Cher, Singer, - Biography
A pic of her Birth name Cheryl Sarkisian LaPiere Height 5 foot 8 and a half, Born May 20, 1946, El Centro, California, USA
Cher is an American actress, singer, songwriter, & entertainer. Among her many accomplishments in music, television, & film, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award & three Golden Globe Awards. Cher first rose to prominence in 1965 as one half of the pop/rock duo Sonny & Cher. She also established herself as a solo recording artist, releasing 26 albums, numerous compilations & tallying 22 Billboard Top 40 entries over her career. These include twelve Top 10 singles & four number one singles. She became a successful television star in the 1970s, & a well-regarded film actress in the 1980s. In 1988, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the romantic comedy Moonstruck. In a career that has now surpassed 40 years, Cher has established herself as a legendary pop culture icon & one of the most popular female artists in music history. Since her debut in 1964 Cher has sold over 180 million albums worldwide solo & 80 million as part of duo, Sonny & Cher.
Cher was born at 7:25 a.m. Her mother, Georgia Holt (née Jackie Jean Crouch), an aspiring actress & occasional model, is of Cherokee, Irish, German, & English descent. Her father was John Sarkisian, an Armenian refugee. Cher's mother & father separated when she was young & she was raised primarily by her mother. The early days for Cher & her mother were often difficult financially & led to Georgia placing Cher in foster care for a brief period of time as a child. However, Cher was enamored of seeing her mother on stage & dreamed of one day becoming famous. Later, Georgia was able to provide her daughter with acting lessons to help guide her career. In those years Cher had a relationship with the actor Warren Beatty. Due to severe, undiagnosed dyslexia, she left Fresno High School at the age of 16.
1962-1964: Cher first met Sonny Bono in Los Angeles' Aldo's coffee shop in November 1962 when she was sixteen. The much older Sonny (he was already 27) was working for legendary record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Sonny & Cher became fast friends, eventual lovers, & later married. Through Sonny, Cher (as she was called early on, for short) started as a session singer, & would sing backup on several of Spector’s classic recordings, including The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" & The Ronettes’ "Be My Baby". Her first solo recording was the unsuccessful novelty single "Ringo, I Love You," released under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason & produced by Phil Spector. Her second attempt was "Dream Baby", released under the name "Cherilyn", was written & produced by Sonny Bono. Both were released in 1964. With Sonny continuing to write, arrange & produce the songs, Sonny & Cher’s first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar & Cleo." They received little attention, despite releasing the single "The Letter" in late 1964 which featured the B-side "Baby Don't Go".
1965-1967: Now calling themselves Sonny & Cher, the duo released their first album Look at Us in the summer of 1965. This album contained the overnight smash single "I Got You Babe" (1965) which would reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Cher was 19 years old. A re-released "Baby Don't Go", peaked at number eight.
Several more hits would follow, most notably "Just You" (no. 20, 1965) "But You're Mine" (no. 15, 1965), "What Now My Love" (no. 14, 1966) "Little Man" (no. 21, 1966) & "The Beat Goes On" (no. 6, 1967). Sonny & Cher charted a total of 11 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1965 & 1972 & 6 Top 10 hits.
The duo became a sensation, traveling & performing around the world. Following an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the fall of 1965 in which Mr. Sullivan had infamously pronounced her name 'Chur' during their introduction, the singer began spelling her name with a (misleading) acute accent: Chér. The couple soon appeared on other hit television shows of the era including American Bandstand, Top of the Pops, Hollywood a Go-Go, Podunk, Hollywood Palace, Hullabaloo, Beat Club, Ready Steady Go! & Shindig!. While initially perceived as the slightly awkward & less important half of the popular singing duo, Cher disguised her stage fright & nervousness with quick-witted barbs directed at her partner. She soon rose to prominence as the more outspoken, daring & provocative half of the team. With her dark, exotic looks, she became a fashion trendsetter, helping to popularize fashions such as bellbottoms, & incorporating "hippie" attire & eccentric gowns & elaborate costumes into their live shows.
