The legendary Cyndi Lauper hits the stage in Las Vegas early this coming October as part of a stop on her DETOUR tour, named after her new country album of the same name. It just happens to be on the weekend of the two-year anniversary of marriage equality in Nevada. It’s also Come Out Vegas weekend, the NCOD celebration, so talk about the gay stars aligning for this major ally’s appearance in our city. 

Gay Vegas spoke with Cyndi about her country influences, collaborations, working with LGBT homeless youth, her new tour and more.

What is one of your first or fondest Las Vegas memories?

Being pregnant and sitting at the bar watching my cousin Johnny [Edwards] perform. He used to do Elvis for Legends [In Concert]. Now he is doing the Rat Pack. 

Tell us about the country music influence when you were a kid growing up in Ozone Park in Queens, New York. It wasn’t so much then. It was more like when I was in a rockabilly band. I was learning to write my own material and listen to other singers that had similar sounds and their voice. Obviously the country music people were very much a part of our lives because they were all over the TV. When you’d watch television, you saw these beautiful women with shiny dresses and fringe and big hair. That was very exciting for me. Lipstick. Oh my gosh.

I read that your aunt Gracie was a fan of country music and that you used to listen in with her on a transistor radio. She liked Patsy Cline. Everybody liked Patsy Cline. And Loretta Lynn. At that time there was one station or three stations and everything was on the same station. You’d hear Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn on the same station you’d hear like James Brown and The Beatles. You’d hear all the music together. It was integrated more. It wasn’t in a compartment like now. I don’t know if there was a country station. There might have been. But I just remember her kitchen and hearing Patsy Cline coming out of the radio.

But, I was really inspired when I was in Blue Angel. I wore a Patsy Cline button all the time. I learned how to sing listening to Wanda Jackson and Patsy Cline... and Tina Turner. It was always a combination of rhythm and blues and country.

Speaking of Wanda Jackson, you cover “Funnel of Love”. Do you have a working relationship with Wanda? She’s so great. I wish I did. I don’t. I don’t know her. I met her once and I love her. I think she’s awesome. And when she was introduced in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I was there. I think she’s great.

I love that song “Funnel of Love”. The first time I heard it was in that LGBT cult classic with RuPaul and Natasha Lyonne titled But I’m a Cheerleader. In the film Natasha’s cheerleader character comes out as a lesbian and she gets sent to a conversion therapy camp to be straight and later when she falls in love with one of the girls there they play that “Funnel of Love song”. Awwwwww.

I think it’s so great that you are taking these country classics and bringing them to people today, giving them new life with your own special style. Thank you so much.

I especially loved “The End of the World”, the cover you did of Skeeter Davis who passed in 2004. It’s such a beautiful song. Were there any points in your life where you felt like that? Any heartbreaks? Oh please, there’s always that. That’s how life is.  I wanted to put something together that made you laugh, made you cry, but also gave you hope. I think people gotta have hope. Everybody has heartbreak. When I was little, I didn’t hear the Skeeter Davis version – I only heard Herman’s Hermits. So I didn’t know there was Skeeter Davis until I got older, when I started to study music again and again and again. I always try and study it. Because if you don’t study you can’t be as great as you would hope to be. And you keep trying, and then maybe one day you are.

The collaborations you did on the album with Jewel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill – how was that? Pretty fucking magical for me. It was magical. To have them in there singing with you. You try not to think about it at the time. When I saw Willie Nelson walk in, I almost flipped out crying but I was like, “Hey! Don’t scare him. There’s no crying in rock and roll. You gotta toughen up. Be professional.” So I shook his hand, I shook Annie’s [Note: Willie’s wife] hand, I said, “Come in.” I was very professional. They said, “Do you want to see the bus?” All I kept thinking in my head was, “Wow. I heard stories about the bus. That people go on the bus and they nod out and they wake up in a different city.” I was thinking that whole movie in my head. I was like, “Maybe another time.” Because I gotta finish this record. 

