circles and one of the key tracks from her last studio album was an ode to lesbian love.

While Lauper is heterosexual, married (to actor David Thornton in 1992; Little Richard performed the ceremony) and a new mom, she has gay friends and relatives. She’s obviously broached this topic during interviews before.

“I love the community”, she says. “I embrace it. I don’t know what (Cher’s) thing is, but then again, friends and family, you know? You got to stick by your friends and family and stand up for them, because in a world that’s run by fear of anybody who’s different, you got to be there and have their backs covered. Because if you don’t, all the fearful people take over and everything is run by fear, just because people are a little different. That community is made up of friends and family of mine. I am there for them. I enjoy it. It’s more fun. And I’m having a blast,” she pauses. “Does that answer your question or is that too strong? I never know what to say.”

A question was never actually asked. It’s hardly necessary when it comes to this particular entertainer. With refreshing candour (and a charming Brooklyn accent), Lauper conducts a stream-of-consciousness interview on the phone from a tour stop in Denver. The 46-year-old singer talks about everything from production techniques on her dance recordings (she used loops in 1993, long before it became the norm in pop music) and meeting her idol Joni Mitchell (whose chain-smoking gave her a headache) to details on giving birth (a 15-hour labour done the “natural” way, if you really want to know) – practically all in the same breath.

Since she and Epic Records “parted ways” shortly after her 1997 album Sisters of Avalon, Lauper is enjoying a comeback as an independent recording artist with a new version of Disco Inferno. A new full-length album is in the works.

“It’s a great summer song and it seems to be really taking off,” she says. “I don’t know where it is now, but it was No. 19 with a bullet last week.” (Another unusual trait – an artist talking about chart positions.)

Does Lauper feel any qualms about jumping on the cover song remake bandwagon? Everyone’s doing it.

“Listen. It was a fluke. Last year, my husband did a movie called The Last Days of Disco, and he played this guy Bernie in the movie and he would bring home these CDs of Studio 54 stuff so he could listen and get into character. The song goes, ‘Burn, baby burn,’ and his name was Bernie, so anyway ….”

So anyway – long story short – she did the song, and while The Last Days of Disco soundtrack producers passed, A Night at the Roxbury picked it up.

“And all of a sudden it was nominated for a Grammy!” she exclaims. “It’s extraordinary what’s happening. Honest to God, it’s a fluke. Who knew?”

Few could’ve predicted it. Tarred with the bubblegum label after her 1984 debut and the follow-up, 1986’s True Colors, Lauper’s career seemed to flounder. Many casual fans perhaps failed to realize the true depth of her talent, as a songwriter, as a producer, especially as a soul singer (if you caught her smokin’ performance on David Letterman’s 10th anniversary special, you’d know). She says she doesn’t dwell on what people might think of her any more, but she’s used to being misunderstood by now.

She recalls: “I used to chase a priest around when I was a little kid in Catholic school. And I’d always run up to him and say, ‘Fatha, fatha,’ just to walk with him as he was reading his book back and forth and he’d say, ‘And what’s your name?’ And I would say Cynthia (her given name). And he’d say, ‘Oh, that’s nice, Sylvia,’ because he was a little Irish and I’d say, ‘No, no: Cynthia.’ And he’d say, ‘Nice, Sylvia.’ And after a while, he said it so many times, I said OK, I’ll go with this: Sylvia. Good. Whatever.”

That seems to have been Lauper’s attitude for most of the ’90s – from experimenting in the studio, to landing a role on Mad About You, to being invited to tour with Cher, it all happened by happy accident. That’s what you get when you’re a girl who still just wants to have fun

TURN THE BEAT AROUND: For Cyndi Lauper, recording a cover version of the Trammp’s 1978 dance classic “Disco Inferno” was a lot like giving birth. In fact, with some ironic twists of fate in play, that’s exactly what the groundbreaking ’80’s singer/songwriter did: She used the original track to exercise with while pregnant in 1998 and then played it during the delivery of her son Declyn.

The whimsical tale begins when her husband since 1991, actor David Thornton, was cast in the 1998 motion picture “The Last Days of Disco.” “He kept bringing home all of this studio 54 music,” Lauper explains, “and during the last part of my pregnancy, I found myself dancing to the song, over and over.”

Thornton then said,”Wouldn’t it be great to record that song for the movie I’m in?” That didn’t work out, but Lauper was so inspired that she ended up recording the raucous, freewheeling track anyway and found a home for it on the soundtrack to last year’s “A Night At The Roxbury” on Dreamworks. Curiously, the track was not chosen as a single, but then it was awarded an unexpected and influential endorsement: “Disco Inferno” was nominated last year for a grammy award as best dance single.

“That’s when everybody got excited and said, ‘Let’s put it out,'”Lauper says. Talk about the miracle of birth. Without a major-label deal to deliver the song to radio, Lauper eventually hooked up through producer/remixer Soul Solution with old friend and 80’s remixer Jellybean Benitez, now the head of his own label, Jellybean Recordings.

