Blue Angel were an American band, that featured

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) 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 achi ...

before her rise to fame as a solo singer. The lineup also included John Turi on keyboards and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, Arthur "Rockin' A" Neilson (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

), Lee Brovitz (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

) and Johnny Morelli (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

). Lauper and Turi wrote the bulk of their material, and the group also covered pop standards, such as

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early li ...

and

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940) is an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Life and career Weil was born in New York City, and was raised in a Conservative Jewish family. Her father was Morris Weil ...

's "

I'm Gonna Be Strong "I'm Gonna Be Strong" is a song written by the songwriting duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It was first recorded by Frankie Laine in 1963 and released as a single on Columbia Records. However, the song did not become a major hit until 1964, wh ...

" (which Lauper covered again on a 1994 album). Blue Angel were briefly popular on the New York club scene. The band reformed without Lauper in 1987, under the name Boppin' the Blues. Lauper joined them on stage for a one-time performance at New York's Lone Star Cafe, singing a

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B genres. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog", in 1952, which becam ...

song and "

That's Alright Mama "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and b ...

". They have since disbanded.

Discography

Their only album, '' Blue Angel'', was released in 1980. It featured a sparse punk rock and new wave-styled cover in primary red, and floating band member photos. The album's sales were better overseas than in the United States. The only track to hit top 40 was "I'm Gonna Be Strong", which reached No. 37 in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Another song from the album, "Maybe He'll Know", was re-recorded by Lauper on her second solo album, '' True Colors'', in 1986. Blue Angel recorded a second album for Polydor in 1980; it was never released owing to a change in management at

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

Germany, and they, along with other artists, were dropped from the label. The band continued to gig around New York until 1982; their final concert took place that fall at

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater w ...

Albums

*'' Blue Angel'' (1980)

Singles

Re-releases

After Lauper's solo success, ''Blue Angel'' was re-released in LP and cassette formats in multiple countries. The yellow-covered Australian re-release uses a larger photo of Cyndi and includes "Blue Angel featuring" in small print above "Cyndi Lauper" in large print. The Japanese re-release also includes "featuring Cyndi Lauper", though the rest of the cover remains unchanged from the original release. In 2005, a 5000-copy

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in O ...

pressing was released by Hip-O Select Records.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Angel Rock music groups from New York (state) Cyndi Lauper Musical groups from New York City