Later in 1965, Cher released her debut solo album, titled All I Really Want to Do which reached number 16 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The gold-certified album contained a cover of the Bob Dylan song "All I Really Want to Do" which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1966 Cher released her second solo album on the Atco Records label, The Sonny Side of Cher. It peaked at number 26 in the U.S. charts, & number 11 in the UK chart. It contained the singles "Where Do You Go (#25 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", both were written & produced by Sonny Bono. In the United States, the latter was Cher's biggest solo hit of the 1960s. Other artists to record versions of the song include Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Cliff Richard, Petula Clark, & Terry Reid. Also in 1966 she released another album, Cher; The album itself was not as successful as its two predecessors. However it did manage to provide the European top ten hit "Sunny".
In an attempt to capitalize on the duo’s initial success, Sonny speedily arranged a film project for the duo to star in. But the 1967 feature, Good Times, was a flop. Cher continued to establish herself as a solo artist & released the album Backstage. The album was a flop.
1968-1969: Career woes
Sonny &
Cher's career had stalled by 1968, as album sales dried up. Their gentle, easy-listening
pop sound & drug-free life had become "unhip" in an era becoming
increasingly consumed with psychedelic rock, & the overall evolutionary change
in the American pop culture landscape during the late 1960s. Sonny & Cher's
only child together, Chastity Bono, was born on March 4, 1969. The duo made another
unsuccessful foray into film later in 1969 with Bono writing & producing the
film Chastity, intended as a dramatic debut for Cher as an actress. That film
(directed by first & only-time director Alessio De Paulo) was also a commercial
failure.
1970-1974: Musical & television stardom
The March 17,
1975 cover of Time magazine, shot by Richard Avedon. The dress is by Bob Mackie,
Cher's longtime fashion designer.In 1970, Sonny & Cher starred in their first
television special, The Sonny & Cher Nitty Gritty Hour. A mixture of slapstick
comedy, skits & live music, the appearance was a critical success, which led
to numerous guest spots on other television shows.
Sonny & Cher caught the eye of CBS head of programming Fred Silverman while guest-hosting The Merv Griffin Show, & Silverman offered the duo their own variety show. The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour debuted in 1971 as a summer replacement series. The show returned to prime time later that year & was an immediate hit, quickly reaching the Top 10 in its time slot. The show received 15 Emmy Award nominations during its run, winning one for direction.
Among the many guests who appeared on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour were Chuck Berry, Carol Burnett, George Burns, Glen Campbell, Dick Clark, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Phyllis Diller, Merv Griffin, The Jackson Five, Jerry Lee Lewis, Liberace, Steve Martin, Ronald Reagan, Burt Reynolds, Neil Sedaka, Dinah Shore, The Supremes, Sally Struthers, The Righteous Brothers & Racquel Welch.
The duo also revived their recording career, releasing four more albums that included two more Top 10 hits: "All I Ever Need Is You" (no. 7, 1971) & "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" (no. 8, 1972).
Now 25, Cher continued to establish herself as a solo recording artist, enlisting the help of hit producer Snuff Garrett. Her first solo number one hit was the song "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (no. 1, 1971). Released in September 1971, the album of the same name peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200, & remained on the chart for 45 weeks. Another single from the album, "The Way of Love (no. 7, 1972)" peaked at number seven in February 1972.
Cher scored her second number one with "Half-Breed" (no. 1, 1973) which became a signature song from the gold-certified album Half-Breed. In 1974, Cher had her third number one solo hit with the song "Dark Lady" (no. 1, 1974), also from the album of the same name. Cher's first Greatest Hits album was released in 1974.
By the third season of the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, the marriage of Sonny & Cher began to fall apart; the duo separated later that year. The show also imploded, even while still in the top 10 of the ratings. What followed was a nasty & very public divorce (finalized on June 27, 1975). Cher won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in 1974.
Bono launched his own show, The Sonny Comedy Revue, in the fall of 1974 while Cher also announced plans to host & star in a new variety TV series of her own. Bono’s show was abruptly cancelled, however, after only six weeks.
