Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 22nd, 1953. Cyndi grew up with one sister, Elen, and one brother, Fred, who was named after their father. At age 12, Cyndi first started playing the guitar and writing song lyrics; the first song she ever learned to play was "Greensleeves." She spent her teens hopping from high school to high school, going to a total of four before earning her honorary high school diploma.
During the mid-1970s, Cyndi performed with various bands in New York, singing covers of songs by such groups as Jefferson Airplane and Led Zeppelin, in addition to other top 40 hits. In 1977, Cyndi suffered serious damage to her vocal chords, and it would take a year of therapy for her to strengthen her voice again. As soon as she had regained her voice, she formed a new band, Blue Angel, which released a self-titled album in 1980. |
