True Colors (song)

"True Colors" is a song written by professional songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It was both the title track and the first single released from Cyndi Lauper's second album.

1 Song information
2 Music video
3 Chart performance
4 Official versions
5 Covered by
6 Legacy
7 External links

[edit] Song information

Billy Steinberg originally wrote True Colors about his own mother. Tom Kelly altered the first verse and the duo submitted the song to Cyndi Lauper. Other songs they wrote for Cyndi Lauper include "I Drove All Night" and "Unconditional Love", the latter of which went on to be covered by Susanna Hoffs.

It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #3 in Australia, and #5 on the UK Singles Chart.

True Colors also became a legend of its own in the gay community. Lauper embarked on a 2007 annual True Colors Tour 2007 with several other acts including Deborah Harry and Erasure. The tour was for the Human Rights Campaign to promote gay rights.^{[citation needed]}

The song has been used in many advertisements, including;

Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty"
Kodak - Used in "Show Your True Colors" campaign; also as the preshow film for "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience"
Peugeot "The Drive of your Life" / 406 sedan
Aer Lingus "Appearances"

[edit] Music video

In an article from the New York Times, detailing the making of "True Colors" and the time right before its release, Lauper described the True Colors video:

In the beginning, she's a storyteller pounding on an African drum; a girl moves through childhood and adulthood, with the shell symbolizing the turning of tides and so forth; Cyndi then walks through that desert with the new group of children in the background; the last shot is of Cyndi pounding on the drum a final time. Then she of course spoke of loving yourself, and accepting who you are.

[edit] Chart performance

Chart (1986)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Year-End	41
U.S. Adult Contemporary	5
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	3
Austria	12
Brazilian Single Chart	1
Canadian Singles Chart	1
French Singles Chart	49
Holland Singles Chart	7
German Singles Chart	18
Ireland Singles Chart	6
Israeli Singles Chart	2
Italy Singles Chart	5
Japanese Singles Chart	59
New Zealand Singles Charts	8
Norway Singles Charts	10
South African Singles Chart	14
Swedish Singles Chart	4
Switzerland Singles Chart	17
UK Singles Chart	12

[edit] Official versions

Juniors 12" Vocal Mix
Junior's 7" Mix
Junior's Gay Pride '98 Mix
Junior's Main Pass Mix Edit
Junior's Reprise Mix
Junior's Romantic Love Mix
Juniorverse Mix

[edit] Covered by

Phil Collins (1998)
missFlag 2007
Elaine Paige (1991)
Aztec Camera (1993)
Tuesday Child (1997)
Dominique Moore (1999) (Peugeot 406 Advert) www.myspace.com/dominiquemoore
Leatherface (2000)
David Young (2000)
Sarina Paris (2001)
Maddy Prior and the Girls Bib and Tuck (2002)
American Juniors (2003)
Eva Cassidy (2003)
Voice Male (2003)
Kasey Chambers (2003)
Kalan Porter with Theresa Sokyrka (2004) (Canadian Idol)
Shirley Clamp I dina ögon (True Colors) (2006)
Anna Tsuchiya (2006)
K (2007)
Lauren Talbot (2007) (Deutschland sucht den Superstar)
Haley Scarnato (2007) (American Idol)
Save the Last Dance
Lea Salonga, Live Album (2003)
MYMP (2005)

[edit] Legacy

The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for naming each episode after an 80's hit song, named an episode after this song.

[edit] External links

Preceded by "When I Think of You" by Janet Jackson	Billboard Hot 100 number one single October 25, 1986- November 1, 1986	Succeeded by "Amanda" by Boston