Cyndi Lauper: I'd like to be viewed as a regular mum

Cyndi Lauper: I'd like to be viewed as a regular mum

She's the rockstar who dominated the eighties' charts, a philanthropist, Broadway actress as well as "a regular mum", if you would believe it. Now, Cyndi Lauper's a reality television star too, thanks to her first television show Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual.

The 60-year-old American singer-songwriter (who still wears streaks of pink in her bleached blonde hair) chronicles a busy year of touring, writing her autobiography and her work for the Kinky Boots musical in the new reality television series, now showing every Thursday in Singapore on SingTel Mio's WE tv channel.

Although Lauper may seem worlds apart from the average parent, she feels that her biggest struggle is essentially the same as most working mums; of "trying to balance all those work projects and still being a good wife and mother."

Married to actor David Thornton for over 20 years now, the couple have a 14-year-old son who prefers to shy away from the limelight.

"Sometimes you are trying to have a private family moment and people come up for autographs or photos," explains Lauper. "My son gets annoyed by it. But that is the business I am in."

Still, Lauper concedes that she has little to complain about the price of fame. "Being famous means that your work is appreciated by a lot of people and every artist's goal is to get their art out there," says the singer. "So what can you complain about?"

In an email interview with herworldPLUS, Cyndi Lauper tells more about her new television show, her family, as well as how she's flattered that people are still singing 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun'.


What can viewers expect to see in your TV series?

"I'd like to be viewed as a regular mum trying her best to deal with balancing her career and family. You will meet my family, my business family and you will get a behind the scenes look at me doing what I do - being on TV, making music, writings songs and how I try to keep all these balls in the air at the same time and do my best work and still try and be there for my family. Sometimes I fail and sometimes I succeed, and you will see all of that the good and the bad."


How different is your family life from your on-stage persona?

"I live a normal life I think. We are pretty down-to-earth folks, there's not a lot of drama in my house. We like to watch movies together. My husband and I go for long walks together. Life is so busy, so for me, fun is taking time just to slow down and be with them."

Has anyone tried to sing hits like 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' to you in the street? How did you react?

"Ha ha … all the time. No matter where I am, no matter the city or the country, someone will come up to me and sing to me or say, 'Hey Cyndi Lauper, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.' I'm flattered."


What are some of the most bizarre rumours you've ever heard about yourself?

"That I had a rivalry with Madonna and that we didn't like each other. That was a big one and not true in the slightest. I think she is a great artist, and I always have. It was a press myth that they made up and ran with. I only met her for a brief second once. She was very nice, and I like her music."

You've experimented with so many hair colours across the years. So what is (or was) your natural hair colour?

"I actually can't remember."


What's up next, for Cyndi Lauper?

"Sony is releasing the 30th Anniversary edition of She's so Unusual. It's hard to believe it's been 30 years. It will include audio from live performances that same year, some really cool dance remixes of the hits and demos from that time too. I'm also doing a bit of touring. I will be spending next year writing and recording my next CD and have few other projects I can't talk about yet because we are still negotiating, but 2014 is going to be another busy year!"

Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual is showing every Thursday at 11.30pm, on WE tv (SingTel mio TV Channel 259) in Singapore.

Go to herworldPLUS for more stories.

 

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