Cyndi Lauper has recently started her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 23-city headlining tour – Lauper’s first major run in a decade will be making stops across North America including two in Florida (Tampa and Hollywood) before wrapping up in Chicago, IL at United Center on December 5th. Throughout the tour, Lauper will be joined by special guests.
The announcement of her farewell tour arrived alongside LetThe Canary Sing, a feature-length documentary film on Paramount+ that explores Lauper’s extraordinary life and career. In celebration of the tour and the film, Lauper was honored with an imprint ceremony at the prestigious TCL Chinese Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Cyndi Lauper is a Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning songwriter and performing artist with global record sales in excess of 50 million. Her iconic voice, influential punk glamor, and infectious live shows have catapulted her to stardom. Lauper won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist with her first album, She’s So Unusual, and became the first woman in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album including her anthem “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Lauper has released ten additional studio albums, featuring classics like “Time After Time” and “True Colors,” and is a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and NY Times best-selling author. In 2013, Lauper became the first solo woman to win Best Original Score (music and lyrics) for Kinky Boots. She is also tireless in her advocacy work. She has been an activist since day one, always fighting for the underdog – especially women, people living with HIV/AIDS, and the LGBTQ community.
Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has released a companion product to the documentary of the same name. The Let The Canary Singcompanion album is a career-spanning collection that follows Lauper’s career. The album is available now on vinyl and as a digital expanded edition at https://cyndilauper.lnk.to/LTCS
Photo by Ruven Afanador
It was a pleasure and an honor to sit down with Cyndi Lauper for this exclusive Hotspots interview (although I only got 15 mins, so I didn’t get to ask all my questions) just a couple weeks before her appearances here in Florida.
This is your farewell tour, was it hard to make this decision and what made you come to that conclusion?
No, it wasn’t hard. I am 71 and strong now and I don’t know what’s going to happen in 5 years. I have also been working on “Working Girl” for Broadway. I felt after the documentary, and everyone asked for a tour, I would do a farewell tour. It’s a wonderful tour, it’s a bucket list. I was lucky enough to work and create with Brian Burke and we created this wonderful, beautiful art and music and performance art show and I am excited about presenting it to my fans.
Also, don’t forget to buy a wig (we have them in all different colors) because all of the proceeds (all of them) are going to Girls Just Want to Have Fun Fundamental Rights’ Fund.
As a Gay man we hope that you will be like Cher, and we will get more farewell tours…is that a possibility?
No, this is it! I will never do a tour like this, as it is incredible I am able to do it. Will I perform somewhere, maybe, but not an all-out tour.
The LGBTQ+ community has always been a big part of your life, but not everyone becomes an activist…What and how did you become such a big activist?
I always was because my sister was part of the community. I started Students for a Democratic Society. When things were going sideways, and the marriage act was voted down…I said we are not having this!! In the 80’s when AIDS was all around us, no one was speaking about it, all I did was speak about…its important when you see things that aren’t right to speak up. The biggest crime is not saying anything!!
Voting is the most important thing in our county. If you go to Voting411.com you will find out who is for you. If you don’t become an educated voter and vote then you cannot complain. I believe in Community organizing, because it starts in your community and that’s how you create change. People evolve and that’s the most important thing. Humans grow together and affect good change.
In your documentary, Let The Canary Sing, you talk about how it was so segregated for an artist in the ’80s, and that you felt you could only stay in one lane musically. When and how did this change for you?
I grew up with all kinds of music on the radio and I decided music is like cooking and you invent when you create. In the 80’s music happened around the companies. Everyone looked very individual, but then when the companies stepped in, they wanted people to be like so and so, and that’s unfortunate. Music was very segregated, and Michael Jackson wanted to break this,and he did. Quincy Jones and Michael did something brilliant and it was very inspiring. I am from New York, and everything is together, so segregation was not something I really knew.
You have traveled all over the world, is there any one show or event that sticks out to you and why?
There is one in Japan the first time I sang “True Colors” acapellaand the whole audience sang it with me. They sang in English, but they had an accent, and it was the most endearing thing. Its what made me stay in Japan after the Sunami. There was so much love pouring out of them I needed to give back.
What should our readers expect from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour?
I am collaborating with real artists, it’s what I was born to do and it is my gift to all the people that followed me in all my crazy turns in my career. It’s a joyful show and I wanted to bring people together and leave happy. It’s a party and a celebration and a thank you.
For more information on Cyndi Lauper go to Cyndilauper.com
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour dates in Florida are: Wednesday, November 6th in Tampa at the Amalie Arena, and Friday, November 8th in Hollywood at the Seminole Hardrock.
Tickets are available at LiveNation.com. Fans can also purchase VIP Packages, which may include premium tickets, a guided backstage tour, pre-show VIP Lounge, exclusive tour poster & more. VIP package contents vary based on offer selected. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
