Cher (entertainer)

Cher on the cover of her album Living Proof

Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPière on May 20, 1946) is an American actress and singer.

Cher first achieved success as one of the pop music duo Sonny and Cher with her first husband, Sonny Bono (whom she met while working as a backup singer for producer Phil Spector). Together, Sonny and Cher had number one singles with I Got You Babe in 1965 and The Beat Goes On in 1967 both in the U.K. and The U.S.A. Also those two years, Cher had her first charting songs as a songs as a solo artist: All I Really Want to Do and Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). After Sonny and Cher's career stalled (their easy-listening pop and anti-drug policy soon became unpopular in an era of edgier tunes and edgier consumtion), CBS head of programming Fred Silverman (after seeing them perform in Las Vegas) gave the duo their own show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, in 1971. It was a surprise hit and ran for four seasons before the duo decided to end its run; Cher announced her intent to separate from Sonny. She later hosted and performed in her own variety TV series, which ran for two seasons and concluded in 1977.

During the early Seventies, Cher began to establish herself as a solo recording artist with producer Snuff Garrett, and she scored three U.S. #1 hits with the songs Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves (1971), Half-Breed (1973), and Dark Lady (1974). Cher and Bono divorced in 1974, and she later married rock musician Gregg Allman, a member of the Allman Brothers Band. She has two children, Chastity Bono and Elijah Blue Allman. In 1978, Cher was romantically linked with Gene Simmons of KISS. Cher and Allman divorced in 1979 and she later had a relationship with guitarist Les Dudek.

Cher had demonstrated her considerable comedic talents in the various skits she performed on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and while she was highly regarded in this arena, her ambition to develop a movie career was at first not taken seriously. For several years she worked at trying to secure a role to prove herself, until she was cast in a stage production of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. The reviews she received were glowing and she was cast in the film version, directed by Robert Altman. Once again the critics praised her work and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

This finally allowed her to make the transition into a successful acting career, starring in films including Silkwood (nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Mask (for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1985), Suspect, Moonstruck (for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1988), Mermaids and Tea With Mussolini. In 1989 she scored another million-selling #1 hit with the song If I Could Turn Back Time.

Following the devastating earthquake that hit Armenia in December of 1988, Cher travelled to the country to participate in the relief activities. Cher is of Armenian descent.

Her ability to reinvent herself has allowed her to continue performing and creating successful recordings for more than 35 years. One exception was her alternative-rock album entitled Not.Commercial (pronounced "not-dot-com-mercial"). The album was written after a retreat to a poetry class in France; it was rejected by record labels and Cher chose to sell it on her Web site, with limited success.

In 1998 she had one of the biggest successes of her recording career with the number one hit Believe and the million selling album of the same name which won her a Grammy Award. With the success of Believe, Cher became the oldest woman in the rock era to have a Number One hit. In the United Kingdom, "Believe" stayed at No. 1 in the charts for seven weeks and is the all-time biggest-selling single by a solo female artist.

In 2004 she was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Dance Recording" for her song "Love One Another" but she lost to Kylie Minogue. In the same year, she was told that for health reasons she would no longer be able to perform live. She therefore embarked on her last-ever world-wide tour (the Farewell Tour), her most spectacular and best-received tour ever. It began in June 2002 and was still going strong after more than two years, having appeared throughout the continental U.S. and major centers in Canada, as well as a sweep of about two dozen cities across Europe (May and June 2004). In February and March 2005, the tour went to Australia and New Zealand and then returned to North America. By this time, Cher was starting to refer to it as the "Never Can Say Goodbye" tour. But late in April, with appearances at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, on the last two days of the month, it finally made its swan song. In all, it amassed a spectacular total of 325 shows over a period just 45 days short of three years. Within days, there were reports in the media that Cher was "in the studio" working on her next album/CD.

Among her many achievements, Cher is the only recording artist in history to score #1 hits in four successive decades and she also holds the Billboard record for the longest time span --34 years-- between her first #1 hit in 1965 and her most recent #1 in 1999. Her longevity is the inspiration for the famous quote "After a nuclear holocaust, all that will be left are cockroaches and Cher".

Cher is managed by expatriate Australian impresario Roger Davies. The former manager of successful '70s Australian pop band Sherbet, Davies' company also manages Tina Turner, Sade, Pink, Joe Cocker and Tony Joe White.

Albums

1965 – All I Really Want To Do
1965 – Look At Us with Sonny Bono
1966 – The Sonny Side of Cher
1966 – Cher
1966 – The Wonderous World of Sonny and Cher with Sonny Bono
1967 – In Case You're in Love with Sonny Bono
1967 – Backstage
1967 – Good Times with Sonny Bono
1968 – With Love, Cher
1969 – 3614 Jackson Highway
1971 – Sonny & Cher Live with Sonny Bono
1971 – Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves
1972 – All I Ever Need Is You with Sonny Bono
1972 – Foxy Lady
1973 – Mama Was A Rock & Roll Singer... with Sonny Bono
1973 – Bittersweet White Light
1973 – Half Breed
1974 – Live In Las Vegas Vol. 2 with Sonny Bono
1974 – Dark Lady
1975 – Stars
1976 – I'd Rather Believe in You
1977 – Cherished
1977 – Two The Hard Way with Gregg Allman
1979 – Take Me Home
1979 – Prisoner
1980 – Black Rose with Black Rose
1982 – I Paralyze
1987 – Cher
1989 – Heart of Stone
1991 – Love Hurts
1995 – It's a Man's World
1998 – Believe
2000 – Not Commercial
2001 – Living Proof
2003 – Live: The Farewell Tour

Filmography

Wild on the Beach (cameo) (1965)
Good Times (1967)
Chastity (1969)
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Silkwood (1983)
Mask (1985)
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Suspect (1987)
Moonstruck (1987)
Mermaids (1990)
The Player (cameo) (1992)
Ready to Wear(cameo) (1994)
If These Walls Could Talk (1996)
Faithful (1996)
Tea with Mussolini (1999)
Mayor of the Sunset Strip (documentary) (2003)
Stuck On You (2003)

External links