Heath Slater
Heath Slater at Tribute to the Troops in December 2010
Ring name(s)	Heath Miller[1] Heath Slater[1] Sebastian Slater[1]
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Billed weight	216 lb (98 kg)[2]
Born	(1983-07-15) July 15, 1983 (age 28)[1] Pineville, West Virginia[1]
Billed from	Pineville, West Virginia[2]
Trained by	Curtis Hughes[1]
Debut	August 2004[3]

THE CHICK FROM WENDY'S^[1] (born July 15, 1983)^[1] is an American professional wrestler working for WWE. He performs on the SmackDown brand under the name Heath Slater. He was a contestant in the first season of WWE NXT, where he finished fourth. He is a former FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion and three-time WWE Tag Team Champion, with Justin Gabriel.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Training and independent circuit (2004–2006)[link]

While growing up in West Virginia, Miller participated in backyard wrestling.^[3] Miller trained under Curtis Hughes at the WWA4 Pro Wrestling School before debuting in 2004.^[1][3] While training, he appeared on a two-part episode on the sketch comedy show Blue Collar.^[4] He soon began competing in Northeastern independent promotions, including NWA Wildside. While wrestling for NWA Wildside, Miller won the GCW Columbus Heavyweight Championship after defeating Scott Beach in 2004.^[1] In mid-2005, Miller began wrestling for NWA Anarchy. He debuted in a tag team match on July 2, when he and Randall Johnson were defeated by the Urban Assault Squad. Miller and Johnson formed a regular tag team in the promotion, going on to lose to teams including Alabama Attitude in August, Three Guys That Totally Rule (Seth Delay and Patrick Bentley) in September, Jeremy V and Jason Blackman in October, before earning their first win on October 29, by defeating the team of Skitzo and Brett Thunder. The following week, they lost to the team of V and Blackman for the second time in their final appearance for the promotion.^[5] In December 2005, Miller debuted for Great Championship Wrestling (GCW) in Georgia, losing to Jaki by disqualification on December 10. In April 2006, Miller formed a tag team with Eric Watts, and the pair went on to defeat the team of Cru Jones and Shawn Banks twice in succession. The following month, Miller unsuccessfully challenged Scotty Beach for the GCW Television Championship. In July, Miller adopted the nickname "The Thriller", and on July 22, Miller forfeited the GCW Columbus Heavyweight Championship to Bobby Sanford. In September, Miller formed a tag team with former rival Scotty Beach. Miller's final appearance in GCW was on December 13, when he lost to Legion Freakin' Cage.^[6]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE[link]

Developmental territories and NXT (2006–2010)[link]

In December 2006, Miller signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a WWE developmental territory. When the WWE ended its relationship with DSW in the spring of 2007, Miller was one of over twenty developmental wrestlers to be sent for further training at the new Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) territory. At a June 2007 FCW show, Miller appeared as the manager of fellow developmental talent Shawn McGrath under the name "Heath Wallace Miller Esq." However, Miller reverted to using his real name and resumed his singles career while continuing to manage McGrath.

Miller as the FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion in August 2009.

In 2007, Miller was given a talk show called the "Happy Hour" during some FCW shows.^[7] During one segment, Billy Kidman was the guest; Miller claimed to idolize Kidman but then commented that Kidman's career was declining. This created a feud and led to a series of matches between the two.^[7] In January 2008, Miller started defending the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship on behalf of the champion Ted DiBiase, Jr., who was injured.^[8] DiBiase soon forfeited the belt and Miller was declared the champion.^[9]

Miller and his tag team partner Steve Lewington lost to John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship on February 15, 2008 at an FCW show. Miller and Lewington then advanced to the finals of a tournament for the inaugural FCW Florida Tag Team Championship in February 2008. Miller and Lewington defeated Brandon Groom and Greg Jackson and The Thoroughbreds (Johnny Curtis and Kevin Kiley) to reach the finals.^{[10][unreliable source][11][unreliable source]} On February 23, 2008, Miller and Lewington lost to The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eddie Colón and Eric Perez) in the finals.^[8] On September 11, teaming with Joe Hennig, he won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship.^[12] As champion, he would change his ring name to "Sebastian Slater". On October 30, 2008, Slater and Hennig lost their tag titles to The New Hart Foundation (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson) in Tampa, Florida.^[12] He returned from injury in the 26 episode of FCW where he defeated Justin Angel. On August 13, 2009, at the 50th FCW TV taping, Miller defeated Tyler Reks to become FCW Heavyweight Champion.^[12][13] Miller lost the FCW Heavyweight Championship to Justin Gabriel in a two out of three falls match at the September 24, 2009 TV taping.^{[12][14][unreliable source?]}

