Cher (original) (raw)

1946-present

Cher News: Music Icon Releases New Memoir

Cher is sparring no details in her new tell-all memoir. Cher: The Memoir, Part One, which hit book shelves November 19, delves into the first half of the music icon's storied life, chronicling her difficult childhood and the start of her successful music and acting career before ending in the early 1980s. The autobiography also heavily explores her fraught marriage with ex-husband Sonny Bono, who she described as controlling and unfaithful.

In the book, Cher revealed that she felt “trapped” in her “loveless marriage” and turned to Lucille Ball for advice after discovering Sonny had rewritten her business contracts so she wouldn't get paid for her work. “I told her, ‘Lucy, I want to leave Sonny and you’re the only one I know that’s ever been in this same situation. What should I do?’” the singer wrote. “She told me, ‘F--- him, you’re the one with the talent.’”

Who Is Cher?

Cher is a Grammy-winning music icon best known for the hits “Believe” and “If I Could Turn Back Time.” One Tony Award away from EGOT status, the California native rose to stardom as part of a singing act with husband Sonny Bono in the 1960s, hitting No. 1 with the single “I Got You Babe” before starring together on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Cher established a solo career of her own, as well, enjoying chart-toppers like “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” “Half-Breed” and “Dark Lady.” She pursued acting in the 1980s, starring in films like Silkwood and Mask and earning an Academy Award for her performance in Moonstruck. Cher also found more music success with rock-oriented tracks in the 1980s and the global dance hit, “Believe,” in the late 1990s. Following her concert series at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the artist in 2013 released Closer to the Truth, her first studio album in 12 years. In 2018, she made a celebrated return to the big screen in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! Her autobiography, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, hit book shelves in November 2024.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Cherilyn Sarkisian
BORN: May 20, 1946
BIRTHPLACE: El Centro, California
SPOUSES: Sonny Bono (1964-1975) and Gregg Allman (1975-1979)
CHILDREN: Chaz and Elijah
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus

Where Is Cher From?

Cherilyn Sarkisian was born on May 20, 1946, in El Centro, California. Her mother, Georgia, was a model and actress, and her father, John Paul, was a truck driver and horse breeder. Cher's father, who had a gambling problem and was seldom home, dropped her off at a Pennsylvania orphanage when she just an infant, much to her mother's surprise, before skipping town. Georgia, who struggled financially, paid for her care until she was able to retrieve her and subsequently moved to Reno, Nevada to obtain a quickie divorce. They eventually relocated to Los Angeles, where her mother remarried several times and gave birth to her half-sister, Georganne.

Growing up, Cher knew from a young age that the world of arts and entertainment spoke to her and took up acting as part of her extracurricular activities. As a fifth grader, she was in charge of her school's production of the musical Oklahoma! and played all the roles meant for men when the boys in her class refused to participate. It was then that she discovered her distinct contralto range. While Cher enjoyed showing off her talents at school, she struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia, which made her studies difficult. At age 16, she dropped out of high school and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, where she started taking acting classes and performing in clubs.

Sonny and Cher

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Cher met Salvatore “Sonny” Bono, a protégé of iconic producer Phil Spector, at a Los Angeles coffee shop in 1962. Sonny was 11 years older than the budding singer, who was one month shy of 17 at the time. He initially hired Cher as a live-in housekeeper before introducing her to Specter, which led to her singing backup on such famed songs as the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” While Sonny thought she should have a solo career, Cher suffered from stage fright and felt more comfortable performing with him on stage.

The pair first emerged as a musical duo in 1962 under the stage names Caesar and Cleo, performing poorly received cover songs. After this unsuccessful endeavor, the two refined their act and later became known as Sonny and Cher. In addition to their professional partnership, they eventually developed a romantic relationship, marrying in an official wedding ceremony in October 1964. That same year, they found success with their first single “Baby Don't Go” and signed to Atco Records in the United States and Atlantic Records in the United Kingdom and Europe.

