Cyndi Lauper Wishes She and Madonna Were Friends, Not Competing, in ‘80s

Cyndi Lauper is reflecting on what could have been.

The singer recalled being pitted against fellow pop icon Madonna by fans and the music industry while they were both up-and-coming stars in the 1980s.

“It was like apples and oranges,” Lauper, 70, told The New York Times in an interview published on Tuesday, June 4.

Lauper went on to lament the way she and the “Material Girl” singer were often considered each other’s competition, adding: “I would have liked to have a friend.”

Lauper released her debut album, She’s So Unusual, in 1983, the same year Madonna released her self-titled first album. Lauper’s record included her hit songs “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time.” Madonna’s album featured her breakthrough hit, “Holiday.”

In 1985, Lionel Richie chose Lauper over Madonna, 65, to feature on the charity song, “We Are the World,” which he now admits to regretting.

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live in February, Richie was asked by host Jimmy Kimmel: “Why did it have to be Cyndi Lauper or Madonna?”

“We had only a half a line to sing. Let me say this now: half a line. We had to have voices that people knew right away,” Richie said, per Entertainment Weekly. “We didn’t know whether Cyndi was coming. At the [American Music Awards that year] I said, ‘Are you coming?’ and she said, ‘I spoke to my boyfriend and he says he doesn’t think it’s a hit,’ and I said, ‘Don’t miss this session.’ She showed up and killed it. The point was, you have to have an identifiable voice, for whatever reason it was just, Cyndi had that.”

Kimmel then told Richie, “You guys made a mistake,” to which Richie responded: “I’m going to say this now on national and international television: You’re right!”

The same year, Lauper spoke of the comparisons between her and Madonna in an interview with Newsweek.

“She’s just doing her thing. My thing happens to be different,” she said.