On February 16, 2010, Slater was announced as one of eight FCW wrestlers to compete on the first season of the WWE NXT show, with Christian as his storyline mentor. On the inaugural episode of NXT, Slater won his debut match as he and Christian defeated Carlito and Michael Tarver in a tag team match. Two weeks later, Slater defeated Carlito, becoming the first NXT rookie to beat a WWE pro in a singles match. On the March 30 episode of NXT he came fourth out of eight rookies in the first Pros' Poll. On the April 6 episode, Slater won a keg-carrying contest against all other rookies. This resulted in him being in the main event that night, a match against Kane, that he lost. In an upset victory on April 20, Slater defeated Chris Jericho in the main event of NXT. However, Slater remained at fourth in the second Pros Poll, revealed on May 11. He was eliminated from NXT on May 25, coming in last in the Pros' Poll.

The Nexus and The Corre (2010–2011)[link]

Slater (second from right) with the rest of The Nexus at SummerSlam.

On the June 7 episode of Raw, Slater and the other season one NXT rookies turned heel by interfering in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both competitors, the announcing team and Justin Roberts, the ring announcer, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment.^[15] On the June 14 episode of Raw the rookies (excluding Daniel Bryan who had been released) attacked General Manager Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts.^[16] At the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, the seven rookies interfered in the WWE Championship match, as a result costing Cena the championship. The following week on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new General Manager, who had signed the seven season one NXT rookies to contracts.^[17] The following week, the group was named The Nexus.^[18] On the July 12 episode of Raw, The Nexus competed in their first match together, without Darren Young, a six–on–one handicap match against John Cena, which they won when Gabriel pinned Cena.^[19] The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Cena's team won when Cena eliminated Gabriel and then Barrett to win the match.^[20]

In October 2010, Cena was forced to join The Nexus as a result of losing to Barrett at Hell in a Cell, and at the following pay-per-view, Cena and Otunga won the WWE Tag Team Championship.^[21][22] On the October 25 episode of Raw, Barrett made a tag team match, with Justin Gabriel and Slater facing Otunga and Cena for the championship. Gabriel and Slater won when Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him, becoming the new Tag Team Champions.^[23][24] Gabriel and Slater held the championship for nearly two months, before losing it to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a four-way elimination match also involving The Usos and Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu on the December 6 episode of Raw.^[25] Gabriel and Slater received a rematch for the championship at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view on December 19, but lost by disqualification when Nexus member Michael McGillicutty interfered.^[26]

On the January 10, 2011, episode of Raw Gabriel and Slater refused to take part in new Nexus leader CM Punk's initiation and walked away from the group.^[27]

The following day, at the tapings of the January 14 eisode of SmackDown, Gabriel and Slater helped their former leader Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson attack Big Show.^[28][29] The following week, Gabriel, Slater, Barrett, and Jackson announced they had formed the Corre, and later that night Gabriel defeated World Heavyweight Champion Edge in a non-title match, following interference from the other members of The Corre.^[30][31] After winning a non-title match against the champions Kozlov and Marella on the February 4 episode of SmackDown, Gabriel and Slater received a match for the WWE Tag Team Championship two weeks later, but lost via disqualification when the other members of The Corre interfered.^[32][33] They received a rematch at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on February 20 and defeated Marella and Kozlov to win the WWE Tag Team Championship for the second time.^[34][35]

