The legend that is Cyndi Lauper has taken her music in an exciting new direction with an edgy dance album and an upcoming tour of live performances.

GaydarRadio's Phil Marriott caught up with the pop music icon to find out more!

You have a new album out, Bring Ya to the Brink.
Bring Ya to the Brink, yeah – to the brink of life.

It’s such a strong album – how did it all come about? What was the inspiration behind it?
I had done two special projects and I wanted to get back to making modern music again, so I reached out to people in the dance community, especially in Europe. They're an innovative group of people. I tried to reach out to artists/producers because I’m an artist/producer myself – I produce my own work and I’ve been doing it since ’86 - but it's better to work with all different people. When I first started, I realised that working with one person was too limiting and that to work with all different people would be better.

It’s a very strong, incredible line-up of people that you’re working with. There’s Dragonette, Basement Jaxx and Kleerup, to name a few. How did you meet these people?
I met the English people through my manager, Lisa, who knew some people in England, as well as through another fellow that I work with, Carmen Cacciatore.

Were you fans of these guys like Basement Jaxx and Kleerup?
I had heard some music that I liked and Carmen was looking for music, too. I think Basement Jaxx was a favourite of my manager and she sent me the link of their stuff. I went to meet them and work with them. They were in Brixton and that was pretty fantastic when you think of all the wonderful music that came out of Brixton. So it was brilliant.

It’s a very rhythmic album. You’ve always had that dance element to your music.
Yes, I wanted it all to be rhythmic. I’ve done enough ballads in my life, although ‘Rain on Me’ is kind of a ballad but not really. I wanted to do something different with my voice, I wanted to sing differently.

Can you explain the title? Is it one of your most personal records to date?
It’s taken from a song called ‘Life’, and it’s life – it can make you, it can shake you, it can bring you to the brink of life, because life always brings you to the brink of more life. It’s a journey and you’re always on the brink of something. You’re always turning a page, so I was very excited about being able to have that title. I didn’t want to call it 'Life', because there’s a song called ‘Life’ and I figured that’s ridiculous. It’s really Bring Ya to the Brink and I saw shoes on the cover. It had to be shoes.

It's all about performance art. I think me and people like myself write the story and embody the story with their voice so they become the story teller. With each specific story, they find the right character that is compelling enough to tell the story in the right way. And so it is a performance art. And then you make the picture. You’re in the picture of what it is – it’s kind of like a musical painting. You think, ‘Who’s this woman, who’s this dame?’ Then the idea of polishing a disco ball came to me because this woman's getting ready for her party – that’s how she’s doing it.

"I always hated it when people used to say to me, “Pop music is disposable music”. I would say, “Au contraire, it’s not disposable”. People don’t dedicate their life to making something disposable...Anyway, who cares what other people think?"

Speaking of the disco ball element of the album – I think it’s a very uplifting album. One particular track, for me, which stands out very much is ‘Into the Nightlife’, which is a very strong song, very catchy.
It’s gotta be catchy! You know, you can do whatever you want as long as it’s catchy. I like to push the envelope, but if it’s catchy, nobody has a problem with it!

Tell us a bit about that track.
The music was played for me and, when I heard the melody, I got inspired to infuse a little jump-rope rhyme and African-American music into this dance music which I thought would make it more modern. All the stuff my son was listening to was jump-rope rhyme and I thought it would go well, you know, “Shake ya body mista, gonna body blista”, and it is kind of like that when you’re dancing anyway. All of it was, “Pitter patter, doesn’t matter what you got”. You’re always listening to music with people bragging about what they’ve got, but really, in the end, it doesn’t matter what you’ve got. If you want to dance, get up off your butt and dance.

Absolutely! It must be good fun to perform live? You performed the new material at the Sydney Mardi Gras – how was that?
Oh my god, it was such a hoot. I laughed so hard, it was fierce. I dressed like Marie Antoinette – it was supposed to be Marie Antoinette in her underwear, but it wasn’t. She is just my favourite person. I was singing ‘Same Ol' Story’ and by the second chorus they were all singing the chorus with me, and they had never heard it before! So I felt really excited and happy over the fact that I was able to strike a common chord in everyday conversations and things that people say all the time and would understand really clearly, “Same old story, two different sets of rules, same old story, one for me and one for you”. I mean, who can’t understand that?

It’s great that people picked up on it straight away. I think it’s a very instant album. But I think it’s got the longevity as well. I don’t think it’s disposable, by any means.
Oh, I don’t like that whole disposable thing. I always hated it when people used to say to me, “Pop music is disposable music”. I would say, “Au contraire, it’s not disposable”. People don’t dedicate their life to making something disposable. They grow with their work. Anyway, who cares what other people think? I had a great time with this and I was able to do something that I don’t think is disposable. I don’t think any music is, though – I love all music. But I tried to make the lyrics so that they’re rhythmic. The rhythm of the lyric has to be catchy, too. Then the content can be there without hitting you over the head, but if you wanted to read it like poetry, you kind of could. You know, like beat poetry.

