Six Tony Awards for Cyndi Lauper’s Musical
Continuing with a successful career that has spanned five decades, Cyndi Lauper’s musical Kinky Boots picked up six Tony Awards this month – Best Musical, Best Leading Man, Best Original Score, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations and Best Sound Design. In addition to thanking the Kinky Boots cast and crew and her family (particularly her mother), Lauper thanked New York City noting that its citizens are hardworking, which is an inspiration to her. Based on real events, Kinky Boots tells the story of a factory owner who turns to making fetish footwear for cross-dressers in an effort to save his failing business. While initial reviews following the opening of the musical in Chicago in October 2012 were mixed, clearly the show has garnered fans in the right places.
Born in Ozone Park, Queens, NYC, on June 22, 1953, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauder learned to play the guitar at the age of twelve and was soon writing her own material, expressing herself through art and music. In the mid-1970s she was singing cover songs with various bands when she damaged her vocal chords and was told that she would never sing again, but with the help of a vocal coach and proper vocal exercises she recovered fully and went on to produce a host of hit songs.
Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 debut album She’s So Unusual won the 1985 Grammy Award for Best New Artist and resulted in four top five hits – Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Time After Time, All Through the Night and She Bop. Her 1986 album True Colors spawned the hit single of the same name and Change of Heart. Several albums followed, with her most recent beingMemphis Blues in 2010, which turned out to be the most successful blues album of the year on the Billboard blues charts where it remained for 13 consecutive weeks.
With her career showing no signs of slowing down, Lauper has sold more than 50 million albums and has won numerous awards, including Emmy, Grammy, Billboard, AMA, MTV VMA and now the Tony Awards.