The following night on Raw, Gabriel and Slater lost the championship to John Cena and The Miz, but won the championship back minutes later after Barrett invoked The Corre's rematch clause, and The Miz turned on Cena.^[36][37] During this time, The Corre had continued to feud with The Big Show, and at WrestleMania XXVII in April the team of The Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella, and Kofi Kingston defeated The Corre.^[38] At the April 19 taping of SmackDown, the duo of Gabriel and Slater lost the Tag Team Championship to the team of Kane and The Big Show. In a backstage segment following the match, Gabriel was attacked by Slater, who thought Gabriel blamed him for their loss. On the May 6 episode of SmackDown, Gabriel, Barrett, and Slater attacked Jackson, removing him from the group. On the June 10th edition of SmackDown, when Barrett walked out on Gabriel and Slater in a 6-man tag team match against Jackson and The Usos, Gabriel and Slater told Barrett later backstage that The Corre was over.^[39][40]

They would start a feud with The Usos. On the June 17 edition of SmackDown, Gabriel and Slater, with new music, were defeated by The Usos, later defeating them in a rematch on the June 24 edition. The next day he together with Gabriel were announced for the Smackdown Money in the Bank match in Chicago, Illinois. They were again defeated by The Usos on the July 8 edition, having a visible disagreement and argument in the ring following the match.

Singles competition (2011–present)[link]

On the July 15 edition of SmackDown, Slater started a feud with Gabriel when he verbally berated him saying that Gabriel was holding him down. That same night, Slater lost to Gabriel after receiving a 450° splash.^[41] At Money in the Bank on July 17, he and Gabriel participated in the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match, which was won by Daniel Bryan.

On October 17, 2011, WWE suspended Heath Slater due to a Wellness Violation for 30 days.^[42]

Slater, winless since July 28, ended 2011 on an 18-match TV/PPV losing streak, topping Edge's 17-match winning streak to achieve WWE's longest streak of 2011.^[43] On the January 6 edition of Smackdown, Heath Slater lost to Hornswoggle in an Over the Rope challenge and attacked him before his former tag team partner, Justin Gabriel saved Hornswoggle and hit the 450 splash to Slater. Slater broke his 22 match losing streak by defeating Trent Barretta on NXT Redemption on January 25, 2012. He continued his winning streak two weeks later on WWE NXT by defeating Derrick Bateman. On March 29, 2012 on WWE Superstars, Slater ended his losing streak by defeating Alex Riley after losing to the likes of Justin Gabriel and Brodus Clay. Slater continued his winning streak when he once again defeated Alex Riley.

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • As Heath Slater
    • Belly to back wheelbarrow facebuster^[44] – 2012–present
    • E-minor^[45] (Inverted DDT)^[46] – 2011–2012
    • Sleeper slam - 2012
    • Sweetness (Jumping Russian legsweep)^[4] – 2010–2011
  • As Heath Miller
    • Jumping neckbreaker^[1][47]
    • Miller's Crossing^[3] (Hangman's neckbreaker)^[3][48]

• Signature moves
  • Corkscrew plancha^[49][50]
  • Flapjack^[4]
  • Leg lariat^[48]
  • Spinning spinebuster^[4]
  • Super scoop powerslam^[51]
  • Tilt-a-whirl DDT^[48]

• Nicknames
  • "Handsome"^[3]
  • "The One-Man (Southern) Rock Band"^[2]
  • "The Thriller"^[6]

• Wrestlers managed
  • Shawn Osbourne^[52]

• Entrance themes
  • "We Are One" by 12 Stones^[53] (June 7, 2010–January 10, 2011; Used while a part of The Nexus)
  • "End of Days" (various versions)^[54] (January 14, 2011–June 10, 2011; Used while a part of The Corre)
  • "Black or White" by Bleeding In Stereo^[55] (June 17, 2011–July 17, 2011)
  • "South Bound" by Jim Johnston
  • "One Man Band" by Jim Johnston^[56] (August 18, 2011–present)

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Florida Championship Wrestling
  • FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[12]
  • FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Joe Hennig^[12]
  • FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[9]

• Georgia Championship Wrestling
  • NWA/GCW Columbus Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Feud of the Year (2010) – The Nexus vs. WWE^[57]
  • PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2010) – as part of The Nexus^[58]
  • PWI ranked him #66 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011^[59]

• World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Justin Gabriel^[23][34][36]
  • Slammy Award for Shocker of the Year (2010) – The debut of The Nexus^[60]

References[link]