1975-1979: Solo
career & misses
The Cher show debuted as an elaborate, all-star television
special on February 16, 1975 featuring Flip Wilson, Bette Midler & special
guest Elton John. Cloris Leachman & Jack Albertson both won Emmy Awards for
their appearances as guest stars a few weeks later, & the series received
4 additional Emmy nominations that year. Other guests included Pat Boone, David
Bowie, Ray Charles, Dion, Patti Labelle, Cheryl Ladd, Wayne Newton, Linda Ronstadt,
Lily Tomlin & Frankie Valli. The variety series' debut season ranked 22nd
in the year-end Nielsen ratings.
A good deal of press was generated throughout 1975 regarding Cher's exposed navel, & the daring ensembles created by famed designer Bob Mackie. Her show featured numerous outlandish costume changes, even more than typical variety shows. The Cher show ran for two half-seasons, before a pregnant Cher pulled the plug herself, deciding instead to reunite with her ex-husband for a revamped version of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
On June 30, 1975, three days after her divorce from Sonny was final, Cher married rock musician Gregg Allman, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. They had one son, Elijah Blue Allman born July 10, 1976. Together, they released the album, Two the Hard Way, under the rubric Allman & Woman, which featured a cover of the Smokey Robinson hit "You've Really Got a Hold on Me". This project was not considered a critical or commercial success. They were divorced by 1977.
From 1975 to 1978 Cher released a series of unsuccessful albums: Stars, I'd Rather Believe in You & Cherished.
On February 2, 1976 The Sonny & Cher Show debuted with a Top 10 rating & high expectations. Some of the guests who appeared on The Sonny & Cher Show included Frankie Avalon, Muhammed Ali, Raymond Burr, Ruth Buzzi, Charo, Barbara Eden, Farrah Fawcett, Terri Garr, Bob Hope, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Tony Orlando, The Osmonds, Debbie Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers, Tina Turner, Twiggy, & Betty White. However, ratings soon fell, & the show was cancelled after its second season.
Their overall television success, though brief, was unique in that variety programming in general was no longer attracting viewers, other than The Carol Burnett Show. Cher continued to release numerous solo albums during this period, though none matched the critical or commercial success of her earlier 70s recordings. She made a brief return to prime time starring in the television specials Cher…Special in 1978 (for which guest star Dolly Parton was nominated for an Emmy Award) & Cher…and Other Fantasies in 1979. One highlight for her fans was a song & dance number based on the classic musical West Side Story in which Cher portrayed each of the main characters.
In 1979 she legally changed her name to "Cher", with no surname or middle name. Sonny & Cher performed together for the last time on The Mike Douglas Show in the spring of 1979 (until their much-discussed 1987 Letterman appearance), singing a medley of "United We Stand" & "Without You".
Cher in the 1979 music video for " Hell on Wheels".Later in 1979, Cher would capitalize on the disco craze, signing with Casablanca Records, & racking up yet another Top 10 single with "Take Me Home" (no.8, 1979). Sales of the album Take Me Home may have been boosted by the image of a scantily-clad Cher in a Viking outfit on the album’s cover. The album was certified gold. For her second Casablanca release, Prisoner (1979), Cher appeared on the album's cover virtually naked & wrapped in chains, spurring controversy among some women's rights groups for her perceived "sex slave" image. This album produced no hit singles.
1980-1987: Film stardom &
musical breakout
In 1980, Cher, at age 34, formed the rock band Black Rose
with her then-partner, guitarist Les Dudek, & released the album Black Rose
by year's end. The album failed to sell, despite an appearance on The Tonight
Show Starring Johnny Carson, & the band broke up the following year. In 1980
Cher also penned a song for the film "Foxes", called "Bad Love".
The song can be found on the international version of The Very Best of Cher.
In 1981 she released her first Top 5 hit in UK in ten years: "Dead Ringer for Love" a duet with Meat Loaf for his album Dead Ringer. In 1982, Cher released I Paralyze, promoting it on American Bandstand & The Tonight Show, but critics panned the album & sales were disappointing.