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Who would you love to collaborate with that you haven’t already had the pleasure of singing with? Oh my god, everybody. Dolly. I want to do more with Emmy. I love that whole scene down in Nashville because there’s still a music scene to be had. There’s still a music community. The community of artists is really still very close, all of them. You don’t have that everywhere, so that’s really precious. And I hope that it’s always like that. 

And it’s a very special time for country with artists like Billy Gilman and Ty Herndon coming out of the closet. In a genre that wasn’t really known for being LGBT-friendly, it’s awesome to have you as an LGBT ally and involved with country.
Well “Kinky Boots” did very well in Nashville.

Congrats on that by the way. Oh, thank you. And don’t forget Chely Wright, who is fantastic. She was in The Home for The Holidays Concert and she came out. She was awesome. And it’s not easy, especially for women. I think that people are people. And I think that most Americans are fair-minded people and if their friend or family is being treated badly because of who they are, I believe in my heart that people will tend to look into their hearts and stand up for their loved ones. And that is why I’m an ally and friend, because I’m a family member. And I will not stand by and watch my friends or family be discriminated against or treated badly. 

I also know that in every civil rights movement you need everybody, not some people. People need to learn about what certain laws do to their friends and family and how it hurts them. They’ve got all these crazy things that they’re saying and it’s not true. So I just think education, education, education, education. Tell your story, tell your story, tell your story. And share. Because that’s the only way. You don’t want to preach dogma at people. You want to show them your humanity. You want to tell them how it affects you as a human being. That’s what people understand because people are people. They’re human too.

Do you have your own coming out story as an ally involving your Italian family? Well when I was a teenager, all my friends came out and said they were gay. I was trying to be right there with them. I did not do well. I was not gay. I kind of lost all my friends because they huddled together and I was the outsider. So when my sister came out, I was determined that it didn’t matter and she wasn’t going to ditch me because I was her sister and she can’t ditch me. And I think that really affected me. 

You know I have to confess something to you. I came out when I was 17 in Las Vegas and it didn’t go over very well. I’m sorry.

It’s okay, everything got better. My family accepts me now and adore my partner. We’ve been together for six years. So there is hope for people, even when it seems really bad. But the catch is after I came out, I ended up leaving Las Vegas for New York, staying with some of my mom’s Italian family in Ozone Park, sleeping on my Zia’s couch. Of course they didnt know what was going on at home in Vegas. Oh my god. When was that? When was that? 

2001, before September 11th.There were a lot of Italians there. Oh there’s still Italians, yeah I know. What street did you live on?

I eventually got my own place on 87th St. right by Pitkin Ave., really close to Crossbay Blvd. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Imagine being in drag trying to get to Cashetta’s Star Search show at Barracuda Lounge for amateur night, walking in drag to take the A-train to Manhattan in Ozone Park of all places. Oh yeah, that’s scary. I know. You know, we do a lot of work with kids, homeless kids. Preventing LGBT homelessness. And that includes couch surfing. We’ve done research and we’ve found that sometimes if the parents just say, “Look, you’ve got to give me a minute. I love you, you’re my kid, but this whole gay thing, give me a minute to wrap my head around it.” They’ll stay instead of running. But the whole you’re not my son thing, I don’t know. It’s kind of like Wanda Sykes in that skit. “What do you mean you’re black? You’re not black. You’re just hanging out with black people.” She talks about being gay and what it would be like if you had to come out to your parents as black, like you do as gay. It was so funny. 

She is so funny! So this Vegas show, what do you want people to know? It’s going to be a really fun show. We’re going to do the DETOUR songs and the old songs. It’s a special show for me in Vegas because I have DJ Emz opening for me and my son Dex is going to be doing a number with him, opening for me. At the Vegas show we might even perform the one that we wrote together and recorded too. I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be fun, a really fun night! 

Cyndi performs at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Oct. 8 at 7pm. 

Visit www.axs.com/events/309786 to purchase tickets.