Cyndi Lauper is 69 years old today.
Born in Queens, New York, Lauper is a singer, songwriter and actress. She achieved success with the release of the debut solo album, She's So Unusual, in 1983.
It spawned four Billboard Top 5 songs — "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” "Time After Time,” "She Bop" and "All Through the Night.” She's So Unusual was the first album in history to have four top five singles by a female. Her success continued with the follow-up, True Colors in 1986, which spawned two Billboard Top 10 songs — "True Colors" and "Change of Heart.”
Since 1989, she released A Night to Remember (1989), Hat Full of Stars (1993), Sisters of Avalon (1996), Merry Christmas... Have a Nice Life (1998), Shine (2001), At Last (2003), The Body Acoustic (2005) and Bring Ya to the Brink (2008).
In 2010, her eleventh studio album, Memphis Blues in 2010, topped the Billboard Blues Albums chart for 13 consecutive weeks at #1. It spawned five Billboard Digital Blues Songs Top 5 songs — "Just Your Fool,” "Crossroads,” "How Blue Can You Get?,” "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Early in the Mornin’.”
Lauper has also released over 40 singles. As of 2011, she had sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. She also sold one million DVDs and 20 million singles, which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time.
In 2013, Lauper won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for composing the Broadway musical, Kinky Boots, making her the first woman to win the category by herself.
Here, Lauper performs in the video “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” 1983