Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2025: Cyndi Lauper ‘stands on the shoulders’ of the women before her

Cyndi Lauper will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Chappell Roan on Saturday. In that moment, she’ll be thinking of all the female artists who’ve proceeded her, and those who’ll follow her.

Cyndi shouted out her heroes, including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and Joni Mitchell, on Instagram when her induction was announced in April and added, “Women have made so many important contributions to music and to rock n roll and a win for one of us is a win for all of us.” 

“For a long, long time, we weren’t included, or very few of us were included,” Cyndi told ABC Audio of that post. “So, of course, I stand on the shoulders of the women that came before us.”

As the accolades piled up throughout her career — including two Grammys, an Emmy and a Tony — Cyndi’s kept this mind.

“Every award I got, I said the same thing. I said, ‘Thank you for all of the people that came before me, the women whose shoulders I stand on and the women that will come after me,'” she recalled. “Because you’re just a chain in a line of history — or ‘herstory.’ I like that word.”

Pat Benatar, a fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and friend of Cyndi’s, couldn’t agree more.

Until recently, Benatar told ABC Audio, “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it wasn’t really balanced about how many women were going in. It was mostly men. It took us 22 years to get in ourselves.”

“So it’s great to see her finally get in too because she deserves to be there,” added Benatar. “She’s such a great artist. … She has so many facets to what she does.”

“It’s just the more the merrier!” Benatar said. “Every time another woman gets in there, I’m really happy.”

The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. ABC will air a highlights special on Jan. 1, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET.

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