Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and actress and LGBT activist with a career spanning over 30 years. Her debut solo album She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut female album to chart four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night", earning Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack from the motion picture The Goonies and her second record, True Colors (1986), which included the number one hit of the same name, and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number 3.

Since 1989, Lauper has released nine studio albums to varying success, and has participated in several other projects. Her most recent album, Memphis Blues, became Billboard's most successful blues album of the year, remaining at #1 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2011, Lauper released New York Times Best Selling memoir. In 2013, Lauper won the Best Score for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, making her the first woman in history to win the composing category solo. She also became the first artist in over 25 years to top the dance charts with a Broadway single. In 2014, Lauper was awarded the Grammy for best musical theater album for Kinky Boots.