Cher!
Cher
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Nervous Performer
Cher was a huge star without Sonny and our shows were done in large venues all over the east coast. When I worked with Sonny & Cher I couldn't help but notice what a nervous performer Cher was. I would find her empty Valium bottles all over the back stage areas. When I worked with her this time Cher seemed to have calmed down a bit.Take Me Home
One night after a show Cher couldn't find her limo and asked if I would take her home in mine. Of course I said, "Yes", and Cher and her new boyfriend hopped into the back with me. I have never been physically attracted to Cher so there was no discomfort to being with her. Cher was always friendly to me and I to her.Cher has had three careers
Cher has had three careers that place her indelibly in the public consciousness, and two have been in association with her then-husband, composer/producer/singer Salvatore "Sonny" Bono (February 16, 1935-January 8, 1998). Cher charted major hit records in the 1960s and 1970s, working in idioms ranging from early- '60s girl group-style ballads to Jackie Deshannon folk-influenced pop, to adult contemporary pop in the manner of later Dusty Springfield.She also embarked on an acting career, initially in the late 1960s in association with her work as part of Sonny & Cher but later on her own, which led to a series of increasingly polished and compelling performances in Silkwood, Mask and Moonstruck, for which Cher won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Cherilyn Sarkisian wPhil Spector. Bono brought her to Spector, who used her as a backup singer and produced one single by her, a novelty Beatles tribute record called "Ringo I Love You" issued under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. It disappeared without a trace, but the couple were undaunted -- they emerged as a duo, initially called Caesar & Cleo, later that year, and cut "The Letter," "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Love Is Strange." Caesar & Cleo didn't trouble the chart compilers with any degree of success, but late in 1964, Cher (then known as Cherilyn) was signed to Liberty Records' Imperial imprint, and Bono came along as producer.
Cher Dream Baby
A Spector-ish version of "Dream Baby" managed to get airplay in Los Angeles, becoming a local hit, and they suspected they were onto something. That same month, Sonny & Cher, as they were now known, signed to Reprise Records and released their first single, "Baby Don't Go." The song became a major local hit in Los Angeles, after which the duo jumped from Reprise to the Atco label, a division of Atlantic Records. In April 1965 their first single, "Just You" was released and rose to number 20 on the charts. The duo was on its way, and Cher also had Imperial Records after her for a second single. The couple had seen the Byrds pioneer commercial folk-rock with Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," and had witnessed them performing another Dylan number, "All I Really Want to Do" at a club in Los Angeles. The group intended to issue their own recording of "All I Really Want to Do," but Cher, with Sonny producing, beat them to the punch with her own recording of the song. Cher pursued a dual career for the next two years, cutting solo recordings under Sonny's guidance that regularly charted, and duets with her husband for Atco. A month after "All I Really Want to Do," they released "I Got You Babe," which was one of the biggest-selling and most beloved pop/rock hits of the mid-'60s, and the couple's signature tune across two eras of success.Cher solo career
Cher's solo career ended up slightly overshadowed by her work with Sonny & Cher, but at the time Cher was fully competitive on her own terms -- her first LP reached the Billboard Top 20 and was on the albums charts for six months. "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" was another hit, a million-seller that made number three in America and England, and Cher made the Top Ten once more with her 1967 single "You Better Sit Down Kids." The latter song, written by Bono (and which was also a hit for Glen Campbell), dealt with divorce, an unusual subject for a 1960s pop record, and was one of a series of releases on which her music broached difficult areas -- others were "I Feel Something's in the Air," which dealt with unwanted pregnancy, and "Mama (When My Dollies Have Babies)," both written by Bono. Cher's solo career at Imperial, which had created some political problems for the couple at Atlantic, ended with the lapsing of her contract in 1967, and Cher moved to Atlantic. Ironically, it was this move that contributed the unhappy reversal of the couple's fortunes at the end of the decade.Cher Spiral down
