Exclusive: Cyndi Lauper on Prince's Death — 'He Was Such a Great Performer and a Great Writer'

I already had a phone interview with Cyndi Lauper scheduled before I heard the sad news about Prince, who died today at age 57. While I was looking forward to chatting with Lauper about her new album of country, Detour, and Wanda Jackson and Nashville, of course I also had to seize the opportunity to ask her about Prince. She performed with him once in 2010, and also covered his classic "When You Were Mine" on She's So Unusual.

"Pretty crappy," she said, when I asked her how she was feeling. She echoed the sentiments that so many others are sharing today: "I know he was quirky and he had his ways and he was eccentric about certain things, but he was such a great performer and a great writer. Really visionary."

And then she told this wonderful story about how she ended up on stage with him, on a fluke: 

"I went to see him at [Madison Square] Garden — and I had never sung with him before, never — we were in the pit and everybody kept going on stage. And they would come up to me and be like 'Oh, why don’t you go on stage?' And I was like 'Really? OK!' I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I was listening to what he was singing and I answered him back and all of a sudden he opened up his eyes and says 'Cyndi?' And I said, 'Yeah, well they just said to come up and sing, I’m sorry!' It was kinda great. It was really one of those magical moments."

And then there was the time she told him about a song she wrote, "Same O'l Story," which was inspired by his 2007 Super Bowl XLI performance and his fearless creativity, and ... didn't get the reaction she was expecting:

"When I saw Prince do the Super Bowl, and how he conducted not just the people but the rain, I thought to myself 'That’s God’s child,' and it made me write this song [singing] “People slippin in the rain, I watch them get up again,” and it was all about watching him. [singing] "Same ol’ fucking story, with your same ol’ fucking rules," and when I told him, and sang 'Same ol' fucking story,' he said 'Oh my God, you used God’s name and a curse word all in one sentence.' And I thought to myself, I’m sorry, I just am that way, maybe I’m a demon. [laughs] But he was always nice to me, he was always sweet — I listened to everything he did. I always thought he was a great artist. As I talk about him, I don’t feel like it really happened. I feel like he’s still here."

Rest in purple, Prince.

We'll have more about Cyndi Lauper's new album and her upcoming performance at the Ryman on May 9, in our May 5 issue.