Cyndi Lauper

For such a quirky and creative individual, the title to Cyndi Lauper’s autobiography seems so safe and boring. Simply titled, A Memoir, on reflection it could’ve been named Things The Grandchildren Should Know, except that Mark Oliver Everett from Eels had already used it. In Lauper’s book she proves to be the world’s kookiest agony aunt, reflecting on most aspects of her life and offering up advice in spades.

To say the pop star that rose to prominence in the eighties is an show more inspirational woman is a huge understatement. She’s gone and done it all. She’s been an actress, songwriter, performer, writer, mother and she overcame great adversity.

Her story begins with her leaving the home of her Sicilian mother as a teenager after she had a run-in with her creepy stepfather. There were some bad years where she failed high school and endured poverty, countless dead-end jobs and bankruptcy, plus a sexual assault at the hands of a former band mate. She even guesses that she had undiagnosed ADHD. Lauper’s past is shocking and rather violent and seems at odds with the effervescent, quirky redhead that had lots in common with Lucille Ball or the girl that was known for just wanting to have fun.

In 1983 Lauper was anointed a star after she released her debut record, She’s So Unusual. She fought the record company to retain her creative and artistic freedom and won. She scored four top 40 singles including “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, “She Bop” and “Time After Time” and she was the first female artist to do so. But her subsequent albums never matched this mammoth success, even though her follow-up produced the hit, “True Colours”.

Lauper’s book is co-written with NY-Times bestseller and former Rolling Stone contributor, Jancee Dunn. But even with this extra help, the words have “Cyndi” printed all over it. It is written just like she speaks and her recall is impeccable. She’s able to vividly describe scenes from decades ago with as much visual detail as if we were looking at a photograph. The writing is intimate, informal and peppered with Lauper’s accent. So when the storyline breaks off into different tangents and she adds extra asides and observations, you can’t help but feel like you’re sharing a drink with the lady rather than reading her book.

Lauper always embraced the unconventional and outsider card she was often sidled with. She is self-deprecating and even calls herself a drag queen because everything is a vision of how she’d like to look and not how she actually looks. Today, her op-shop chic style has been adopted by a more mainstream following and her influence can be felt in younger female artists like Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga.

In addition to Lauper’s fine work in music, she has also been an outspoken advocate of civil and feminist rights and she is also a campaigner for freedom of sexuality. She’s set up the True Colours Fund to help LGBT youths in America. She’s also raised lots of money for the cause over the years and it’s one that’s close to her heart, because she lost a friend to AIDS at a young age and her adored elder sister, Ellen, is a lesbian.

Lauper’s boisterous addition to the rock lit cannon is descriptive, occasionally rambling and repetitive but ultimately one extraordinary tale of survival. She gives advice, sometimes shows us what not to do and does it all with such an inspired and goofy sense of humour and a feisty, no bulls**t attitude. Sure, it’s disorganised and chaotic but it suits the sensitive, fun and free-spirited nature of the gal.

Above all, A Memoir is a relatable story. And Cyndi Lauper is living proof that you can overcome various obstacles. She ignored the people that said they “Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve” and the other detractors that threatened to get in her way. This girl was and is so unusual but she is also one of very few people that can say “I did it my way” and mean it wholeheartedly.

Originally published on 12 August 2013 at the following website: http://www.theaureview.com/reviews/reading-with-the-au-cyndi-lauper-jancee-dunn-...

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Cyndi Lauper’s autobiography begins with her running away from home to escape her step-father the sexual predator. Things don’t get much better for her for quite some time- some truly horrific things happen to her on her way to success. And success is illusive- for all Lauper’s hard work, hit records, and Grammy nominations, she has never become as rich and famous as one would think she should be.

Recognition didn’t come to Lauper until she was thirty. Through her twenties, she show more worked menial jobs, sang in cover bands, and was never taken seriously, even by her own band mates- she was even sexually assaulted by some of them. She gave free rein to her eccentric style (which has been copied endlessly) and didn’t pull any punches about what she thought, and these habits didn’t endear her to record execs. And so much of the time, she just has had plain bad luck. It’s not that she is blaming fate for her own short fallings; she readily admits when she screws up. This woman never stops working, and, I suspect, never will. Her creative force is just too strong. She describes how she works, and it’s remarkable how she dissects music and puts it back together in new ways.

The book is written like you’re sitting down with Lauper, listening to her tell her story. She narrates with an immediacy that puts you right in the scene. She also digresses like she were sitting in front of you talking. This is not a dry, moment by moment biography! I highly recommend this if you’re a fan. show less

Lauper's debut album, featuring "Time After Time" and a handful of other hits.

5/4 (One of my favorites).

I first heard this album a few months ago, and I'm still in awe at how good it is. Lauper's singing has virtuostic skill, ragged rock and roll swagger, and a goofy sense of humor -- all of it somehow simultaneously. And half the songs on the album are classics.

An interesting but uneven book. Cyndi Lauper has had a challenge-filled life and offers many positive reflections on getting through difficulties and remaining true to one's own vision. Lots of compassion here, but also some settling of grudges. Overall, the book is too long; a judicious editor could have brought greater shape, focus, and strength to the text, but I suspect, based on Lauper's description of her artistic process, that little structural editing would have been tolerated.