“I did remixes back in 1983 of ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun,’ so I’ve known Cyndi for a good number of years, and we’ve kept in touch”, Benitez says. “When this came up, it was an easy decision. I just thought it would be fun to do, and with this whole retro thing going on in dance music, the timing seemed to work really well.”

The track is now a certifiable hit, climbing this issue to No.32 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and spinning at a handful of dance-leaning top 40 stations, including WKTU New York. A commercial CD-5 with remixes due Aug.3; a CD single and cassette single will follow Aug. 24. “Being that it’s a remake of ‘Disco Inferno’, it naturally fits into that weekend-party frame of mind,” says John McDaniel, PD of noncommercial dance outlet KNHC Seattle. “Our early response has been pretty positive. I think that people are happy she’s back with anything at all. It’s a good move, and people recognize her instantly. It just couldn’t be anybody else singing it.”

“This song has two major things going for it,” adds Victor “The Latino ,” assistant PD/music director for dance station WXXP (Party 105) Long Island, New York. “Number one, it’s a classic dance song that people recognize, and two, Cyndi Lauper did it. This is a great opportunity for us to play something new from her.

“People are calling and saying, ‘My God, she’s back.’ There’s an element of surprise that a superstar of the ’80’s is returning, which makes the success story easier to build,” he says. And the timing couldn’t be better for Party 105, given its July 25 megadance concert, featuring 25 dance oriented artists. Lauper served as a cohost for the event.

For the artist, the track marks another notch in a nearly 20-year career marked by eight top 40 hits, five hit albums, and a grammy for best new artist in 1984. Lauper also won an Emmy in 1995 for an appearance as the character Marianne Lagasso on NBC’s Mad About You.” which led to a reprise of the nadcap role in the show’s final episode, which aired in May 1999. In addition, she was just selected one of VH1’s 100 greatest women of rock’n’roll, landing at No.58. “Really? I didn’t even know that,” Lauper says with amusement. “You see? I’m right there in the middle. Some people will like you and half the people won’t, so all you can do is just keep going.”

Part of that mission icludes a major role in the upcoming independent film, “The Opportunists,” alongside Christopher Walken. In the movie which was shot last fall and is due out later this summer, Lauper will play Walken’s love interest, Sally, who runs the local watering hole he frequents.

But foremost, the music remains front and center: Lauper is on the rode throughtout the summer as the opener act for Cher’s high-profile North American tour, with a 50 minute set. “I must say, having people stand up and scream and sing along to the songs that weren’t hits is kind of nice. There’s a lot of energy and I’m having a hoot,” she says.

“Seeing Cyndi live, you get the sense that she’s an artist that needs to perform,” Benitez says. “Her interaction with the audience is amazing. She has a true core fan base out there, which I didn’t fully understand until we moved the release date for ‘Disco Inferno.’ You better believe I heard from all of them calling here nonstop.”

And yes, Lauper says, she still performs her 1983 debut hit, Girls Just Want To Have Fun. “It’s an anthem, and it meant a lot to people,” she attests. “And now, there’s a new generation of young women and girls who listen to that song, which is pretty remarkable. It’s not like, ‘Oh, that’s a song that used to be famous’. It was a song that freed people, so I do it because of what it meant. I have tried throughout my career to do songs that were worthy and not just disposable art, things that meant something to me, because then they would mean things to other people,” Lauper says. “I try not to sing words that aren’t grounded in some form of reality.”

She hopes to continue that approach with an upcoming album, perhaps in the fall, though Lauper admits that securing a label deal must come first. “I need to have fun at a label; they’ve all become so corporate,” she says. “I’ve taken some meetings, and it all just felt the same. So for now, this is perfect, with the tour to keep me busy.”

Still, she’s been actively writing and has already completed a song with dance producer Junior Vasquez and another with bandmate/producer Jan Pulsford, so it’s likely she will visit dance-land again.

“I love dance music,” she says. “It’s a subculture where there are no boundaries, where music is music and you’re not separated by color or age, gender, or sexuality. I enjoy that as a really great place.”

“I’d love to see her make a comeback all the way, like in the old days,” says McDaniel at KNHC, who fully supports her entree into the dance arena. “We’ve been a dance station since Cyndi had her first album out, so she’s always been a dance artist, for us anyway. Even when she crossed to top 40, we felt like she was our artist. As far as we’re concerned, she’s a superstar act, and we always have to at least take a second listen to whatever she’s doing.”

If Lauper has any say, programmers will be hooked the first time through, thanks to her dedication to grow with her music. “I feel compelled to always dig deeper and do the best I can,” she says. “To me, the joy of music is the birth of it, the creation, discovery, and the danger. Without that, it has no life in it, and music with no life falls dead on the ears.

“I think I live to sing. Music makes me feel more alive then anything else.”