She's so unusual

Lordy.

Miss Cyndi Lauper is 60 years old today!

Known for setting a whole new generation of teenage American girls loose on second-hand chic in the 1980s, and for her anthemic songs such as Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, True Colours and Time After Time, Miss Lauper has latterly turned producer and songwriter, notably with her current hit Broadway musical adaptation of the British rags-to-drag-bitches film about a Northampton shoemaking factory, Kinky Boots.

Throughout her career, Cyndi has been a stalwart supporter and promoter of gay and lesbian rights. She has a personal connection to this cause - her sister is a lesbian - but she also believes it's a matter of fairness. "It's always wrong to discriminate," she says. "I grew up in the civil rights movement. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now."

Continuing our countdown to "Gay Xmas" on 29th June 2013, we salute you, Miss Lauper - happy birthday, sweetie! Here, to celebrate, is her notorious paean to female masturbation, She Bop:

Cyndi Lauper - She Bop

“Somebody did complain to me and tell me that my clothes were so loud they couldn’t hear me sing.”

“The women back in the 80s had beautiful cheekbones, thick eyebrows, big smiles – you know, everything I didn’t. I was upset that I didn’t look like them, but I find people that have a fat face like me figure how to work with it. You can do a lot with a plain, blank face.”

“On my darkest days, I wear my brightest colours.”

”You know, I do speak the Queen’s English. It’s just the wrong Queens, that’s all. It’s over the 59th Street Bridge. It’s not over the Atlantic Ocean”.

Facts about Cyndi:

• She was born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper in Queens, New York, of German, Swiss and Sicilian-American descent.
• Miss Lauper worked in a thrift store to earn extra money until her first solo album She’s So Unusual was released in 1983, when she was 30.
• In 1977, Lauper damaged her vocal chords and was told by doctors that she would never sing again, and underwent intense vocal coaching to restore her voice.
• With the accolades for her Kinky Boots musical in 2013, Cyndi became the first woman to win a Tony for Best Original Score - she already has an Emmy and a Grammy award.

Cyndi Lauper (born 22nd June 1953)