Memphis Blues | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 22, 2010 | |||
Recorded | March 2010 | |||
Studio | Electraphonic Studios, Memphis, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Length | 45:41 | |||
Label | Downtown | |||
Producer |
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Cyndi Lauper chronology | ||||
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Singles from Memphis Blues | ||||
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Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 45/100 [2] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
New York Post | [4] |
Rolling Stone | [5] |
Memphis Blues is the eleventh studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, containing cover versions of classic blues songs. Regarded as a continuation of her 2008 comeback, the album was a nominee for the Grammy Awards 2010 and was released on her 57th birthday, June 22, 2010. According to the Brazilian daily newspaper O Globo, the album had sold 600,000 copies worldwide by November 2010. [6] Memphis Blues was voted the 7th best album of 2010 by the New York Post , [7] and it went on to become Billboard's biggest selling blues album of 2010. To support the album, Lauper made her biggest tour ever, the Memphis Blues Tour, which had more than 140 shows.
Lauper announced via her official Twitter account in December 2009 that she would be recording a blues album. Sessions were held in March 2010 at Electraphonic Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, with producer Scott Bomar, her frequent collaborator Bill Wittman, and special guests B. B. King, Charlie Musselwhite, Ann Peebles and Allen Toussaint. [8]
Lauper performed songs from the album on the Late Show with David Letterman on June 14, [9] on The Joy Behar Show on June 21, The Howard Stern Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show on June 22, Good Morning America on June 23 and Live with Regis and Kelly on June 24, [10] on The Early Show on July 20. [11] and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on August 30. [12]
Lauper has supported the album with the Memphis Blues Tour. [13]
Lauper was honored at the 2010 NARM Awards and performed several songs from the Memphis Blues album at the event. [14]
Memphis Blues debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top Blues chart and at number 26 on the official Billboard 200, with a moderately successful first week sales of more than 16,000 copies. [15] The album is Lauper's third-highest charting album on the Billboard 200 of her career, trailing only her first two releases, She's So Unusual and True Colors. The album remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart for thirteen weeks, totaling 40 weeks in the chart. The album has sold 76,000 copies in the United States as of May 2016. [16] In 2011 it was awarded a double silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 40,000 copies throughout Europe. [17] In Brazil, the album sold around 10,000 units. [6]
Seven songs from the album ranked in the Top 25 on Billboard's Blues Digital Songs chart, including "Crossroads" at number one. [18]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Just Your Fool" (featuring Charlie Musselwhite) | Marion Walter Jacobs | 3:37 |
2. | "Shattered Dreams" (featuring Allen Toussaint) | Lowell Fulson, Washington Ferdinand | 3:52 |
3. | "Early in the Mornin'" (featuring Allen Toussaint and B.B. King) | Leo Hickman, Louis Jordan, Dallas Bartley | 3:51 |
4. | "Romance in the Dark" | William Lee Conley Broonzy, Lillian Green | 5:44 |
5. | "How Blue Can You Get?" (featuring Jonny Lang) | Jane Feather | 5:23 |
6. | "Down Don't Bother Me" (featuring Charlie Musselwhite) | Albert King | 3:03 |
7. | "Don't Cry No More" | Don Robey | 2:44 |
8. | "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (featuring Ann Peebles) | Muddy Waters | 3:29 |
9. | "Down So Low" | Tracy Nelson | 3:55 |
10. | "Mother Earth" (featuring Allen Toussaint) | Memphis Slim, Peter Chatman | 5:19 |
11. | "Crossroads" (featuring Jonny Lang) | Robert Johnson | 4:44 |
Total length: | 45:41 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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12. | "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues" | Ida Cox | 3:22 |
Total length: | 49:03 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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13. | "I Don't Want to Cry" (featuring Léo Gandelman) | Chuck Jackson | 4:39 |
Total length: | 53:42 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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13. | "Don't Want to Cry" (featuring TOKU) | Chuck Jackson | 4:34 |
Total length: | 53:37 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Behind The Scenes Video Of Making Of 'Memphis Blues'" | 4:36 |
2. | "Cyndi Talking About 'Memphis Blues'" | 2:30 |
Total length: | 7:06 |
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Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
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2011 | Memphis Blues | Best Traditional Blues Album | Nominated [38] |
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night"—and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies (1985) and her second record True Colors (1986). This album included the number-one single "True Colors" and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number three. In 1989, Lauper saw success with "I Drove All Night" and in 1993, had her first dance club hit with "That's What I Think".
"She Bop" is a song by American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released as the third single from her debut studio album, She's So Unusual (1983). It reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1984. Worldwide, the song is her third most commercially successful single after "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time", and also reached number 46 on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the ARIA Singles Chart. "She Bop" was Lauper's third consecutive top 5 on the Hot 100. She recorded a quieter version of the song for her 2005 album The Body Acoustic.
She's So Unusual is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released on October 14, 1983, by Portrait Records. The album was re-released in 2014 to commemorate its 30th anniversary, and was called She's So Unusual: A 30th Anniversary Celebration. The re-release contains demos and remixes of previously released material, as well as new artwork.
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song made famous by American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper four years after it was written by Robert Hazard. It was released by Portrait Records as Lauper's first major single as a solo artist and the lead single from her debut studio album, She's So Unusual (1983). Lauper's version gained recognition as a feminist anthem and was promoted by a Grammy-winning music video. It has been covered, either as a studio recording or in a live performance, by over 30 other artists.
