Cyndi Lauper never considered another option. The flame-haired singer, whose multi-colored glow and Betty Boop voice had writers scrambling for synonyms for “quirky” in the 1980s, will tell her life story in the upcoming biopic. Let the canary sing.
The feature film that debuted at last year's Tribeca festival in New York was directed by Emmy-winning documentarian Alison Ellwood (Laurel Canyon) and will debut on Paramount+ on June 4. “Over the years I've been asked to make a documentary about my life and work, but it never felt like the time was right,” Lauper, 70, said in a statement about the film. . “Until now. When I first met Alison Ellwood, I knew immediately that I could trust her to tell my story honestly, which was incredibly important to me, and she did. I would like to thank Alison, the producers and all the amazing participants in the documentary who agreed to be interviewed!”
The trailer for the doc was released on Tuesday and opens with a scene from the video for Lauper's 1983 ballad “Time After Time,” in which the singer is seen toting her giant locker as she leaves a trailer park. “Everybody always said, 'what are you going to do if you fail?' And suddenly we all heard it,” Lauper says in voiceover over the irresistible strains of her 1983 breakthrough hit, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
The 90-second trailer takes us back to young Cyndi's Catholic school years, during which it became apparent, she says, “how stubborn I could be.” Singer/actor Billy Porter comments on Lauper's embrace of queer culture in a sneak peek, noting that at the time, “queer people weren't allowed to be queer and out. It was our allies who did the talking.”
The trailer also features Culture Club singer Boy George praising Lauper for doing whatever she wanted, and R&B legend Patti LaBelle calling “Time After Time” one of her “favorite songs.”
Legacy Recordings will release a career spanning album/let-the-canary-sing/1743300991″ rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”>accompanying album which takes listeners from the singer's early days in the group Blue Angel (“I'm Gonna Be Strong”) to the worldwide hit of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and other iconic hits such as “True Colors”, “I Drove All at night,” “Money Changes Everything,” “The Goonies 'R' Good Enough,” “She Bop,” “All Through the Night” and more.
Watch the trailer for Let the canary sing below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/cyndi-lauper-biopic-let-the-canary-sing-paramount-plus-debut-date-trailer-1235676934/
