Cyndi Lauper has been added to the lineup for the first live national broadcast of the 9/11 “Tribute in Light.”
The Brooklyn-born, Queens-raised pop legend, 72, will perform beneath the twin blue beams that rise from Lower Manhattan each September 11, closing out a one-hour primetime special marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum announced Tuesday. She joins previously announced performers Lainey Wilson and John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting for “9/11 Tribute in Light: Live from Lower Manhattan,” airing Friday at 8 p.m. On Disney-affiliated platforms.
“I’m grateful to be a part of the 9/11 Tribute in Light. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years,” Lauper said in a statement released by the Memorial & Museum. “Like so many of us, I feel like it was just yesterday.”
The “Time After Time” and “True Colors” singer drew a direct line to her own experience of that morning in 2001.
“I was outside the city that morning and desperate to get back to my family, a luxury that, sadly, a lot of people were not afforded,” she said.
“I am honored to sing for them, those that we lost, and the families and friends who remain, and for my city. We will never forget.”
The broadcast will be hosted by ABC’s David Muir, Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer, the network’s “World News Tonight” anchor, “Good Morning America” co-anchor and veteran journalist respectively. The special is designed to honor “the resilience of survivors, families, first responders, and communities forever changed by that day,” according to the Memorial & Museum’s announcement.
A companion program, “Paying Tribute: Live from Lower Manhattan,” will air ahead of the main event, featuring stories of resilience and healing in the decades since the attacks.
The “Tribute in Light” art installation itself projects two vertical columns of blue light into the night sky from the site where the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers once stood, creating a ghostly memorial visible across much of the city. Dozens of buildings throughout the five boroughs and across the United States will illuminate their facades and rooftops in blue to coincide with the installation, continuing a tradition from previous years.
The annual light memorial has become one of the most recognized symbols of remembrance for the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks, though this marks the first time it will anchor a live national television broadcast.