Photo of Cyndi Lauper
Photo: Philip Romano · CC BY-SA 4.0

Solo Artist · Queen of Quirky Pop

Cyndi Lauper

Active1979-present
OriginAstoria, Queens, New York City, USA
Albums12
Tracks141

Most frequent collaborator: Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper  ·  84 tracks

PopNew WaveDance-PopRock
60%
Authorship
Collaborator

Holds writing credit on 85 of 141 tracks

Did Cyndi Lauper write her own songs?

Partly. Cyndi Lauper is credited as a co-writer on much of her catalog, but she began as more of an interpreter, co-writing only three of the ten tracks on her 1983 debut She's So Unusual. She did not write her biggest hit, 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun,' but she did co-write 'Time After Time' and 'She Bop,' and by later albums like Hat Full of Stars and Sisters of Avalon she was writing nearly everything herself.

By the Numbers

12
Studio Albums
141
Tracks Credited
60%
Self-Written
over 50 million
Records Sold
47
Years Active
169
Collaborators

Authorship Breakdown 85 / 141 self-written

Who wrote the songs?

Across all 141 tracks: how many Cyndi Lauper wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.

Cyndi Lauper has a writing credit60%
60%
40%
Sole author0tracks0%
Co-written85tracks60%
Outside writers56tracks40%

Role Fingerprint how they contribute

Lyricist Performer Composer Producer
Cyndi Lauper's roles across the catalogue

Share of all 141 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.

Lyricist (words)60%
Composer (music)0%
Producer84%
Performer100%

Authorship Over Time writing credit per album

Cyndi Lauper's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.

avg 60%
40%
70%
75%
100%
100%
64%
100%
0%
75%
100%
0%
0%
1983She's So Unusual
1986True Colors
1989A Night to Remember
1993Hat Full of Stars
1996Sisters of Avalon
1998Merry Christmas ... Have a Nice Life
2002Shine
2003At Last
2005The Body Acoustic
2008Bring Ya to the Brink
2010Memphis Blues
2016Detour
Early · 73% written
Mid · 65% written
Late · 44% written

Authorship by Decade track-weighted

63%
1980s
She's So Unusual, True Colors +1 more
89%
1990s
Hat Full of Stars, Sisters of Avalon +1 more
68%
2000s
At Last, Shine +2 more
0%
2010s
Memphis Blues, Detour

Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author

Where Cyndi Lauper sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.

Cyndi Lauper
Other artists on the site

Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.

Celine Dion2%
Backstreet Boys25%
NSYNC41%
Michael Jackson51%
George Michael80%
Gwen Stefani88%
Prince96%
60%Cyndi Lauper
Pure Performer0%
Songwriter~50%
Complete Author100%

Who Really Wrote the Hits signature songs

Girls Just Want to Have Fun
She's So Unusual
Written by Robert Hazard
Outside writers
Time After Time
She's So Unusual
Written by Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Co-wrote
She Bop
She's So Unusual
Written by Cyndi Lauper, Rick Chertoff, Gary Corbett, Stephen Broughton Lunt, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Co-wrote
All Through the Night
She's So Unusual
Written by Jules Shear
Outside writers
Money Changes Everything
She's So Unusual
Written by Tom Gray
Outside writers
True Colors
True Colors
Written by Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg
Outside writers
Change of Heart
True Colors
Written by Essra Mohawk, Cyndi Lauper
Co-wrote
What's Going On
True Colors
Written by Al Cleveland, Renaldo Benson, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.
Outside writers
Boy Blue
True Colors
Written by Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt, Jeff Bova, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Co-wrote
I Drove All Night
A Night to Remember
Written by Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg
Outside writers
My First Night Without You
A Night to Remember
Written by Cyndi Lauper, Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Co-wrote
Walk On By
At Last
Written by Hal David, Burt Freeman Bacharach
Outside writers
Same Ol' Story
Bring Ya to the Brink
Written by Cyndi Lauper, Richard Morel, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Co-wrote
Into the Nightlife
Bring Ya to the Brink
Written by Cyndi Lauper, Peer Åström, Johan Bobäck, Max Martin, Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Co-wrote
Crossroads
Memphis Blues
Written by Robert Johnson
Outside writers
Just Your Fool
Memphis Blues
Written by Little Walter, Marion Walter Jacobs
Outside writers

Discography 12 albums

Collaborator Network who they worked with most

Cyndi Lauper141 tracks
CA84 WW39 JP26 RC22 LP21 MS13

Bubble size = tracks worked on together. CA Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper · WW William Wittman · JP Jan Pulsford · RC Rick Chertoff · LP Lennie Petze · MS Mark Saunders

