By DARRYL STERDAN

Plenty of people get the blues on their birthdays. Cyndi Lauper is sharing hers with the world.

The eccentric singer turns 57 on Tuesday -- and marks the occasion by releasing her 11th album Memphis Blues.

"I didn't plan it that way," Lauper admits in her first Canadian interview to promote the album. "But my friends who are into astrology said, 'That's fantastic!' I have no idea why it's good -- it has something to do with it being in my sun. So I figured, what could be bad about that?

"But I don't believe in astrology. You can use a lot of tools to find out where you stand, but I think you know where you really stand in your heart. You can be the master of your own destiny."

She certainly has. Ever since the quirky firecracker with the turbocharged pipes exploded into the public eye with early '80s hits like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Time After Time, True Colors and She Bop, Lauper has continued to live up the title of her first solo album -- She's So Unusual -- by boldly charting her own course through the unforgiving waters of pop music.

"I don't like to follow along with the crowd," Lauper agrees from her Manhattan home. "And I don't do well at that, anyway. It's not really my thing."

Her thing has taken her everywhere from classic American standards to cutting-edge dance and electronica, not to mention the world of acting and reality TV. But with Memphis Blues -- a joyous collection of blues oldies cut live in a Tennessee studio with a long list of legends and VIPs -- she journeys to a place that is both timeless yet contemporary, she says.

"Blues is the key to everything we hear today -- jazz, rap, hip-hop, rock 'n' roll," the chatty vocalist explains. "The blues is the birth of it. It's what everything I sing is based on. And right now, my country is singing the blues, what with the oil spilling in the Gulf and people losing their jobs and having their houses foreclosed. So I wanted to do something that spoke to people and told human stories.

"But I didn't want to just make any blues album. I wanted something bigger. That's why I went to Memphis. Because Memphis was where the blues journeyed from Mississippi. Musicians went to get a job, a gig, a record deal. So I thought staying there and recording there and being in the middle of it -- eating and breathing and living it -- was the only way to understand the experience."

Lauper was in good company. Memphis Blues finds her welcoming a who's who roster of greats. Some -- guitarist B.B. King, pianist Allen Toussaint, harmonica master Charles Musselwhite, vocalist Ann Peebles, and young buck Jonny Lang -- you've likely heard of. Others -- like the Hi Records rhythm section and guitarist Charles (Skip) Pitts, who played the chicken-scratch wah-wah guitar on The Theme From Shaft ("How cool is that?" Lauper enthuses) -- you may not know.

Either way, they bring a down-home authenticity to Lauper's loving, playful recreations of Muddy Waters' Rollin' and Tumblin', Louis Jordan's Early in the Mornin' and Albert King's Down Don't Bother Me.

Lauper went up against The Donald during her recent stint on Celebrity Apprentice. But she admits being intimidated by her company in the studio.

"First of all, they were older than me," she says. "Plus I felt bad for them because as musicians, a lot of them never really got their due. Also, I had been to the Civil Rights Museum, and I knew that back when I was growing up listening to their work, they had to go in the back door to perform and were treated really badly. Given all that, I didn't want to say anything at first, you know. As I went along, I did start to arrange stuff the way I do.

"But was it daunting to stand next to Ann Peebles? Oh my God! I had to keep pulling myself together and telling myself to focus. If I tried to tell her what her voice meant to me or how many times I sang along with her music, I would start crying."

Ultimately, of course, the experience was a celebration -- a party Lauper hopes to continue by taking some of the performers on a tour that has her revamping her own hits for the juke joint.

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun as a blues song is just so much fun. It tears my throat, but boy is it funny. It's not pure blues, but as long as you keep the integrity of the song and the story, it works."

Maintaining that integrity in everything -- from her charitable work for LGBT rights to a Broadway play for which she's writing songs -- is crucial to her. And while she doesn't know where the journey will lead next, she knows it will be somewhere new.

"It would take a lot of medication for me to stay still for long," she laughs. "But right now I just want to stand here in this moment and enjoy it and live it."

As birthday wishes go, not bad.

By Dan Bacalzo

Pop star and Broadway veteran Cyndi Lauper is in the midst of a multi-city tour, with its next stop at the Mayo Center for the Arts in Morristown, New Jersey on June 25.

The singer/songwriter will perform her greatest hits plus songs from her brand new album, Memphis Blues. Lauper's opening act is guitarist/singer/composer David Rhodes.

Lauper starred on Broadway in the revival of The Threepenny Opera and appeared at Feinstein's at Loews Regency last year as part of its True Colors cabaret series.

Upcoming cities on the tour also include Boston (June 26), Chicago (June 30), Orlando (August 1), Miami (August 3), Atlanta (August 6), Dallas (August 11), Las Vegas (August 21), and Los Angeles (August 27).

For more information, visit cyndilauper.com.

See the music diva in concert for free ... courtesy of NewJerseyNewsroom.com!

NewJerseyNewsroom.com and our very own entertainment writer, Celebrity Magnet Tom Murro, will be giving away two free tickets to see music diva Cyndi Lauper on Sunday June 27 at 8 p.m. at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, N.J.

The winner will be selected at random by The Celebrity Magnet on Friday, June 25 at 6 p.m.

To be considered for the drawing, just send in your name and phone number to tmurro@newjerseynewsroom.com. The winner will be contacted by phone.