With album sales & hit singles again at a standstill, Cher decided to expand her career into serious film acting. Her earliest entertainment ambitions had always lain in film, as opposed to music. However, she soon found herself in an uphill battle trying to land credible roles for a woman now in her mid-30s with little acting experience. At the time, she was quoted as saying that she didn’t really care if she ever made another record.
In 1982, at 36, Cher landed her first major role in an off-Broadway production of Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Her performance was critically praised & she was later cast in the film version, directed by acclaimed Hollywood director Robert Altman. She was next cast alongside Meryl Streep & Kurt Russell in the critically hailed drama Silkwood (1983) in which her character was a lesbian. She received her first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She later won the Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for her performance.
Cher's next film was a starring role in the critically acclaimed Mask (1985), directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film also starred Eric Stoltz, Laura Dern & Sam Elliott, & was considered her first critical & commercial success as a leading actress. For her role as a mother of a severely disfigured boy, Cher won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1985, Cher was honored with Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award.
In 1987, she starred in three films: the thriller Suspect, with Dennis Quaid; the fantasy film The Witches of Eastwick, with Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon & Michelle Pfeiffer; & the romantic comedy Moonstruck with Nicolas Cage & Olympia Dukakis. For Moonstruck, directed by Norman Jewison, she won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy & the Favorite Film Actress award at the People’s Choice Awards. Dukakis also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Cher's mother in the film. 1987 was also noteworthy for the resurgence in Cher's recording career. After signing on with David Geffen's label (Geffen Records) Cher released a self-titled album late that year which spawned her first major hit since 1979's gold single "Take Me Home". The song was "I Found Someone" which returned her to the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100. The Cher album was the very first 'platinum' certification (though not the last) of Cher's entire career.
On May 22, 1986, Cher made her infamous first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. In her pre-interview with the show's producers, Cher had referred to host David Letterman with a derogatory term when asked why she had previously declined to appear on his program. He later confronted her about this on air during their interview, asking why she had refused so many earlier invitations. As she thought of an appropriate answer, he pushed her further saying, "Because you thought..." to which she suddenly blurted "You were an asshole!" to a shocked Letterman. She received a mixture of boos & laughter from the audience for the remark; however, Letterman quickly played off the incident as just fun. They patched up their differences for a 1987 show that had Cher & Sonny Bono reuniting to sing "I Got You, Babe" for what would be the last time. She has since made multiple appearances on Letterman's CBS show.
This was not the only time a chat show clash like this occurred. In 2001, Cher was interviewed by British talk show host & television presenter Clive Anderson (most famous for having the Bee Gees get up & walk out on a live interview after Anderson insulted them while they were on his show). Anderson sparked fury almost right away by saying, "Wow, Cher, you look like a million dollars... is that how much it cost?"
1987-1989: Return to musical success
In
1987, at the age 41, Cher revived her recording career after a five-year hiatus,
under the coordination of rock producer & A&R man John Kalodner. Now with
Geffen Records, Cher released the first of three highly successful rock albums,
produced by Kalodner & featuring songwriting contributions from the likes
of Diane Warren, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child, & Michael Bolton.
Darlene Love & Bonnie Tyler provided guest vocals. Cher was released in 1987,
& featured the comeback single "I Found Someone" (previously a basic
flop for Laura Branigan), as well as "We All Sleep Alone" (no. 14, 1988).
The album was Cher's biggest yet, being certified triple-platinum in U.S. &
selling 10 million copies worldwide.
Cher experienced her most successful comeback yet in 1989. At age 43, she released the album Heart of Stone. As on her previous album, Michael Bolton, Jon Bon Jovi, Diane Warren & Desmond Child returned for songwriting & /or producing duties. The album was originally released with cover artwork featuring Cher sitting in front of a heart made of stone, creating the illusion of a skull. Heart of Stone became her most successful album to date, selling eleven million copies worldwide, & being certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA.
This site was written in May 2007, Pictures of Cher A Picture of Cher Cher picture
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