READ MORE: How Sonny and Cher Went From TV's Power Couple to Bitter Exes

Under the Atco label, the duo release their debut album Look at Us in August 1965, scoring a monumental chart-topper with the lead single “I Got You Babe.” Sonny and Cher had a countercultural persona with distinctive bohemian stylings and continued to release popular singles, as seen with the socially-aware “The Beat Goes On,” “Little Man,” and “What Now My Love.” In 1966, Sonny and Cher were nominated for Best New Artist at the 8th Grammy Awards, but lost to Tom Jones. That same year, they released their second album The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher.

By the end of the decade, however, the hits stopped coming, and the duo faced major financial difficulties due to IRS debt. They thus developed a cabaret act, having already taken on what would be perceived as more adult sensibilities in terms of their image. Their show, which was full of comedic banter, led to the couple helming a summer replacement telecast for CBS.

This led to the launch of their own variety program, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, in 1971. The show earned several Emmy nominations, including one win for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and won Cher a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actress. The variety series also revitalized Sonny and Cher’s music career, and more top 10 hits came in the form of “A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done”and “All I Ever Need Is You,” which earned a 1972 Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo.

But tensions were high behind the scenes, with Cher later describing Sonny as rigid and controlling when it came to business. The couple went their separate ways following the release of their fifth and final studio album, Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer, Papa Used to Write All Her Songs, in 1973, and divorced two years later.

Songs and Albums

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Cher started to establish herself as a solo artist just as her career as a duo was taking off. In 1964, she signed with Imperial, an imprint of Liberty Records, and hired Sonny as her producer. Early on, Cher became known for songs that were more provocative and spoke to her perceived status as an outsider, which she would come to embrace over time. In August 1965, she released her first solo studio album, All I Really Want to Do, which was mainly a collection of cover songs, save for three tracks Sonny penned. The title track was a rendition of the Bob Dylan song of the same name.

While the original didn't chart, Cher's version of “All I Really Want to Do” reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 — an impressive feat for the newcomer. The singer released in her sophomore album, The Sonny Side of Cher, just seven months later, in March 1966, scoring her first No. 2 single with her cover of Nancy Sinatra's “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” and gained another hit with the original song “Where Do You Go.” Later that year, Cher followed up with her self-titled album, featuring the track “Alfie,” which was recorded to promote the movie of the same name. Her fourth record, With Love, Cher, came out in October 1967, and included the No. 9 hit “You Better Sit Down Kids,” in which she sang from the perspective of a father explaining the realities of a marital split to his children.

Grammy Nod for “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves”

Cher released two more albums before her highly acclaimed record Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves hit shelves in September 1971. The title track, about a “travelin’ show” family and teen pregnancy, earned the songstress her first No. 1 single as a solo artist, as well as her first solo Grammy nomination, which she received for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The album also featured the Top 10 hit, “The Way of Love,” in which Cher sings to a lover who left her for a man. She reached the top of the charts yet again with the title track from her 1974 album Half-Breed, which presented the ongoing persecution of a partially Native-American narrator stuck between two worlds.

Immediately after her divorce from Sonny in 1975, Cher was unable to work as a performer due to contractual entanglements from their business relationships and took on gigs as a model. That sam year, she hosted a self-titled variety show on CBS for a year, which earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series. Immediately following its cancellation in 1976, Cher teamed up with ex-husband Sonny again to co-host the short-lived The Sonny and Cher Show.

By 1979, the singer was again able to reach the pop Top 10 by the end of the decade with the string-laden disco number “Take Me Home,” off her album of the same name. In November 1987, she released another self-titled album, which featured the pop rock Top 10 comeback “I Found Someone,” an emotional testimonial to new love. More power rock followed with the 1989 album Heart of Stone, which offered two more hits, “Just Like Jesse James” and “If I Could Turn Back Time,” which reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. ” The music video for “If I Could Turn Back Time” particularly caused a stir, with the singer appearing in a leather jacket and sheer body stocking, serenading a crowd of ecstatic sailors on a military carrier. The outfit was deemed so controversial that MTV would only air the video at night.