Weren’t you on stage at 8am performing at the Mardi Gras?
Yes, I went to Mardi Gras, I performed at 8am, I got up at 4am, I did my exercises, put my voice into my body, and then I did vocal exercises. Then I started with hair and makeup and then I got on stage. They all started singing and, for all that prep, it was over in 10 minutes! It was wild. Then I went back, had some breakfast, went to sleep and performed that night again at the State Theatre in Sydney, so it was kind of interesting – it was one of those whacky, wild and funny times. But you know the Australians, they’re a scream.

So tell us about your style – you’ve always been very visually striking. Is that something that’s important to you? Right from the off-set, from the early 80s – well, even back to the 70s.
Visually striking? You see, if you’re doing something, you might as well do it and I like things that inspire me, like a colour. I always think in colour. Or black – it depends how you feel. You could wear all black – it always makes you look taller and thinner.

Did it ever annoy you – especially back in ’83 when you had She’s So Unusual out – that people were picking up on the fact that you had coloured hair and you looked slightly different?
No, I didn’t care! I thought, whatever. This is what I like to wear and this is what I think looks good and it was kind of like a uniform, kind of like a ‘F. You’. This is me. If you don’t like it, don’t wear it. But I like it. It was kind of like a whole counter culture thing anyway, wasn’t it?

"I am a big fan of [my gay fans] because they accept me for who I am and it’s okay that I’m a little odd."

With that album, didn’t you become the first artist to have four top 5 hits from one album at that time?
I don’t know, I guess so.

Is that kind of thing important to you?
Well, you know, at first it was, but then it was like, okay, yeah, but that and a can of beans, what’s that going to get you? You’ve got to see where else your art goes. That’s what I kept thinking, I want to see where else my art goes, I got Vinny Van Gogh in my soles, so I gotta go! I can’t stay in one place.

How do you take care of your powerful voice? Wasn’t there a time in the 70s when you were told that you’d never sing again?
Oh, I’m always told I’m never going to do this or that, the whole world’s going to end, everybody’s always telling me stuff like that – I don’t listen. But I was very depressed because I did lose my voice but I was very fortunate to lose my voice right up front, right in the beginning. I was able to find a teacher who taught vocal therapy, which gave me the foundation to move my voice any way I want. If I mess it up, I know the exercise to fix it, just like any exercise that you would do in physical therapy. You don’t take it for granted. I don’t smoke cigarettes. It’s my instrument, I’m not going to totally mess it up.

It’s a powerful tool.
Well, it’s not just that. It’s amazing to sing, because your whole body vibrates when you sing. It’s an amazing feeling to sing a note that you didn’t think you were going to do and you do it and you thought it - you just did it and your voice listened to you. You know, you had a thought and you voice actually listened and did it. I feel very lucky; I know it was a gift. Part of it is a gift and part of it is also your body. Your physical body has to be strong. If you want to have a strong voice, then your body’s your instrument. You’ve got to be fit.

Do you like to look back at the ‘80s? Obviously that was when your career really kicked off, wasn’t it? ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ – do you still enjoy performing the old material, or do you like to look forward?
I do both. I think people embody the past. You’re a combination of everything you were and everything you are right now and everything you’re going to be. You’ve just got to stand in the centre. Find the centre and, from there, you go forward. You don’t deny your past, you don’t deny who you are, you embrace it. I think, ‘Why should I deny anything?’ The one thing that I held true was never to sing something that I didn’t believe – to never go against my own beliefs of what I wanted to say. Singing and being part of things that were bigger than myself – that’s inspiring. That’s worth working really hard for.

"When I was a teenager, all my best friends came out. Of course, then, I wanted to come out, too, because I wanted to be like my friends. So I tried...and I realised, no matter what I did, I don’t feel the same way that they did. So I had to come out and tell them I was straight, and they ditched me."

And they’re using that track for Priscilla, the stage musical.
Are they? Wow.

You’re no stranger to controversy. ‘She-Bop’, from the same album, got them all talking. Recorded in the nude, I heard? Was that true?
God, you guys! Nobody ever asks that stuff! No, I took my shirt off. I was singing, and I was like, “Don’t watch me – listen, don’t watch”. So then I wanted some privacy, so I found an old spot in the record plan and it was where KISS used to rehearse. It was a big room and it had high ceilings and you could throw your voice. I set up in there and they ran the wires, so they could only listen, they couldn’t hear me. So in there, I took my shirt off. I was tickling myself. That’s why I was laughing, because the whole thing was kind of nervy. I threw myself into a situation by myself, but not quite. So they didn’t know what the hell was going on, but that’s what was going on.

The acting work as well – you were in the American Queer as Folk series. How was that?
Oh yeah! Well, that was mostly to perform and I said, “If you’re going to have me, it should really be in one of the clubs”. Every time I do the clubs, it’s always some nutty thing. It’s my performance art. I kind of come out in a gorilla suit and I’ve come out of a cocoon and transformed – I think the funniest one was when I was Mother Earth with a macaroni crown that I made and painted myself. I got the outfit and I didn’t rehearse.

