Cyndi Lauper remains a force to be reckoned with in pop music, and in pop culture in general. The singer has taken some big risks to push the envelope, and her personal net worth shows how many of those risks have paid off. According to a report by CelebrityNetWorth.com, Lauper has a fortune totaling about $50 million.
Lauper rose to fame as a pop singer in the early 1980s when she was in her early 30s. She was born and raised in New York City, the middle of three siblings and a child of divorce from a young age. In a 2003 interview with journalist Evelyn McDonnell, Lauper revealed that her older sister gave her her first guitar at the age of 12, when she began writing original music for the first time. After years of perseverance, that gift would launch a massive career for Lauper that eventually propelled her into movies, soundtracks, Broadway and more โ all of which contributed to her considerable wealth.
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By today’s standards, Lauper got a late start for a pop star, as her break-out record, She’s So Unusual, was released in the same year that she turned 30. Still, Lauper always stood out thanks to her prodigious four-octave vocal range and her fearless style โ which helped define pop culture in the 1980s, in some ways. Today, she has sold over 50 million records worldwide in total.
There is no doubt that Lauper’s 11 solo studio albums have made up the bulk of her fortune โ including concerts, tours, TV appearances and award shows. Lauper has also won two Grammy Awards out of her 15 nominations. However, her work on TV, movies and Broadway have all played a role as well. Lauper’s movie career began in 1984, her TV resume goes back to 1989, and her first Broadway appearance was in 2000.
Perhaps most notably, Lauper co-wrote the musical Kinky Boots, which premiered in 2012. She wrote the music and lyrics to accompany the story, which was adapted from a 2005 British film by the same name. Harvey Fierstein worked with Lauper on the script, while writers Geoff Deane and Tim Firth were responsible for the original screenplay. The show has now toured the world, won Tony Awards and become a favorite of theater fans everywhere.
Lauper continues to work across genres and mediums to this day, though many fans will always think of her as the flashy pop star of the 1980s. Her New Year’s Eve performance to end 2020 is still going viral on social media, and many fans have their eye out for what Lauper, now 67 years old, is planning next.