Grammy Win for Believe

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While the ‘80s and early ‘90s saw Cher showing off her rock chops, she scored another top 40 hit with her mainstream pop cover of “The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss),” off the soundtrack for the 1990 comedy-drama Mermaids. The singer once again made her presence known in the clubs as seen with her single “One by One,” from her 1995 album It’s a Man’s World. Three years later, in November 1998, Cher released the dance and electronic music album Believe, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart. The up-tempo title track became a huge global hit, selling millions of copies, and inspired an enduring trend of music producers relying on vocoders.

The record's empowerment anthem “Strong Enough” reigned on the dance charts as well. “Believe” won Cher her first Grammy Award in 2000, taking home the trophy for Best Dance Recording. The chart-topper was also nominated for Record of the Year, while the now multi-platinum album received a nod for Best Pop Album.

Fresh off the success of Believe, Cher released her next studio album, Not Commercial, in November 2000. Since the record was sold exclusively online, she didn't consider it a follow-up to the previous album, but was already working on what she called the “son of Believe” at the time. Two years later, Living Proof, came out in the United States in 2002, having been released in Europe in November 2001. The album featured the single “A Song for the Lonely,” which did well on the dance charts and was written to honor those affected by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Other tracks on the album included “Alive Again” and “A Different Kind of Love Song.”

The Farewell Tour

Following Living Proof's release, Cher said “so long” to performing live with a 325-date farewell tour, which ran from June 2002 to April 2005. One of her live performances aired on NBC in April 2003. The program, Cher: The Farewell Tour, was nominated for six Emmys, winning three for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special; Outstanding Camerawork, Video for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special; and Outstanding Costumes for a Variety or Music Program. In 2006, Cher auctioned off furniture, paintings and decorative objects from her home in Malibu, California, as well as a number of personal items, including memorabilia, jewelry and stage costumes. The auction brought in $3.5 million, with a portion of proceeds going to the Cher Charitable Foundation.

Michael Buckner//Getty Images

Two years later, the singer returned to the stage, despite previously announcing plans to retire from live performances. She debuted a show entitled Cher at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in May 2008, and had performed 192 shows by the end of the series, in February 2011. Cher released her first album in 12 years in September 2013. As she explained to Reuters, Closer to the Truth is “my best effort ever, so I'm happy with that.” She enjoyed more dance chart success with album singles “Woman’s World,” “Take It Like a Man” and “I Walk Alone.”

Cher started touring again in March 2014 to promote Closer, but had to cancel dates due to a kidney infection. The pop diva made another comeback five years later with ABBA-inspired cover album Dancing Queen in September 2018 and immediately embarked on her Here We Go Again Tour, which concluded in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2023, she released her first holiday album, Christmas, which featured original songs for the first time in ten years. A year later, Cher was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 35 years after she first became eligible. The singer, who had previously criticized the organization for not inducting her earlier on in her career. “I have a kind love hate relationship [with the Rock Hall], because I thought, ‘What do I have to f–king do, you know, to be inducted into this place?” she said during her speech. “The one thing I have never done, is I never give up.”

Acting Work

Silkwood and Mask

Having appeared in a handful of screen projects previously, Cher seriously pursued an acting career in the 1980s. She appeared on Broadway in the play Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in 1982, and reprised the role of Sissy in its film adaptation, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Cher continued to earn the respect of critics and fans alike by turning in a number of strong big-screen performances, taking on the role of Meryl Streep’s lesbian roommate Dolly Pelliker in the 1983 drama Silkwood. For her performance, she won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and earned an Academy Award nomination in the same category. Then, in 1985, Cher starred in the Peter Bogdanovich film Mask as the defiant, emotionally struggling mother of a son with craniodiaphyseal dyaplasia, which radically alters the shape of his face. She received a Golden Globe nod for Best Actress in a Drama for the role.

The Witches of Eastwick and Moonstruck

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Cher won an Oscar for her role in Moonstruck in 1988.