By the end of the 1960s, Sonny & Cher were no longer selling records. A series of commercial missteps, coupled with a change in public taste, had sharply curtailed their sales, and a pair of movies (Good Times, Chastity) had lost millions. Additionally, they were no longer recording for Atlantic -- though they were still under contract to them -- owing to the label's decision to take her solo recordings out of Sonny's hands and assign a new producer to her. Coupled with the presentation of a bill from the Internal Revenue Service for $200,000 in back taxes, these events left the couple in dire financial straights at the end of the 1960s. They were forced to play club dates, opening for artists like Pat Boone, and it was there that their second career, and a second career for Cher, took shape.Cher Decca Records
A new contract with Decca Records in 1971, coupled with a chance at a summer replacement gig on the CBS television network, brought them a second chance at success. The try-out on television was a success, as the couple proved to be as funny as they were musically diverse. It took a little longer to find a new formula for her music -- her initial single on Decca's Kapp label, "Classified 1A," written by Bono, was a failure; a serious song dealing with a girl's feelings for a boyfriend killed in Vietnam; it was topical in all the wrong ways to become a pop chart success. Producer Snuff Garrett was recruited to work with her, and he found a series of songs that were perfect for her maturing talent. "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," a conscious attempt to emulate Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" (which also recalled her own "Bang Bang") was released late in 1971 and became a number one hit and a million-seller. To some listeners, "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" was the epitome of schlocky pop/rock, but the song's subject matter, unusual tempo changes, and an incredibly memorable chorus-hook became a vehicle for a transcendent performance by the singer, marking her maturation as an artist (the B-side, "I Hate to sleep Alone," written by Peggy Clinger of the Clinger Sisters, curiously enough, managed to recall Sonny's spector-influenced productions from the Imperial years). A follow-up album, featuring her covers of contemporary hits such asCher Fire and Rain
"Fire and Rain," sold well also, and her next single, "The Way of Love," a revival of a mid-'60s Kathy Kirby hit, solidified the image of a new, more confident and powerful Cher. And the debut of the couple's regular network variety series on CBS in January 1972 brought them back to the center of American and international popular culture in a more mature, wittier guise, and one that concentrated much more on Cher as a personality. Cher's 1960s music ran the gamut from Spector-style miniature teen-pop symphonies to covers of contemporary adult pop ("It's Not Unusual") and folk-rock, all cut under Bono's guidance. Cher's voice wasn't very rich or powerful, but it was expressive and surrounded by Bono's radiant Spector creations, and Cher could put over an almost inappropriately cheerful sounding version of "The Bells of Rhymney" or "Blowin' in the Wind." By contrast, her early- 1970s material, solo or with Sonny, had a more adult point of view and personality. Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" and the later number one solo hits "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady" were dramatic, highly intense performances, almost as much "acted" as sung, and very different from her 1960s output.Cher 1974
In 1974, it was revealed that the couple's marriage was coming to an end. Ironically, Cher came out of this split more secure than her husband, despite his having guided her career for a decade and having all of the real training in the entertainment business. Cher embarked on an acting career, even as Cher continued to make headlines for her romantic exploits, including an affair with (and two marriages to) Gregg Allman. Cher became a far better actress than Cher was a singer, first revealed in Mike Nichols' Silkwood (1983) and then in Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1985) and George Miller's The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Cher's acting peers caught on to the worth of her work in time for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Norman Jewison's 1987 romantic comedy Moonstruck. Since the mid-'70s, Cher has been known more for her acting than for her music, although Cher has continued to record for numerous labels, including Columbia, and in 1998 scored an international chart-topping smash with the club-friendly single "Believe." Cher is, by Garrett's analysis, more of a stylist than a singer, and almost as much a personality as an actress, almost a modern-day Helen Morgan (Showboat, etc.) with better luck in life and career.Sonny and Cher proved to be one of the magical musical combinations of the mid '60s and one of the better rock-influenced acts of the early '70s, their wisecracking repartee providing counterpoint to a series of adoring hit duets.
