Forty years after Cyndi Lauper won the Grammy for best new artist, CBS is set to air A Grammy Salute to Cyndi Lauper: Live From the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, Oct. 5 (8-10 p.m. ET/PT). The special was filmed in August as she concluded her year-long Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, billed as her last show on the road. Guests include Joni Mitchell, Cher, Angélique Kidjo, John Legend, SZA, Mickey Guyton, Trombone Shorty and Jake Wesley Rogers, with video testimonials from Brandi Carlile (who hails her as “a once in a lifetime badass”) and Billie Eilish.
A video montage at the top of the special includes a vintage clip of Lauper posing the question “Who is this girl Cyndi Lauper and why is she so unusual?” The two-hour special effectively answers that question – she’s a gifted singer and songwriter (she co-wrote “Time After Time,” which received a Grammy nod for song of the year); she has a strong visual sense; she’s versatile; she has solid musical chops (she plays flute on “She Bop” and Zydeco rubboard on Mitchell’s “Carey”).
Though Lauper’s pop hits were concentrated in the 1980s, she has had a long and fruitful career. In 1995, she won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Mad About You. In 2013, she became the first woman to win a Tony on her own for best original score for Kinky Boots. Lauper was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015 and will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 8.
This is CBS’ second Grammy Salute special in two weeks. A Grammy Salute to Earth, Wind & Fire Live: The 21st Night of September aired on Sept. 21. Earth, Wind & Fire was joined by the LA Philharmonic, as well as Stevie Wonder, Jonas Brothers, Jon Batiste and Janelle Monáe. Both the EWF and Lauper specials were filmed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
The Grammy Salute specials have gotten much better. It used to be that the honoree was serenaded by artists performing their songs, with little apparent creative input on their part. Now they are the stars of the show, as it should be.
Ken Ehrlich, Lauper and Harvey Mason jr, served as executive producers of Lauper’s special. Ehrlich was executive producer of the Grammy telecast for 40 years. Mason is CEO of the Recording Academy.
Here are the six best moments from A Grammy Salute to Cyndi Lauper: Live From the Hollywood Bowl.
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A Fellow Best New Artist Winner Guests on Her Signature Ballad
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}John Legend joined Lauper on her poignant ballad “Time After Time,” which in 1984 became her second Hot 100 smash. The success of the song proved she was more than just the lovably kooky singer who sang “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” The stylistic range of those two songs set her on the path for a career now entering its fifth decade.
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Support From a Pair of Legends
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}Lauper was clearly moved that Joni Mitchell made it to the Hollywood Bowl stage for Lauper’s show. “This is my hero,” she said. “It’s my extreme honor to be playing with you.” They sang “Carey,” the midtempo song from Mitchell’s 1971 classic Blue, on which they were joined by Trombone Shorty. Lauper has some history with the song: She sang it at An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell, held at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City in 2000.
Lauper later introduced Cher by saying “So, there’s a new girl in town who wants to have some fun with us.” With that, Cher joined Lauper on “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” They sharpened the message by amending the lyric to “Girls just want to have their fundamental rights.”
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A Trip to The Big Easy
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}Lauper performed “Iko Iko,” a much-covered New Orleans song that dates to 1953 (the year Lauper was born). Angélique Kidjo and Trombone Shorty joined Lauper on the song, which Lauper included a version of on her second album, True Colors, in 1986.
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Making Her LGBTQ Allyship Explicit
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}In a video, Brandi Carlile thanked Lauper for her long-time allyship to the LGBTQ community. “Thank you for everything that you’ve done for all people, particularly women, and there will never be enough thanks to cover what you’ve done for the queers. You have done so right by the LGBTQIA+ community and we love you so much and … we deeply appreciate you. Congratulations Cyndi Lauper, you are a once-in-a-lifetime badass.”
Later in the show, Lauper hoisted a gay pride flag (the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, to be specific) during her performance of “True Colors,” the ballad which in 1986 became her second No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. SZA joined her on the song, adding to the song’s warm tone of friendly encouragement. Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, who wrote the song (and also Lauper’s 1989 hit “I Drove All Night”) were in the house, and got a shout-out from Lauper.
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Singing the Songs That Mattered to Her
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}Lauper had 10 top 30 hits on the Hot 100, but omitted two – Jules Shear’s “All Through the Night” and her hit cover version of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” She gave that space instead to songs that were not hits, but meant more to her: “Who Let in the Rain,” an Allee Willis co-write that she performed with Mickey Guyton; “Sally’s Pigeons,” a Mary Chapin Carpenter co-write; and “Shine.”
Lauper also performed “I’m Gonna Be Strong,” which she treated as a feminist anthem, saying “I just want the same civil liberties as any man.” Lauper didn’t tell the song’s interesting backstory: Written by Brill Building legends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, the song was a top 10 hit in 1964 for Gene Pitney. Lauper first recorded it with her group Blue Angel in 1980, and re-recorded it in 1994 as a solo artist.
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Revealing Her Sense of Feeling ‘So Lost’ When Her Hit Streak Ended
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}Lauper spoke candidly about the period after her hit streak ended in 1989 and she had to reinvent herself. She recalled a conversation with a friend at the time: “I said, ‘Oh, I’m feeling so lost.’ She said, ‘Cyn, there’s many chapters in your life.’ I forgot that. You can’t let one big chapter eclipse your whole life because that’s not how it goes. We evolve. That’s what makes us human. So, I embarked on a new chapter.”
A surprising amount of Lauper’s stage chatter was left in the TV program — perhaps too much for the broad TV audience, who aren’t necessarily Lauper superfans.
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The Set List
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}“She Bop”
“The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough”
“I Drove All Night”
“Who Let in the Rain” (with Mickey Guyton)
“Time After Time” (with John Legend)
“Iko Iko” (with Angélique Kidjo and Trombone Shorty)
“Sally’s Pigeons”
“I’m Gonna Be Strong”
“Change of Heart”
“Carey” (with Joni Mitchell and Trombone Shorty)
“Money Changes Everything” (with Jake Wesley Rogers)
“Shine”
“True Colors” (with SZA)
“Girls Just Want To Have Fun” (with Cher)