Already an accomplished actor, 1987 was a banner year for Cher, which saw her starring in three major films: the thriller Suspect opposite Dennis Quaid, the mischievous supernatural romp The Witches of Eastwick with Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, and the textured romantic comedy Moonstruck, co-starring Olympia Dukakis. In Moonstruck, Cher portrayed Loretta Castorini, an Italian New Yorker who reclaims her sensuality and goes against convention when pursued by the passionate brother (Nicolas Cage) of her fiancé (Danny Aiello). For her widely acclaimed performance in what has become a movie classic, Cher won her first Oscar for Best Leading Actress. She also nabbed another Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Mermaids

By the end of the ‘80s, Cher had begun to struggle with symptoms related to chronic fatigue syndrome. She continued to do screen work off and on, as seen with the 1990 drama-comedy Mermaids, co-starring Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci. In 1996, Cher played a woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy in the HBO film If These Walls Could Talk, which earned her a Golden Globe nod for Best Supporting Actress. Three years later, she portrayed a young widow in the historical comedy-drama Tea With Mussolini, co-starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Lily Tomlin. Cher later starred in 2010’s Burlesque with fellow pop star Christina Aguilera. Despite the vocal chops of the two powerhouse divas, the movie didn’t fare well commercially, with Cher also critiquing the final product, as well as her own performance.

Classic Cher

In February 2017, the music legend returned to the stage, launching her Classic Cher show at the Park Theater at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Her tour de force performance included some of her greatest hits and costumes designed by Bob Mackie. That May, the pop legend received the Billboard Icon Award, after a high-voltage performance of her hits “Believe” and “If I Could Turn Back Time.” In her acceptance speech, she spoke about the longevity of her music career. “So, I've wanted to do what I do since I was 4 years old. And I've been doing it for 53 years. That is not an applause thing, I'm 71 yesterday. And I can do a five-minute plank, okay? Just saying.”

Mama Mia and The Cher Show

Cher returned to the big screen in 2018 for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, the sequel to the 2008 adaptation of the popular Broadway production, which reunited her with her co-star Meryl Streep. The artist released an accompanying tribute album, Dancing Queen, and embarked on her Here We Go Again Tour in September. That year also brought the debut of the jukebox musical The Cher Show, which premiered in Chicago before moving to Broadway. The icon initially offered a mixed review of the production, noting that it “needs work,” but by the following April she was enthusiastic enough to perform with the show's cast on The Tonight Show.

Cher's Style

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Over the years, Cher has not only pushed sensibilities with her music but also with her extravagant, unusual costumes and barely-there accouterments. She has routinely worked over the decades with designer Bob Mackie, who has created a series of outfits for the star that are theatrical and unabashedly fun. Cher has also sometimes aimed to make a point with her attire, purposely wearing to the 1986 Academy Awards ceremony a famed black chain-link halter and matching feather headdress, meant as a form of protest over not receiving a nomination for her work in Mask.

Fast forward to the 1989 Oscars, where the pop star once again went with Mackie in a more understated approach, sporting a streamlined mini-dress with frills. Since then, her fashion has only continued to stun fans. During her Farewell Tour in 2002, Cher wore a tattooed bodysuit paired with a cape and large headdress, and for her Las Vegas residency at the Monte Carlo Resort, beginning in 2017, she modeled the Virgin Mary in a sparkly gold, caped gown complete with a golden halo.

Relationships: Boyfriend and Ex-Husbands

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Cher with her boyfriend Alexander “AE” Edwards.

As a teenager, Cher dated actor and director Warren Beatty, who was 10 years her senior, and was later romantically linked to David Geffen, as well as actors Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer and musician Richie Sambora. The singer has been married twice, wedding Sonny Bono in an official ceremony in October 1964. The pair didn't make it legal until after their son, Chaz, was born in March 1969. Despite their professional success as an entertainment duo, however, Sonny and Cher's relationship was far from perfect. In her new memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, she revealed that she felt “trapped” in her “loveless marriage” to Bono, who she described as controlling, and even contemplated suicide at one point in a Las Vegas hotel room in 1972. The pair divorced in June 1975.

Just days later, Cher married musician Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. After only nine days, she filed for divorce over Allman's substance abuse issues but soon reconciled. Their relationship became strained once again, however, when she told her new husband she was pregnant. According to her memoir, Allman didn't believe her at the time and was jealous that she had reunited with Sonny professionally for their variety show.

