Cyndi Lauper is saying goodbye to life on the road with her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour. The 70-year-old is naming the tour after her first single, and first No. 1 hit, which came out in 1983. Since then, Lauper has enjoyed an extensive career, which will be celebrated with her last tour, kicking off on October 18 in Montreal.
“I never wanted just a hit song,” Lauper tells CBS Sunday Mornings, speaking of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” which launched a career that spanned more than 40 years. “I wanted a song that meant something, like the songs that got me through. Like the songs I used to chant, walking along when I felt like, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to live? Why the hell was I born?'”
Lauper was already fronting a band, Blue Angel, when she signed a solo deal, and her record label at the time brought her “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” a song she initially turned down because it was written by Robert Hazard.
“It was written by a guy,” Lauper explains. “It was like, ‘Hey dad, we are the fortunate ones, ’cause girls just wanna have fun …'”
In what would become a signature Lauper sound, she put her own spin on it, changing the instrumentation and the key, and Lauper’s career took off, not just as a singer, but also as a songwriter. The song was part of her debut She’s So Unusual album, which included “Time After Time,” one of the four songs she wrote for the record.
“All of a sudden, the ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,’ that everybody knows now, was born,” Lauper says. “I’ve had some incredible moments in my life, and really magical and mystical. One of them was with Patti LaBelle. I heard her sing ‘Time After Time,’ I felt like ‘Okay, I could drop the mic now. I just heard one of the greatest singers sing something I wrote.'”
Lauper may be retiring from life on the road, but she likely isn’t done creating more music. In fact, the New York City native hints her best days might still be ahead of her.
“My big dream was really to be a really big, great, great artist someday,” Lauper says. “And I still feel like I can do it.”
Lauper is the subject of a new documentary, Let The Canary Sing, which will be available beginning on June 4 on Paramount+. A companion album is available now.
Presale tickets for Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour will be available beginning on June 4 at 10:00 AM local time, with tickets available to the general public on June 7 at 10:00 AM local time. See a list of dates below. Find more information at CyndiLauper.com.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour Dates:
Fri Oct 18 | Montreal, QC | Bell Centre
Sun Oct 20 | Toronto, ON | Scotiabank Arena
Thu Oct 24 | Detroit, MI | Fox Theatre
Sat Oct 26 | Boston, MA | MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Sun Oct 27 | Washington, DC | Capital One Arena
Wed Oct 30 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden
Fri Nov 01 | Nashville, TN | Bridgestone Arena
Sun Nov 03 | Columbus, OH | Schottenstein Center
Wed Nov 06 | Tampa, FL | Amalie Arena
Fri Nov 08 | Hollywood, FL | Hard Rock Hollywood
Sun Nov 10 | Atlanta, GA | State Farm Arena
Tue Nov 12 | Dallas, TX | American Airlines Center
Thu Nov 14 | Austin, TX | Moody Center
Sat Nov 16 | Houston, TX | Toyota Center
Tue Nov 19 | Phoenix, AZ | Footprint Center
Wed Nov 20 | San Diego, CA | Viejas Arena
Sat Nov 23 | Los Angeles, CA | Intuit Dome
Sun Nov 24 | Palm Desert, CA | Acrisure Arena
Tue Nov 26 | San Francisco, CA | Chase Center
Sat Nov 30 | Portland, OR | Moda Center
Sun Dec 01 | Seattle, WA | Climate Pledge Arena
Wed Dec 04 | Minneapolis, MN | Target Center
Thu Dec 05 | Chicago, IL | United Center
