Born and raised working-class in the outer boroughs of New York, Lauper was too stubborn and eccentric to succeed in school socially or academically. Her parents, both casual musicians, divorced when she was five. She and her older sister Ellen spent the rest of their teenage years, in Lauper's words, “dodging pedophiles and crazy people,” including their stepfather and grandfather. Cyndi left home at 17 to live with Ellen on Long Island, where she worked as a “hot walker” for racehorses at Belmont Park, singing Hare Krishna mantras into their ears to calm them. In her spare time, she auditioned for cover bands touring Long Island bars. By 1974, she got a gig as a backup singer and was soon asked to join in for short solos: 'Lady Marmalade', 'Tell Me Something Good'. Once it became clear that Lauper's voice worked best front and center, she became a permanent lead.
Cover bands were an ideal testing ground for Lauper. With her four-octave range and irreverent sense of humor, she revised the pop canon, imbuing it with her special sense of admiration for the world. Just as she would do after finding stardom years later, she twisted the words of others to her own will, opening up songs to reveal new meanings beneath their popular interpretations. It's hard to hear her sing Jackie Wilson's “Baby Workout” and miss how excited she seems to be in her own delivery, adding extra vocal runs like it's as easy as breathing. And Lauper's particularities as a performer offered an opposite kind of universal appeal: If this highly unusual woman with a neon orange haircut who talked like a pedestrian Minnie Mouse could convincingly inhabit music by Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones or Prince, then maybe the songs were for everyone.
However, he aspired to do more than sing other people's hits. “If you sing 'White Rabbit' one more time, shoot yourself,” he recalled thinking at the time. By the end of the decade, she had formed her own group, the rockabilly-inspired Blue Angel, with John Turi, a cover saxophonist. Critics loved them. they toured with Hall and Oates and the Human League. Lauper was the kind of singer everyone wanted to sign as a solo artist – “Like Chrissie Hynde and Deborah Harry, Lauper has the vocal ability to make her stand out.” Advertising sign was going crazy at the time — but held out until Polydor agreed to sign Blue Angel as a full band.
It didn't quite work: After a series of expensive failed demos, a subsequent lawsuit and a debilitating vocal bladder, Lauper began the 1980s broke and out of the music industry. She began working at Screaming Mimi's, the Manhattan vintage costume shop, where she honed her unique sense of style, combining layered neon skirts with jagged industrial punk edges. She hired a vocal coach and connected with David Wolfe, who became her longtime manager and friend. By 1983, she was in the studio with Turi and producer Rick Chertoff, recording her first self-titled album.