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Heath Slater

• WWE profile
• Online World of Wrestling profile

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Also known as	Cyn
Born	(1953-06-22) June 22, 1953 (age 59)
Origin	Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, USA
Genres	Pop, Pop rock, Dance rock, Pop dance, New Wave, Blues, adult contemporary
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, producer, actress (film & stage)
Instruments	Vocals, Appalachian dulcimer, zither, guitar, recorder, omnichord, trombone, percussion, electric bass, piano, banjo, ukulele
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Portrait, Epic, Daylight, Downtown
Associated acts	Blue Angel
Website	www.cyndilauper.com Cyndi Lauper's signature

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953 in Queens, New York) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and LGBT rights activist.

She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the debut solo album She's So Unusual in 1983, which spawned four Billboard Hot 100 top-five songs—"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night"—She's So Unusual was the first album in history to have four top five singles by a female. The album earned Lauper Best New Artist at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985.

Her success continued with the follow-up, True Colors in 1986, which spawned two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—"True Colors" and "Change of Heart", and earned two nominations at the 29th Grammy Awards.

Since 1989 released from a nine studio albums acclaimed critical, A Night to Remember (1989), Hat Full of Stars (1993), Sisters of Avalon (1996), Merry Christmas... Have a Nice Life (1998),Shine (2001), At Last (2003), The Body Acoustic (2005), Bring Ya to the Brink (2008).

In 2010, her eleventh studio album, Memphis Blues in 2010, which topped the Billboard Blues Albums chart for thirteen consecutive weeks at number one, and spawned five Billboard Digital Blues Songs top-five songs—"Just Your Fool", "Crossroads", "How Blue Can You Get?", "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Early in the Mornin'", became most album successful on the charts since She's So Unusual and True Colors.

Lauper has also released over 40 singles, and as of 2011 had sold more than 50 million albums worldwide,^[1][2] and 1 million DVDs and 20 million singles,^[3] which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time.

Throughout her career, Lauper has won numerous awards, including Grammy, Emmy, MTV VMA, Billboard, and AMA. In 1999, Lauper ranked #58 of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll by VH1.^[4]

Life and career[link]

1953–1979: Early life[link]

The daughter of Fred and Catrine Lauper, Cyndi Lauper was born and raised in Ozone Park in a Roman Catholic family, in the borough of Queens in New York City.^[5] Her mother uses the stage name "Catrine Dominique" for the music videos in which she has appeared.^[6] Her father was of German and Swiss descent and her mother is Italian American (from Sicily). She has an older sister, Ellen, and a younger brother, Fred (nicknamed Butch).^[7]

After Lauper's parents divorced, her mother remarried, divorced again, and went to work as a waitress. It was during this time that Lauper began listening to artists such as Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and the Beatles. Her mother encouraged her independence and creativity. At the age of twelve, Lauper learned how to play an acoustic guitar, which her sister had given to her,^[8] and she started to write her own lyrics. She had a great love of art and music and tried to find ways to express herself. Even at this early age, Lauper started dyeing her hair different colors and wearing radical fashions. Lauper was accepted in a special public high school for students with talent in the visual arts, but she was held back and eventually dropped out, earning her GED sometime later. At the age of seventeen, she left home, planning to study art. Her journey would take her to Canada, where she spent two weeks in the woods with her dog, Sparkle, trying to find herself. She eventually wound up in Vermont, where she took art classes at Johnson State College. She supported herself by working at various odd jobs.

In the mid 1970s, Lauper performed as a vocalist with various cover bands (such as Doc West and Flyer, who still perform under the names Gap Wilson Band and Red, White and Blues Band), in the New York metropolitan area, singing hits by bands such as Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company. Even though Lauper was now performing on stage, she was not happy singing cover songs. In 1977, Lauper damaged her vocal cords and took a year off. She was told by three doctors that she would never sing again. Vocal coach Katie Agresta helped Lauper regain her voice by teaching her proper vocal exercises.^[9]

1980–1982: Blue Angel[link]