Salvatore "Sonny" Bono (b. Feb. 16, 1935) started out at Los Angeles-based Specialty Records as a songwriter in the late '50s, responsible for "Koko Joe" by Don and Dewey and "She Said Yeah" for Larry Williams, which was later covered by the Rolling Stones and the Righteous Brothers. Bono became a protege of Phil Spector, managing to write a handful of successful songs, most notably "Needles and Pins" in collaboration with his protege Jack Nitzsche, which became a success for Jackie DeShannon and a huge international hit for the Searchers.
In 1963, while working on sessions with Phil Spector, Sonny met a 16-year-old, would-be singer named Cherilyn Sarkasian LaPierre (b. May 20, 1946), at a coffee shop next to a Los Angeles radio station. Cher had earlier recorded the Spector-produced single "Ringo, I Love You", released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. Although Sonny was married to Donna Rankin, with whom he had a daughter, his interest in Cher grew until he eventually ended his marriage.
Sonny and Cher were later married and although Cher was reluctant, the pair formed a professional duet, initially known as Caesar and Cleo. The pair released the singles "The Letter", "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Love Is Strange", with little effect. It was only after they were signed to Atlantic Records as Sonny and Cher that success came their way. The couple embarked on parallel careers, with Cher later signed to Liberty/Imperial Records as a solo act.
They were a strange team in the sense that neither had a great voice and, indeed, their voices were so similar that Atlantic's president Ahmet Ertegun was convinced that Sonny had come close to breaking his contract by singing with Cher on her solo hit "All I Really Want to Do". That song, however, also demonstrated their ability to spot a hit, as well as good material for themselves. They'd heard the Byrds performing the Dylan song at a club in Los Angeles and got her recording out before the Byrds' own was in stores, beating the folk-rock group at its own game of popularizing Dylan songs. Cher subsequently hit with "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" while Sonny charted with "Laugh at Me" on Atco, but their biggest success was as a duet on Atco, with "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On."
For a time, from 1965 until 1967, they were rock & roll's hottest couple, so much so that in some conservative communities they were considered almost morally subversive; parents locked up their kids when Sonny and Cher were passing through for a concert appearance. They were popular enough, and sufficiently well-known in their images that the Rolling Stones impersonated them on the British television music showcase Ready, Steady, Go, miming to "I Got You Babe" with Brian Jones subbing for Sonny.
Then, as quickly as they started, the hits stopped coming, and the couple made some daringly creative but unsuccessful commercial missteps, even a movie (Good Times, directed by William Friedkin in his debut) that was, like the Monkees' Head, too far ahead of its time for critics or all but the most advanced fans to appreciate. A further film effort, Chastity, a name shared by their daughter, also bombed, and the sudden confrontation of a $200,000 income tax debt forced the couple to continue working. Further, they were unable to record because of a dispute with Atlantic over Sonny's objections to the way that her solo career was being handled.
They were playing supper clubs and Las Vegas nightclubs, opening for people like Pat Boone, when Johnny Musso, a friend of the couple, was jumping from an executive position at Atlantic to run Decca Records' Kapp label subsidiary, and brought the duo with him. At around the same time, their stage act -- which had evolved into a kind of "with it" domestic comedy routine nearly as prominent as the music, with the tall, wry-witted Cher cutting up on the seemingly dim-witted Sonny -- was spotted by Fred Silverman, who was then the head of programming for CBS. They ended up with a summer replacement try-out show that did so well that Sonny and Cher were given a regular spot in the CBS line-up in January 1972 with a comedy-variety series.
The couple's recording career was revived initially by a live album, cut in one night at Las Vegas, featuring new versions of their early hits as well as parts of their current repertory. The album went gold. The next couple of singles by Cher, and Sonny & Cher failed, but producer Snuff Garrett, who had been at Liberty when Cher was there but had never worked with her, was brought in, and the result was "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", a career-reviving number one hit. After that, "The Way of Love", "All I Ever Need Is You", "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done", "Half Breed", and "Dark Lady" kept either Cher or the couple in the Top Ten at various times through 1974. By then, however, their marriage had fallen apart, and with it, the success of their TV show.
