Pop icon Cyndi Lauper to release country album next year

Cyndi Lauper has made an indelible mark on pop music with anthems like Girls Just Want To Have Fun and Time After Time, and won a Tony for Best Original Score for the Broadway hit, Kinky Boots. But now she’s tackling a whole new challenge: country music. For her eleventh studio album, Lauper announced that she’ll make the cross-over to country.

The 62-year old artist from New York told BANG Showbiz (via Xpose.ie) that she hopes to work with legendary producer Tony Brown, who has helped make records for George Strait, Reba McEntire and Vince Gill in Nashville. “I want to record all those songs I used to sing my guts out in my apartment to! It’ll be out next year,” she told Xpose. 

Lauper also said she hopes to work with Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein “while I’ve still got teeth in my mouth.”

The Grammy-winning musician last put out an album in 2010, a blues/rock-tinged LP called Memphis Blues. Since then, she’s written the score for Kinky Boots, toured internationally for the 30th anniversary of her debut record She’s So Unusual, and produced a 12-episode reality doc on WE tv called Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual. But now she’s returning to the studio to try her hand at channeling her country spirit.

She notes that while she follows pop music — and is a fan of British singer Paloma Faith — she’s interested in a wide variety of music. “I like a lot of different kinds of music, not just one kind. I like to research music.”

Details on the upcoming record, including whether she’ll record original songs or covers, are unclear. And while Lauper didn’t give any details about guest stars, sure if she’ll bring in guests for the new album, but Music City is certainly the right place to work with major talent, from country stars to red hot studio musicians.

Lauper’s latest endeavor comes on the heels of being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. So whatever she comes up with, chances are it’s going to have some serious craftsmanship behind it.