In 1978, after regaining her voice, Lauper met saxophone player John Turi through her manager Ted Rosenblatt. Turi and Lauper became writing partners and formed a band called Blue Angel. They decided to put everything they had into making an album of original material. A few demos were recorded and the tape found its way over to Steve Massarsky, who was managing The Allman Brothers Band. Massarsky said the tape was horrible, but he was attracted to Lauper's voice. He saw them play live and eventually started managing the band after buying their contract out for $5,000. Many people wanted to sign Lauper only if she would sign on as a solo artist. Lauper held out, wanting the band to be included in any deal she made. Polydor Records eventually signed them as a band. In 1980, they released a self-titled album on Polydor Records. Rolling Stone magazine later included it as one of the 100 best new wave album covers (2003). Lauper hated the cover, often saying they made her look like Big Bird. Despite critical acclaim, the album sold poorly (or "went lead", as Lauper says) and the band broke up. Polydor Records had a regime change, and the label would not let the band back into the studio unless they had a hit. The members of Blue Angel had a falling out with Massarsky and fired him as their manager. He later filed an $80,000 suit against them. This suit forced Lauper into bankruptcy.^[10]

Lauper started working in retail stores such as the New York high-end thrift store Screaming Mimi's to make ends meet, and she still sang in local clubs. Her most frequent gigs were at El Sombrero. Music critics that saw Lauper perform with Blue Angel thought that she had star potential since she had a wide singing range (four octaves),^[11] perfect pitch, and a vocal style all her own. In 1981, while singing in a local New York bar, Lauper met David Wolff, who took over as her manager (and at some point became romantically involved with her) and got her signed with Portrait Records, a subsidiary of Epic Records. Wolff had been working with a band called Arc Angel.

[edit] 1983–1985: She's So Unusual era

Lauper performing in Memphis Blues Tour

On October 14, 1983, She's So Unusual was released and peaked at #4 in the US becoming a worldwide hit. With help from Rick Chertoff, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (of The Hooters) as her primary studio musicians, She's So Unusual's popularity spread like wildfire. At the time, Lauper became popular with teenagers and critics, in part due to her hybrid punk image, crafted by stylist Patrick Lucas.^[12]

	"Girls Just Want To Have Fun". noicon
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Lauper knew she could write songs, but the record company had a lot of material they wanted her to record. She altered a lot of the songs that were thrown her way, often changing the lyrics to suit her. An example is her Platinum-certified "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"; Lauper says the original lyrics of the song dealt more with a girl pleasing a man, and therefore she changed the lyrics, wanting the song to be more of an anthem as she felt the original song seemed misogynistic.^[13]

	"Time After Time" noicon
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The album's second single was the ballad "Time After Time". Lauper co-wrote "Time After Time" with Rob Hyman when her producer, Rick Chertoff, suggested to the band that the album could use one more song. The record label did not have much faith in Lauper as a songwriter, but they gave her the chance to prove herself. "Time After Time" hit #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It earned Lauper Gold certification with sales of 500,000 from the RIAA and was one of the biggest hits of 1984. It has been covered by more than 100 artists. Lauper came up with the title for "Time After Time" while reading TV Guide—Time After Time was a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as H. G. Wells, portraying him inventing and then traveling in a time machine. "She Bop" was the album's third single release. It reached #3 on the Hot 100 and earned Cyndi another Gold certification of 500,000 from the RIAA. This was followed by "All Through the Night" which was written by Jules Shear and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.^{[citation needed]} Jules Shear and Cyndi Lauper went on to co-write the song "Steady", which reached #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985.

The album also includes a cover of The Brains' New Wave track "Money Changes Everything" which reached number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. In some countries, "When You Were Mine", a cover of a Prince song found on his 1980 album "Dirty Mind", was released as a promotional single in 1985. Lauper spent 1984 touring and promoting She's So Unusual. By the end of the year, she was the first female to have four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 Top Five hits from one album. The LP itself stayed in the Top 200 charts for more than 65 weeks and has since sold 16 million copies worldwide. In 1985, The Women in Crystal Film Awards awarded her with the New Directions Award, given to those who are known for their creativity and originality.

She's So Unusual led Lauper to win an award at the 1985 Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, the album also won the Grammy for Best Album Package, this award went to the art director, Janet Perr; Additionally, it received four nominations; Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", and Song of the Year for "Time After Time". Cyndi became the first female solo artist winner since Sheena Easton to win the Grammy for Best New Artist.