Cher's new musical direction coincided with her split from her husband and mentor. As evidenced throughout her solo career, Cher had a darker side than Sonny was willing to explore in music and the inherent differences between the two eventually drove them apart. Although it was Sonny whose knowledge of the industry had gotten them as far as they'd come, there was no denying that there was no Sonny & Cher without Cher.
With her larger-than-life personality and over-the-top Bob Mackie costumes, Cher continued to sell out shows in Vegas and produce albums as she'd done with Sonny. Now in control of her own destiny, Cher decided to pursue a life-long dream of acting. Surprisingly though, her Mae West attitude and relationship with what was seen by some as the svengali-like Bono, prevented her immediate transition to the silver screen. Not one to give up, Cher headed to New York, where Cher landed a supporting role in "Come Back To The Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean". Cher's impressive performance in 'come back' led to a co-starring role in Mike Nichols' "Silkwood". While roles in 1985's "Mask" and 1987's "The Witches Of Eastwick" helped to establish her as a serious actress, it wasn't until "Moonstruck" that Cher received the Oscar for best actress.
As her acting career soared, her singing career fell by the wayside and her personal life became a wild ride of equal parts tabloid exploitation and personal revelation. Romantically linked with David Geffen and Gene Simmons, her second marriage was to Greg Allman in June, 1975. To say that the union was shakey would be an understatement. The pair separated after just nine days; reconciled and later divorced in 1977. The birth of her son, Elija Blue, in 1976 and a handful of highly-publicized relationships with younger men forced Cher into the spotlight more often than her music, making it harder and harder for her to remember what it was Cher hoped to be getting from her insane career.
In 1996, Cher was back on the charts with "One By One", a thumping dance track that was particularly well received by her large gay male following. Throughout her career, Cher could take solace in the presence of a large gay audience. With such a large homosexual following, it should have been easy for Cher to take daughter Chastity's coming out as a lesbian in stride, but such was not the case. In both Chastity's, "Family Outing" and her "My First Time", it is revealed that the singer was initially saddened and worried by her daughter's revelation. It wasn't long, though, before maternal instincts kicked in, returning Cher to the role of her daughter's biggest advocate.
Meanwhile, Sonny Bono was in the restaurant business when his outrage at the bureaucracy of the government in Palm Springs, CA caused him to declare his candidacy for mayor. He won the election, and subsequently was elected to Congress during the 1994 Republican sweep of the House of Representatives. He continued to represent her business interests (the name Sonny and Cher is trademarked), and was beginning to make a mark as a conservative Republican member of the California House delegation when he died in a skiing accident in 1998. Bono's fourth wife, Mary, succeeded him to the same House seat in a special election and the general election in 1998.
In 1998, Cher released "Believe", and album which quickly became her biggest to date. The album's title track has already become the England's biggest-selling single ever, and paved the way for the second cut, "Strong Enough", to sweep national and international charts. A completely dance-driven album, "Believe" covers Amy Grant's "The Power" and the singer's own 80's hit "We All Sleep Alone". Perhaps the most laudable aspect of the album is the way in which it makes use of the industry's latest technological achievements to support the artist's vocals, rather than to obviate them. With such an indelible spirit and commanding presence, is it any wonder that Cher was asked to co-headline vh1's "Divas Live 99", with such musical luminaries as Tina Turner and Whitney Houston?
In 2002, Cher set out on long series of concerts that Cher said would be her farewell tour.
The next year, Warner Bros. released a compilation album, "The Very Best of Cher", which debuted in the top-10 and peaked at number 4 on the album charts. It included "I Got You Babe", "The Beat Goes On", "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", "Song for the Lonely," and "Believe".
Cher is also the author of several beauty and fitness books, and is also active in social and philanthropic causes such as AIDS, gay rights and the Children's Craniofacial Association.
On May 2nd, 2005, Cher, now 58, played to a sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl and insisted that this final concert on her 325-stop tour really was the end.