Lauper, known for her Queens, N.Y. accent, wild hair that changes colors often and her offbeat fashion sense, took the music world by storm with her first album "She's So Unusual" in 1983.

Lauper won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and became the first female artist in history to have five top-10 singles from a debut album.

A mixture of teen-friendly pop-rock and edgier, almost punky sounds, the album's biggest hit, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," quickly established itself as a female anthem.

Along the way, she has continually won accolades as a singer, musician, actress, and writer. She has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 2 American Music Awards, 7 American Video Awards and 18 MTV Awards.

Her other most successful songs are "Time After Time" (1984, #1 US, #2 UK), "She Bop" (1984, #3 US), "All Through The Night" (1984, #6 US), "True Colors" (1986, #1 US), "Change of Heart" (1986, #3 US) and "I Drove All Night" (1989, #6 US, #7 UK).

Lauper, whose voice range is four octaves, is ranked #58 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.

And says, Lauper: "You always have to remember — no matter what you're told — that God loves all the flowers, even the wild ones that grow on the side of the highway."

By Evie Nagy

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Best known for her '80s-era pop hits, Cyndi Lauper veers off in a new direction with "Memphis Blues."

Out Tuesday (June 22) on Downtown Records, the album is a big change from 2008's dance-oriented "Bring Ya to the Brink." The set features 12 classic blues covers, recorded in Memphis under Lauper's direction with such legends as Allen Toussaint, B.B. King and Charlie Musselwhite and veteran Stax Records session players including Lester Snell and Skip Pitts.

Lauper spoke with Billboard about her vision for the album, her new record deal and her recent appearance on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice."

Billboard: After all these years as a pop star, why did you decide to record a blues album?

Cyndi Lauper: Years ago, I had a dream that (jazz pianist) Oscar Peterson came to me and said, "You know, Cyn, I really like your version of (Marvin Gaye's) 'What's Goin' On' (from her 1986 album, "True Colors"). Then he just looked at me and said, "I think you should do some old songs, and make them modern, the way (Janis) Joplin did." So for years, I've wanted to go back and make a blues record.

Billboard: What were your priorities for the recording process in Memphis, to create the record you wanted?

Lauper: It was a very big priority that we walk in and play live. This album was all about the moment and what happens when the groove is exact and the key is right. It's like a portal into another time and space -- that's what music in its purest sense does, and it's the basis of what I learned all my life.

Billboard: After being on Epic for so many years, you've struck a deal with indie label Downtown. What drew you to the imprint?

Lauper: Downtown founder Josh Deutsch is a blues aficionado, and I also wanted to be part of something new. Now I own my own music, and I say no more compromises ... In my life I know I've said all the wrong things to the right people. I spent a career doing that because I felt trapped -- I just wanted to be free and to create.

Billboard: Why did you do "Celebrity Apprentice," and what did you get out of it?

Lauper: I did it because I wanted to promote and bring awareness to the fact that gays and lesbians are still denied basic civil rights. I raised $45,000 for the True Colors Fund, half of which I got from the sales of ("Celebrity Apprentice" makeover subject) Emily West's single "Blue Sky."

Billboard: Was there anything negative about your experience on the show?

Lauper: It was very high school, how they treated me. Sometimes they would all turn their backs and talk amongst themselves, and I was really like the outsider. But I'd do it again. I just got a message that (fellow contestant and series winner) Bret (Michaels) left on my machine; he said, "I just wanted to tell you, you're really loved and I thought you were great. Rock on!"

Billboard: Do you have any upcoming TV or film plans? Will you at least be making the TV rounds to promote the album?

Lauper: I'm going to try and weasel my way back onto (Fox crime series) "Bones." Tell them why I think they need the psychic to come back. I'm also going to do 'Regis & Kelly' -- I've just got to take a five-minute song and cut it down to two minutes. That's going to be a miracle. But I can do it. I'm a professional.

David Thornton, Cyndi Lauper and Ken Foree will be special guests at the Film Festival (“Filmski susreti”) in Nis, which takes place between August 22 and 31 at the Nis Fortress. This year, special awards will be given to foreign actors starring in Serbian films. David Thornton and his wife Cyndi Lauper played in Darko Lungulov’s film “Here and There”, while Ken Foree starred in the horror film “Zone of the Dead.”

New York, NY (CNS) - When different ends of the music spectrum blend in perfect harmony, it is a rare and breathtaking feat.

Such an event took place Saturday night when hip-hop's Lil Kim collided with 80's musical legend Cyndi Lauper during Nelson Mandela's birthday celebration at Radio City Music Hall.

The two, both highly accomplished in their respective brands of music, combined Lauper's "Time After Time" with Kim's "Lighters Up" for an amazing performance.

The performance started with a verse from "Time After Time", with Lauper performing her traditional low-voiced vocals and Kim doing a rare singing performance.

The sellout crowd really responded when Lauper completed part of a verse from "Lighters Up", with the beat from her masterpiece still playing in the background.

"Money is power/sell crack, weed and powder/ weak lambs get devoured/by the lion in the concrete jungle/the strong stand and rumble/the weak fall and tumble/it's the land of trouble," sang Lauper with her signature, unique voice to an uncanny response from those in attendance.

The event was a star-studded gala, also featuring French First lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who performed with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics.