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Cyndi Lauper: ‘I want to say goodbye big, you know?’ As the singer heads off on her farewell tour aged 71, she just wants to have fun

She survived convent school, a violent stepfather and being raped by a band-mate. Now as the singer heads off on her farewell tour aged 71, she just wants to have fun

Ah, woulda coulda shoulda, right?” Years later Lauper put her mother in several of her music videos, including Girls Just Want to Have Fun, showing her enjoying her daughter’s success. Lauper has spent decades involved in activism, and has launched two non-profits: True Colors United in 2008, to address the problem of homeless LGBT youth, and Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights in 2022, to fundraise for women’s reproductive healthcare. When someone suggested she sing a song from 1979 called Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which was written from a male perspective about how women are obsessed with sex, Lauper rewrote it as a joyful feminist anthem.

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