"I'm Gonna Be Strong," a big 1964 melodramatic pop hit for Gene Pitney, had been covered on the Blue Angel album. Issued on Polydor and featuring a more rockabilly-retro-flavored sound than She's So Unusual, it wasn't a success, Lauper leaving to embark on a poppier solo career.Ĭyndi hadn't forgotten her Blue Angel roots, however, digging into her old band's repertoire for three songs at the Agora. It was one of many odd jobs she took in the years before her solo debut, which wasn't exactly her debut in any case, as she'd fronted Blue Angel's self-titled 1980 LP. As she confirms in a brief interview segment during this show, only a year before this concert, she'd been waiting tables in a Japanese restaurant. Although Lauper seemed like an overnight success when she stormed into the charts in 1984, her big break was many years in the making. Backing her at the Agora, as she announces in her band introductions, were John Kay on bass Sandy Gennaro on drums John McCurry on guitar and Kenni Hairston on keyboards. This concert took place a few weeks into the Fun Tour, which had kicked off on November 22 and took in no less than 101 shows (mostly in North America) before finishing in December 1984. Historically, Cleveland's often been among the first US cities to pick up on breaking artists, and an appreciative audience turned out for her show at the Agora, a still-running venue that had presented many top local and international rock acts since the late 1960s. With audience and artist still unaware of how iconic She's So Unusual was to become, Lauper stormed most of the record's songs, including the soon-to-be hits "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," and "She Bop." As a treat for Lauper lovers, there were also a couple songs from her 1980 album as lead singer of Blue Angel, as well as another Blue Angel relic that wouldn't be released until a few years later. Her show at Cleveland's Agora Ballroom on December 14 of that year could have hardly been timed betterto catch her atthe threshold of success. As much of a commercial monster as that record was, it took a few months for it to catch fire, not entering the Top Forty until four months after its October 1983 release. In 1984, Cyndi Lauper exploded into superstardom with a vengeance, scoring four Top Five hits from her debut album, She's So Unusual. Jewelcases / Trays / Protection jackets.
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