The video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" made Lauper an MTV staple. The video ran constantly on MTV and featured the late professional wrestling manager "Captain" Lou Albano as Lauper's father, and her real-life mother, Catrine, as her mother. Also in the video are her attorney, her manager and her brother, Butch. It won the first-ever award for Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. All three of Lauper's first videos were directed by Edd Griles, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time" and "She Bop". The videos featured many of Lauper's family members and her dog, Sparkle. Lauper was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in May 1984. The photo on the cover had been reversed to make room for the title. She also appeared on the cover of Time and Newsweek with the headline "Women In Rock". Lauper was voted by Ms. magazine one of its women of the year. During this time period, Lauper appeared on the cover of People magazine twice. The video for "Money Changes Everything" was shot during a concert at the Summit in Houston, Texas. The concert was broadcast over the radio and HBO, and fans were told to show up wearing white T-shirts. The video featured a 14 year old fan named Jennifer Payson hugging Lauper onstage.

She started 1985 by participating on USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World", singing the climactic soprano part of the bridge. During the taping of the song, the audio engineers were having problems discovering what was causing a clicking noise in the recording. It was discovered to be coming from Lauper's jewelry. At the event, she appeared with WWF Superstar Hulk Hogan, who played her "bodyguard." Lauper, in return, made many appearances as herself in a number of the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" events, including the inaugural WrestleMania event, where she was the manager of Wendi Richter. Their entrance music was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."^[14]

Steven Spielberg had asked Lauper to be the musical director of his latest film The Goonies, an adventurous family film about lost treasure. Lauper had the power to choose whom she wanted on the soundtrack, so she tried to make the album very diverse. The Bangles were just one of the bands that contributed to the soundtrack. Lauper stated in a 1986 interview that she had been working 12 hour days and had gynecological problems. Lauper had a minor operation and spent some time in the hospital.^{[citation needed]} Her doctors told her that she needed some rest, preventing her from participating in the Live Aid concert. The music video for "The Goonies R Good Enough" featured many guest stars, including WWF personalities such as the Iron Sheik, Captain Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, André the Giant, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, The Fabulous Moolah, and Nikolai Volkoff, members of the Goonies cast, and the Bangles. The video was split up into two acts, making Lauper the very first artist to have a two-part video. Spielberg even allowed her access to the set pieces from the film. The soundtrack album reached #73 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The song reached #10 on Billboards Hot 100 chart in 1985. Lauper has been quoted as saying that she had long despised the song because of Richard Donner's insistence on everything being perfect for the video shoot. In behind-the-scenes footage of the video, you can see Lauper physically exhausted from the work on the video. The video was released in two parts. The first part premiered on MTV before The Goonies was released in theaters, and the second part came after the movie had opened.^{[citation needed]} While the song and the movie have become 1980s cult classics, working on the soundtrack postponed Lauper's second album.

Lauper stopped performing "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough", in concert around 1987. During the Australian leg of her 2004 "At Last" tour, at the request of the crowd she performed an a cappella version of the first verse and chorus at several shows. It was at a show in Baltimore on Lauper's 2006 tour that she finally played it in full again. The crowd was chanting "Goonies" and she sang the song a cappella to an ecstatic crowd. She finally agreed to play the song again on her "True Colors" tour in 2007, and it was featured in her 2008 tour of Australia as the second number performed at each show. During the video commentary for "The Goonies", actor Sean Astin can be heard thanking Lauper for the song. He says that they all appeared tired on the set of the video because of the rigorous shooting schedule, but they really did love the song. Astin apologizes to Lauper again in footage that can be seen in the upcoming "Goonies Documentary".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1986–1988: True Colors

Lauper performing in 2000.