"I Drove All Night" is a song written and composed by American songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and originally intended for Roy Orbison. Orbison recorded the song in 1987, the year before his death, but his version was not released until 1992. Cyndi Lauper recorded the song and released it as a single for her A Night to Remember album. Her version became a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1989 and was also her final top 40 hit on the American pop charts. Lauper still regularly performs the song in her live concerts. The song has also been covered by Canadian singer Celine Dion, whose version topped the Canadian Singles Chart and reached number 7 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 2003.
A Night to Remember is the third studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released on May 9, 1989, by Epic Records. The album was originally set to be released in 1988, under the name Kindred Spirit, but was delayed until 1989 and the songs from the initial project were reworked. Although the album managed to score a top-10 single, it did not enjoy the commercial success of her previous two albums, and was met with mixed-to-poor reviews and in interviews, Lauper refers to it as A Night to Forget. Worldwide, the album has sold more than 1,500,000 copies.
At Last is the seventh studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper. The album is a collection of covers of jazz standards, in addition to a cover of a contemporary song re-arranged into a jazz song. The album features a duet with Tony Bennett on "Makin' Whoopee" and was co-produced by Lauper with Russ Titelman. The album's longbox was available only at Costco or Sam's Club shops within the first two weeks when it was released. In 2008 Lauper said in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Extra that the album was a special project, with the intervention of the record company and that she does not consider it as a "career album".
Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some is a greatest hits album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released on August 22, 1994, through Epic Records. It contains a collection of singles from the singer's first four studio albums. It also contains three new songs: "(Hey Now) Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "I'm Gonna Be Strong" and "Come On Home", all of which were released as singles. To promote the record, the singer embarked on a worldwide tour. A video album was simultaneously released and contained music videos of fourteen songs.
Hat Full of Stars is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released in 1993. The album was released 4 years after the singer's third studio album, A Night to Remember, which received unfavorable reviews and had low sales compared to the singer's previous releases. Hat Full of Stars received favorable reviews but was poorly received by the public, receiving gold certifications in Japan and France only.
Charles Douglas Musselwhite is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader, one who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s. He has often been identified as a "white bluesman".
"Time After Time" is a 1983 song by American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, co-written with Rob Hyman, who also provided backing vocals. It was the second single released from her debut studio album, She's So Unusual (1983). The track was produced by Rick Chertoff and released as a single in March 1984. The song became Lauper's first number 1 hit in the U.S. The song was written in the album's final stages, after "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night" had been written or recorded. The writing began with the title, which Lauper had seen in TV Guide magazine, referring to the science fiction film Time After Time (1979).
"Change of Heart" is a song by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released on November 11, 1986 as the second single from her second album, True Colors (1986). It went gold in the US, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by singer-songwriter Essra Mohawk. Popular remixes by Shep Pettibone were also released. A music video was produced for the song, filmed in Trafalgar Square in London. It features Lauper and her tour band performing the song in front of a large group of people. The Bangles sang background vocals on the original recording. A live version of the song was released on Lauper's live album/DVD, To Memphis, with Love.
American singer Cyndi Lauper has released eleven studio albums, six compilation albums, five video albums and fifty-three singles. Worldwide, Lauper has sold approximately 50 million albums, singles and DVDs. According to RIAA, She has sold 8.5 million certified albums in the United States with She's so Unusual being her biggest seller.
"All Through the Night" is a song written and recorded by Jules Shear for his 1983 album Watch Dog. It was produced by Todd Rundgren.
Bring Ya to the Brink is American singer Cyndi Lauper's tenth studio album, released on May 14, 2008 in Japan, and 13 days later worldwide. The album is a collection of dance-oriented songs and features collaborations with Basement Jaxx, Richard Morel, Max Martin and Kleerup, among others. Regarded as one of the singer's best works at the time it was released, the Songwriters Hall of Fame has regarded the album track "High and Mighty" as one of Lauper's key songs. The album received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronica Album at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. The song "Set Your Heart" was released as a promotional single in Japan in early 2008, while "Same Ol' Story" was the first official single released on May 6, 2008. "Into the Nightlife" was released as the second single.
The Memphis Blues Tour was the eleventh concert tour by American recording artist Cyndi Lauper, in support of her eleventh studio album. The tour visited the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. During the trek, Lauper performed at numerous jazz festivals including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Jazz à Vienne and Jazz Fest Wien. In the fall of 2011, Lauper continued the tour as a co-headlining show with Dr. John titled From Memphis to Mardi Gras. Lauper performed over a hundred concerts beginning in June 2010 and ending in November 2011.
"Just Your Fool" is a rhythm and blues-style song written and recorded by the American jazz and jump blues bandleader/pianist Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra in 1953. Called an "R&B anthem", the song has a big-band arrangement and his sister Ella Johnson on vocals—her "delicate and deceptively sweet phrasing was ideally suited to ballads such as this". "I'm Just Your Fool" became a Billboard R&B chart record hit, reaching number six in 1954.
Scott Bomar is a Memphis-based musician, Emmy Award-winning film composer, Grammy-nominated music producer, and recording engineer. Scott Bomar's songs are represented by Downtown Music Publishing.
Electraphonic Recording is a recording studio and record label located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Detour is the twelfth studio album by American recording artist Cyndi Lauper, containing cover versions of country and western songs. It was released on May 6, 2016, and is the artist's first for Sire Records. The album was recorded in Nashville and produced by Tony Brown. In the United States, the album debuted at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and number four on the Billboard Top Country Albums and sold 36,800 copies as of September 2016.