Commemorative Speech

Meet Me, Cyndi December 3, 1986. Providence Civic Center.

[Begin speech with dim lighting and face away from crowd] Hello, everyone. First of all, thank you all for attending my concert here at the Providence Civic Center! [Pause for audience cheering] I bet that you were expecting Cyndi Lauper; totally radical singer and songwriter. Right? Well, I'm sorry to tell you, you will not be meeting Cyndi. [Wait for audience boo's and questions] I wanted to give my fans something even more special than that. So, tonight, you will be meeting the real me. Who I am off stage, who I am when I'm not in the recording studio, on stage, or even at an interview. Tonight, folks, you'll be meeting Cynthia Ann
I waitressed several joints, tried out being an office assistant, played in a few bands and I was a singer at a Japanese restaurant. I was even part of the WWF "Rock and Wrestling Connection", [Flex arms comically] Where I managed champion Wendy Richter. That's why I was with Hulk at the Grammys, in case you were wondering. [smile] I bet most of you didn't know that I was Blue Angel before I was Cyndi Lauper, though. When I was younger, I was the lead singer in a band called Blue Angel. We only released one album before splitting up, and a very unsuccessful album, at that. Fashion, aside from music, is one of my passions as well. I actually went to Fashion Industries High School as a teen. There was this one killer store in the 70’s called Screaming Mimis’ that I absolutely adored. It helped me through some hard financial times back when I used to sing at night and work retail during the day. It inspired my fashion that I wear today, and shopping there was one of my favorite
John Denver stood at the podium patiently as musicians from all around filed in one-by-one to the gigantic auditorium. As names were called and people with smiles accepted their awards, I sat by Hulk Hogan, studying the layout of the huge room. A crystal chandelier dangled above rows upon rows of red velvet chairs. Lights brightly illuminated the stage that I would soon walk up onto. Anyways, the kickin' night zoomed by, with Denver presenting a variety of other awards like “Best Classical Performance” given to Yo-Yo Ma for Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites, “Best Inspirational Performance to Donna Summer for Forgive Me lyrics, “Best Reggae Recording” to Black Uhru for “Anthem”, “Song of the Year” to Graham Lyle and Terry Britten, who were the songwriters of “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” performed by Tina Turner, and “Best New Artist” to my personal favorite, Cyndi Lauper. [pause for laughter] I felt like I was on Cloud 9 when I stepped on the stage. Hulk towered over me as I gave my thank-you speech. I felt the exact same way when I accepted my Best Female Video award for “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” at the 1984 Video Music Awards and when I found out that I had four top-five singles from my album She’s So