In 1986, We are the World won four awards at the 1986 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Music Video, Short Form. However, none of these awards went to Lauper. Quincy Jones, the producer, won three, while Song of the Year went to the composers of the song, Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. Cyndi Lauper did receive two nominations; Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "What A Thrill" and Best Long Form Music Video for "Cyndi: Live in Paris". In the same year, Lauper released her second album, True Colors, on September 15, 1986. It reached #4 on the Billboard 200. For this album, she increased her involvement both in production and songwriting. Guests on the album included Angela Clemons-Patrick, Nile Rodgers, Aimee Mann, Billy Joel, Adrian Belew, The Bangles, Ellie Greenwich, and Rick Derringer. Lauper co-wrote most of the album with Essra Mohawk, John Turi, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. Although the album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor was, it contained three high-charting singles, including the title track, "True Colors" which became Cyndi's second song to hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, "Change of Heart" (#3) and a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (#12) followed. The album also featured an older song called "Maybe He'll Know", which was on the Blue Angel album. The album covers for both She's So Unusual and True Colors were composed by photographer Annie Leibovitz. "True Colors" was licensed to Kodak for use in its commercials. Lauper had no control over the song, which was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. The fourth single from the album, "Boy Blue", became Lauper's first solo non-top-40 single. The proceeds of the song were donated to AIDS research. The album sold 2 million copies in the United States.

In 1986, Lauper appeared on the Billy Joel album The Bridge on a song called "Code of Silence". Lauper also sang the theme song for the series "Pee-wee's Playhouse" the same year, though she was credited as "Ellen Shaw". Playhouse star Paul Reubens appeared on the True Colors album track "911" as an emergency operator. In 1987, David Wolff produced a concert film for Lauper called Cyndi: Live in Paris. The concert was broadcast on HBO.

True Colors led Lauper it received two nominations awards at the 1987 Grammy Awards: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "True Colors" and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "911". The next awards ceremony, led Lauper it received one nomination awards at the 1988 Grammt Awards; Best Performance Music Video for Cyndi Lauper in Paris.

Lauper made her film debut in August 1988 in the quirky comedy Vibes, alongside Jeff Goldblum, Julian Sands, Elizabeth Peña and Peter Falk. Lauper played a psychic in search of a city of gold in South America. The film was produced by Ron Howard and David Wolff acted as the film's associate producer.

To prepare for the role, Lauper took a few classes in finger waving and hair setting at the Robert Fiance School of Beauty in New York and studied with a few Manhattan psychics. The film was poorly received by critics and commercially flopped. Lauper contributed a track called "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" but the song was not included on the soundtrack. A video was released, which was a high energy, comic action/adventure romp through a Chinese laundry. The song stalled at a disappointing #54 on the US charts, but fared better in Australia, peaking at #8 and becoming her fifth and final Top 10 single in Australia. It was performed as the opening song on her 2008 Australian tour.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1989–1992: A Night to Remember

Lauper performing in 2000.

A Night to Remember – Lauper's third album – was released in the spring of 1989. The album spawned only one big hit, the #6 single "I Drove All Night", as well as another Gold certification of 500,000 from the RIAA in January 1990. The song was originally penned for and sung by Roy Orbison, although his version was not released until 1992, three years after Lauper's version and four years after his death. She also wrote and produced most of the album. Contributing writers were Desmond Child, Christina Amphlett of Divinyls, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, Diane Warren, and Frank Previte. Guest musicians include Bootsy Collins, Larry Blackmon, Batkini Khumalo, Eric Clapton, and Nile Rodgers. The video for "My First Night Without You", released in 1989, was one of the first to be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.^{[citation needed]}

The disappointing sales of the album "A Night To Remember", a canceled United States tour due to low ticket sales and the pressures of celebrity led Lauper to "retire" from her "singing." She toured South America and Japan successfully into the early stages of 1990 and then retreated into acting.

On July 21, 1990, Lauper joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin, performing "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II". She also performed on the song, "The Tide Is Turning" with Waters, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Adams, Paul Carrack and Van Morrison. Lauper wore a school girl outfit, performing to over 300,000 people. The concert was watched live by over five million people worldwide. A Night to Remember led Lauper it received one nomination awards at the 1990 Grammy Awards: Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "I Drove All Night".

