Cyndi Lauper Goes Country, Tells All in Our Rapid-Fire Quiz
Her best career decision, her love of Nina Simone, and what she'd do if she wasn't a singer—it's all here.
The pop singer who proclaimed "girls just wanna have fun" changes direction with her new country-song cover album, aptly titled Detour. Here, we get the scoop on it and more.
1. If I weren't a singer/songwriter, I'd be: A Powerball winner!
2. Best career advice I've gotten: When you finally get there, try to enjoy it.
3. Most gracious response to rejection/career setback: I'm not a gracious person.
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4. The three qualities that got me where I am today: [Collaborator] Captain Lou's [Albano] PEG principle: Politeness, Etiquette, and Grooming (good grooming).
5. Moment I felt I'd made it: January of '85. I was at the AMAs [American Music Awards], and when my name was announced [for favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist], the balcony went crazy. That's when I knew I could take off my "Almost Famous" button.
6. The most agonizing career decision I've ever made: Quitting my first record band, Blue Angel, to make my first solo album, She's So Unusual.
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7. The easiest career decision I've ever made: The same decision.
8. Kind of work I'd do for free: Work with animals or help kids.
9. Favorite perk of the job: Working for myself.
10. Worst pitfall of the job: Working for myself.
11. Change I'd like to see in my industry: More women in charge.
12. How I made my first dollar: At 5, I used to sing songs from South Pacific and The King and I for the housewives around the corner. They gave me quarters.
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13. Who do you admire and why? Cecile Richards for her courage and for all the different women's health issues she's addressed as head of Planned Parenthood.
14. Last thing I binge-watched: Idris Elba on BBC One's Luther.
15. Song that always makes me cry: Nina Simone's version of "Ne Me Quitte Pas."
16. Movie that had the greatest ending: It's impossible to say, but here are a few: To Kill a Mockingbird, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, Terms of Endearment, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, E.T. ...I could keep going.
17. If I could live in a foreign country, it would be: Brooklyn?
18. My perfect day begins: With the sound of birds singing.
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19. My perfect day ends: With the sounds of the ocean.
20. One thing I'm exceptionally good at: Creating music.
21. One thing I'm epically bad at: Parallel parking.
This article appears in the June issue of Marie Claire, on newsstands May 17.
Samantha Leal is the Deputy Editor at Well+Good, where she spends most of her day thinking of new ideas across platforms, bringing on new writers, overseeing the day-to-day of the website, and working with the awesome team to produce the best stories and packages. Before W+G, she was the Senior Web Editor for Marie Claire and the Deputy Editor for Latina.com, with bylines all over the internet. Graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a minor in African history, she’s written everything from travel guides to political op-eds to wine explainers (currently enrolled in the WSET program) to celebrity profiles. Find her online pretty much everywhere @samanthajoleal.