Cyndi Lauper’s 90-year-old uncle is one of the 109 Americans killed by Hurricane Sandy.
Five days after the storm, George Stathis was found dead in his Rockaway, Queens, home.
The singer divulged the tragic info during her performance at Lenox Hill’s Autumn Ball, a benefit held for hurricane victims Monday at the Waldorf in New York City.
The New York Post reports that she dedicated her song “Time After Time” to the late uncle:
He was old. He didn’t want to leave his house. I was in Chicago, and I called and said [to relatives], ‘Why did you guys leave him,’ and they just didn’t think it was going to get that bad.