The Writers & Producers Behind Cyndi Lauper 6 key collaborators

CA
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Songwriter
She's So Unusual / True Colors / A Night to Remember / Hat Full of Stars84 tracks
WW
William Wittman
Producer
Hat Full of Stars / Merry Christmas ... Have a Nice Life / Shine / The Body Acoustic39 tracks
JP
Jan Pulsford
Songwriter
Sisters of Avalon / Merry Christmas ... Have a Nice Life / Shine / The Body Acoustic26 tracks
RC
Rick Chertoff
Producer
She's So Unusual / The Body Acoustic22 tracks
LP
Lennie Petze
Producer
True Colors / A Night to Remember21 tracks
MS
Mark Saunders
Producer
Sisters of Avalon / Merry Christmas ... Have a Nice Life13 tracks

The Authorship Story

Data Insight

Cyndi Lauper's authorship arc across twelve albums is one of the most dramatic in this database. On She's So Unusual she co-wrote only three of ten tracks, and two of the four hit singles were written entirely by others (Robert Hazard, Jules Shear). By True Colors she co-wrote seven of ten; by Hat Full of Stars and Sisters of Avalon she co-wrote the entire album. Her three cover-only albums (At Last, Memphis Blues, Detour) score 0% authorship, spanning the widest intra-artist authorship range in the database. She is credited as "Cyndi Lauper" on all songwriter credits throughout her career. Her most consistent co-writers are Jan Pulsford (Sisters of Avalon through Merry Christmas), Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (She's So Unusual, Hat Full of Stars, Merry Christmas, Shine), and William Wittman (A Night to Remember through Bring Ya to the Brink).

Quick Facts

  • Debut recordShe's So Unusual (1983), first debut by a woman with four top-five Hot 100 hits
  • Vocal rangeFour-octave voice
  • GrammyBest New Artist (1985)
  • BroadwayFirst woman to win the Tony for Best Original Score by herself, Kinky Boots (2013)
  • Records soldOver 50 million worldwide
  • Studio albumsTwelve, spanning pop, blues (Memphis Blues) and country (Detour)

Creative Fingerprint

An interpreter who grew into a writer: she co-wrote only three songs on her debut and did not write her biggest hit, then wrote nearly all of her mid-career albums before returning to pure covers on three later records.

The Story

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953), known professionally as Cyndi Lauper, is a New York City pop singer, songwriter, actress, and activist who rose to prominence with her 1983 debut album She's So Unusual. The album made her the first solo artist to send four singles from a debut into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 ("Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," "She Bop," and "All Through the Night") and earned her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1985. She co-wrote "Time After Time" with Rob Hyman of The Hooters, which became one of the most covered pop songs of all time. Across twelve studio albums spanning over four decades, her authorship evolved from a new wave performer relying heavily on outside songwriters to a consistent co-writer who controlled nearly her entire later catalog. Her discography also includes a Grammy-winning blues covers album (Memphis Blues, 2010) and a country covers album (Detour, 2016), making her one of the most stylistically diverse artists in this database.

Awards & Recognition

Grammy Award for Best New Artist (1985)
Tony Award for Best Original Score, Kinky Boots (2013)
Primetime Emmy Award for guest role on Mad About You (1995)
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album, Memphis Blues (2011)

Frequently Asked Questions Cyndi Lauper

Did Cyndi Lauper write her own songs?
Partly. Cyndi Lauper is credited as a co-writer on much of her catalog, but she began as more of an interpreter, co-writing only three of the ten tracks on her 1983 debut She's So Unusual. She did not write her biggest hit, 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun,' but she did co-write 'Time After Time' and 'She Bop,' and by later albums like Hat Full of Stars and Sisters of Avalon she was writing nearly everything herself.
Who wrote 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun'?
'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' was written by Robert Hazard, who originally recorded it from a male point of view. Lauper reworked the song into an anthem for young women for her 1983 album She's So Unusual, and her version became her signature hit.
Who wrote 'Time After Time'?
'Time After Time' was co-written by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman of The Hooters for She's So Unusual. It became her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and one of the most covered pop songs of all time.
Who wrote 'True Colors'?
The song 'True Colors' was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, not by Lauper. Her 1986 recording of it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of her defining performances even though she did not write it.
How many records has Cyndi Lauper sold?
Cyndi Lauper has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Her 1983 debut She's So Unusual remains her best-selling album, powered by four top-five singles.
Has Cyndi Lauper won a Grammy, Emmy, and Tony?
Yes. Lauper won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1985, a Primetime Emmy in the 1990s for a guest role on Mad About You, and the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2013 for the musical Kinky Boots, becoming the first woman to win that category by herself. She has also won a Grammy for her blues album Memphis Blues.
How many studio albums has Cyndi Lauper released?
Cyndi Lauper has released twelve studio albums, from She's So Unusual in 1983 to the country covers set Detour in 2016. Her catalog also includes a standards album, a Christmas record, and the Grammy-winning blues album Memphis Blues.
What made She's So Unusual a landmark album?
Released in 1983, She's So Unusual was the first debut album by a female artist to send four singles into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100: 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun,' 'Time After Time,' 'She Bop,' and 'All Through the Night.' It won Lauper the Grammy for Best New Artist and made her one of the defining pop figures of the 1980s.

Sources

Cyndi Lauper - Wikipedia She's So Unusual - Wikipedia