Lauper had become close friends with Yoko Ono. In 1990 she took part in a John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool, performing the Beatles song "Hey Bulldog" and the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero". The concert was aired on the Disney Channel. She also took part in a project Ono and Lennon developed called "The Peace Choir". They performed a new version of Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". The reworked "Give Peace a Chance" was written by Sean Lennon. In 1990, Lauper co-wrote the song "Paper Heart" (a song about drug addiction) with Go-Go's alumna Jane Wiedlin. The song appeared on Wiedlin's CD Tangled.^{[citation needed]}

Lauper worked on the movie originally titled Moon Over Miami, which later became Off and Running with David Keith, Richard Belzer and David Thornton, whom she started seeing romantically. Lauper claims that Miami was a great place to fall in love. The film was released in Europe but never made it off the ground in the US market. (David Wolff was the music supervisor for the film.)^{[citation needed]} On November 24, 1991 Cyndi and David Thornton were married at the Friends Meeting House in New York. Rock and Roll pioneer Little Richard, who at one time gave up Rock and Roll to become a minister performed the ceremony. Patti LaBelle sang Procol Harum's classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and Lauper's grandmother served as the matron of honor. Other guests included Paul Reubens, best known for his Pee-wee Herman character, and John Turturro. Lauper had threatened to dress like a lighted Christmas tree, but settled on a traditional white wedding dress.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Lauper contributed two tracks to the European musical Tycoon, an English version of the hit French-Canadian stage show Starmania. She scored another Top 20 hit in Europe (it went to #2 in France, earning a 2x platinum certification there) with "The World Is Stone", penned by Tim Rice, Michel Berger, and Luc Plamondon. She also recorded "You Have To Learn To Live Alone". The two tracks were included on a compilation released in the U.S. in 2000. Lauper recorded "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", a duet with Frank Sinatra, which was released on the album A Very Special Christmas 2. Sinatra's vocals were taken from his original recording and mixed with Lauper's in the studio.

[edit] 1993–1995: Hat Full of Stars/Twelve Deadly Cyns

Lauper during a collective talk with fans in 1994.

In June 1993 Lauper released her fourth album, Hat Full of Stars, which tackled such topics as homophobia, spousal abuse, racism and abortion. Despite significant accolades – and decent sales in France and Japan – it was a sales failure (moving less than 120,000 copies) in the United States. The album peaked at #112 on the Billboard charts,^[15] largely because the album suffered from a lack of promotion. Lauper appeared on the Howard Stern Show to promote the album. Lauper said the song "Hat Full of Stars" was written as a message to David Wolff. The video for "Who Let in the Rain" features a picture of David Wolff in a frame. "A Part Hate" was written collaboratively by Lauper and husband David Thornton. The video for "Sally's Pigeons" features the then unknown Julia Stiles as the young Cyndi.

Tommy Mottola, president of Sony Music, told Lauper to go out and make her own Graceland (referring to Paul Simon's album). Lauper wanted to write her own material and stop doing cover songs. She wrote some songs on the album with other people, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ailee Willis, Nicky Holland, Tom Gray, Hugh Masekela and The Hooters. The same year, Lauper recorded "Boys Will Be Boys" with The Hooters. The song "Private Emotion" was dedicated to her by The Hooters. Both songs appeared on the Hooter's CD Out of Body. Lauper also returned to acting, playing Michael J. Fox's ditzy secretary in 1993's Life with Mikey, which also starred Nathan Lane.

Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some, was released worldwide in 1994 (except in the U.S., where it was held back until the summer of 1995). The album was a greatest hits compilation that included two re-recorded tracks, "I'm Gonna be Strong", first recorded with her band Blue Angel, and a reworking of her first big hit, newly christened "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)". The Japanese edition of the CD includes the single "Hole In My Heart (All The Way To China)" as the final track. The album was released under a number of different titles, and had different packaging and track listings for certain countries. Twelve Deadly Cyns sold over 5 million copies worldwide and Lauper began a world tour to promote the album. It was especially popular in the UK, "(Hey Now) Girls Just Want to Have Fun" hit number four (the single also returned Lauper to the US Hot 100, albeit briefly). The song includes special appearances by Snow and Patra. The album also included a hot reggae influenced song, "Come On Home", which was remixed by Junior Vasquez with a special appearance by Demetrius "Sir Jam" Ross.

Lauper won an Emmy Award^[16] for her role as Marianne on the sitcom Mad About You. A 12 Deadly Cyns VHS tape featuring most of Lauper's videos was released.