But when I did Queer as Folk, they said, “Why don’t you be the genie in the bottle and come out of a bottle?” And I said, “I don’t really feel like wearing a bikini”. And they said, “Well, you don’t have to”. And then I said, “What do you mean? What am I going to be? A genie without a bikini?” And then I suggested Houdini. My husband said, “Why don’t you come out of a box? You could have these guys pull the box with chains and you can break out of the box like Houdini”. So that’s what I was thinking. And then my husband said I could dress like Marlene Dietrich. I said, “No, no, that’s been done”. Then I thought of Judy Garland in Get Happy, only I’d be singing ‘Shine’.

One of my friends is a wonderful mixer and he mixed that Queer as Folk version of ‘Shine’ for me. So I was in the box and the costume guy was fantastic. They got everything together and I came out of the box and I realised – because they all started laughing – that it wasn’t really like Houdini. I looked more like Lucille Ball. Then we came out, did a bit of a dance together like a mummy dance, because I still had the straight jacket on. It had break away stuff, so then I broke it free, somebody threw me the fedora, and I was dressed like Judy Garland from 'Get Happy'. It was so good.

You’re a big fan of Judy Garland, aren’t you?
I’m a big fan of everything. Yes, I love Judy Garland. Are you kidding? She was fantastic.

Gay rights issues – well, human rights issues – they’re close to your heart. Tell us about the True Colours tour with Erasure and Debbie Harry. That must have been fantastic!
That was last year, but this past year, it was me, the B-52s, Rosie O’Donnell, and we had people coming in and out like Sarah MacLachlan and young groups like Tegan and Sara and Regina Spektor.

They’re emotive artists, aren’t they?
Last year, The Gossip was doing it. I wanted to create a tour that would celebrate our differences and raise awareness for LGBT civil rights because, in my country, their rights are eroded away and they don’t afford them the civil rights that they just should. I wanted to create a tour that was empowering and that would make them laugh and sing and dance and then, at your fingertips, is information, because the HRC’s there – if you've got questions, it’s right there.

Last year, we worked on a hate crime bill that passed through everything and then was vetoed by the President. I can’t even talk about it. But this year, we did a whole thing on voting. If people pledge to vote, then they get information about everybody that’s running in their district all the way up to the President and what they’re for and against, so that, when you go and vote, you have information, which is power. You want to give the people back the power. The country that I was raised in and what I was raised to believe was that the people had the power. That it’s a nation by the people for the people, not for individuals who are greedy.

I wanted to give the people something back. I got tired of not saying anything and it worked on two levels for me – it gave a platform for artists with a history who are making current music to do their work and bring in younger groups and create an artist community. That’s one of the most exciting things to me.

“I got a lot of emails and they were all the same, people talking about when they came out, how they were disenfranchised from their friends, their families and their jobs. They lost everything and they were suicidal… Then they heard ‘True Colours’ and it meant a lot to them - it gave them strength to go on.”

Is your sister a big influence for that kind of work, especially the gay rights work?
Well, yeah. I saw first hand what she went through. Also, when I was a teenager, all my best friends came out. Of course, then, I wanted to come out, too, because I wanted to be like my friends. So I tried and I bought The Fox by D.H. Lawrence and all that, and I realised, no matter what I did, I don’t feel the same way that they did. So I had to come out and tell them I was straight, and they ditched me.

Then my sister came out and all I could think of was, “You’re not ditching me”. And here’s why – because I was told as a kid that I was born to be her friend, so wherever she was going, I don’t care – “You’re not ditching me”. She’s always been a great ally and inspiration. I got a lot of emails and they were all the same, people talking about when they came out, how they were disenfranchised from their friends, their families and their jobs. They lost everything and they were suicidal. At a very tender age – between 16 and 25 – that ain’t good. It’s difficult. Your brain isn’t all grown and it’s just hard. It’s a vulnerable age anyway. Then they heard ‘True Colours’ and it meant a lot to them - it gave them strength to go on.

At that time, I called my sister and I said, “It ain’t right that people get that depressed about what happens to them, what can we do? We’ve got to do something. When the time comes, will you do it with me?” She said yes, so we did little by little, we did the PFlag thing, I always had help from my manager with doing stuff for the community and then, when it came time to do the tour, they decided to call it True Colours. I said, “Well, if you call it True Colours, we’ve got to bring the community with us, let’s do it with HRC and PFlag because it ain’t right. I’m not going in there and not helping”.

It’s the perfect song to use because obviously you have a massive gay following. Why do you think the gay fans love you so much?
I don’t know. Maybe because I’m different and people who are different need somebody to say it’s okay. I think that we’re all different from each other and that’s okay. I am a big fan of them because they accept me for who I am and it’s okay that I’m a little odd.

I wish you all the best with the new album.
I’m coming back in October for a tour through England and Europe. And listen to Bring Ya to the Brink – put your red shoes on, get your disco ball out, put it in the kitchen, grab the garden gnome and have a party!

Find out more at www.cyndilauper.com and www.myspace.com/cyndilauper.

Bring Ya to the Brink, by Cyndi Lauper
Label: RCA
Released: 21 July 2008
ASIN: B001725ZB4

Buy Bring Ya to the Brink online now and save some money to put towards the ultimate Cyndi Lauper collection, the new Original Album Classics Box Set. You can also check out a live performance of 'Into the Night Life' below!