Complete List Of Cyndi Lauper Songs From A to Z

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Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York, in a working-class family with Swiss-German and Italian roots. Her upbringing was marked by creativity and resilience. She began writing songs and teaching herself guitar at the age of twelve, showing early signs of the artistic force she would become. As a teenager, she left home, studied art in Vermont, and worked a succession of jobs before returning to New York. During the late 1970s, she fronted the rockabilly-influenced band Blue Angel, which released its only studio album in 1980. When the band dissolved and Lauper filed for bankruptcy, her refusal to quit set the tone for the rest of her career.

Her breakthrough came in 1983 with the release of She’s So Unusual, an album that permanently altered the pop landscape. Lauper became the first female artist to place four singles from a debut album in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 5: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” and “All Through the Night.” The album earned her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, while her colorful visual style and inventive music videos helped make her one of MTV’s defining early stars.

Her second album, True Colors, was released in 1986 and revealed a more introspective side. The title track reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album also included “Change of Heart,” “What’s Going On,” “Boy Blue,” and a new recording of the Blue Angel song “Maybe He’ll Know.” That same period included her vocal appearance on Billy Joel’s “Code of Silence” and her performance of the theme for Pee-wee’s Playhouse.

Lauper’s third studio album, A Night to Remember, followed in 1989 and featured “I Drove All Night,” “My First Night Without You,” and “Heading West.” She continued exploring personal and social themes on Hat Full of Stars in 1993 and Sisters of Avalon, first released in 1996. Her later studio work moved through holiday music, dance-pop, standards, acoustic arrangements, blues, and country.

Across her solo career, Lauper released twelve studio albums. At Last presented jazz and pop standards, The Body Acoustic revisited earlier songs through acoustic arrangements, and Bring Ya to the Brink returned her to dance music. Her 2010 album Memphis Blues spent thirteen weeks at number one on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination. In 2016, Detour reinterpreted country standards with guests including Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Jewel, Alison Krauss, and Vince Gill.

Her achievements extend across music, television, theater, and film. Lauper has won two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. Her score for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots earned the Tony Award for Best Original Score, making her the first woman to win that category alone. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2025.

Lauper has also remained a prominent advocate for LGBTQ rights and other social causes. In 2008, she co-founded True Colors United, an organization focused on ending homelessness among LGBTQ youth. She later established the Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights Fund to support reproductive freedom and health-care access.

Her work as an actress includes appearances in Vibes, Life with Mikey, and Mad About You, for which she won an Emmy Award. Her memoir was published in 2012, and the career documentary Let the Canary Sing premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2023 before its wider release in 2024.

Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour began in October 2024 and concluded at the Hollywood Bowl on August 30, 2025. The farewell designation applied to large-scale touring rather than all future performances. She returned for a five-show Las Vegas residency in April and May 2026 and continued making selected concert appearances.

Her recording activity has also continued through singles and collaborations. Later additions to her catalog include “Hope,” Casey Abrams’ “Eve of Destruction,” Amanda Shires’ “Our Problem,” “Sally’s Pigeons (Redux 2022),” the all-star soundtrack recording “Gonna Be You,” “Oh, Dolores,” Cher’s “Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart,” and a 2025 recording of “Come on Home” released by the Sound Mind Network.