Despite this, their marriage continued, and their son, Elijah Blue, was born in July 1976. The following year, the couple released the collaborative album Two the Hard Way, accompanied by a 21 show tour, which ended abruptly when Cher and Allman split up over his drug use. Their divorce was finalized in January 1979. Allman died decades later in May 2017. Now 78, the singer and actress is currently in a relationship 38-year-old music executive Alexander “AE” Edwards, who she started dating in November 2022.

Children

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Cher with her oldest son, Chaz Bono.

Cher is a mother to two children. She shares her oldest son, Chaz, with her late ex-husband Sonny Bono, and her youngest, Elijah, with her second ex-husband, Gregg Allman, who is also deceased. In 2009, Chaz came out as a transgender man and subsequently made a documentary about his transition, Becoming Chaz, which was released two years later. Cher, who has long been considered a gay icon, was very accepting of her son's gender identity. The pop star opened up about his transition in an interview on CNN in December 2020, admitting that while it “wasn't easy” at the time, “Chaz is so happy, so unbelievably happy, and I don't know what the people's problems are.” Cher and her son teamed up to executive produce the 2024 horror film, Little Bites, which Chaz also starred in.

Elijah, who is a musician, revealed in February 2014 that he struggles with substance abuse issues and has been using drugs since he was a young boarding school student. In October 2023, Cher spoke candidly about her son's addiction for the first time. This came shortly after court documents from 2022 resurfaced, in which her son's estranged wife, Marieangela King, accused the singer of kidnapping Elijah, who was in a rehab facility at the time. Cher denied the allegations, but confirmed that her son was struggling with drug abuse.

“I’m a mother. This is my job — one way or another, to try to help my children,”she said in a statement. “You do anything for your children.” Two months later, the singer filed for a conservatorship for Elijah. Court documents claimed that the he was “substantially unable to manage his finances” due to mental health and substance abuse issues. In January 2024, Cher was temporarily denied a conservatorship due to insufficient evidence, but the case remained active. Eight months later, she voluntarily dropped the bid to be Elijah's conservator.

Net Worth

As of June 2024, Cher has an estimated net worth of $360 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. In addition to her music and acting work, she launched two fragrances, Cher Eau de Couture and Uninhibited, and starred in a variety of infomercials and fashion campaigns.

Quotes

• Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.
• I think that the longer I look good, the better gay men feel.
• Don't take your toys inside just because it's raining.
• I’m just the worst little Buddhist in town. I wish that I did the things that I really believe in, because when I do, my life goes much smoother. I can get pretty wrapped up in the dramatic hysteria.
• [My sons] are both very talented, both very artistic, and they are good children. They’re grown-ups. They’re so different. Chaz had a dad for a long time. Sonny was a great parent for a young child—even like 12, 13. But the moment you had ideas that were contrary, he was not quite as interested. Elijah didn’t really have Gregory. Gregory moved off someplace else. He was the nicest person, even when he was doing drugs. But when you’re doing drugs, the people you’re hanging with aren’t exactly.... You’re not going to church to find these people.
• [Sonny] hurt me in so many ways, but there was something. He was so much more than a husband—a terrible husband, but a great mentor, a great teacher. There was a bond between us that could not be broken. If he had agreed to just disband Cher Enterprises and start all over again, I would have never ever left. Just split it down the middle, 50–50.
• I’ve been screaming at the top of my lungs at my family, ‘Work out! Work out! Old age is coming!’ At some point you will need the strength. Who would have ever thought you would get this old?
• Camp is in the eye of the beholder.
• When I left Sonny, I wanted to break Sonny & Cher. I wasn't them, and I wanted to be me.
• I can't spell, my grammar is terrible, but I'm on [Twitter] all the time because I enjoy it. But sometimes even I go, you know what, shut the f*** up and go do something.
• I was pushing an envelope that I wanted to push. I felt that looking the way I wanted to look and doing what I wanted to do made me more empowered.

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