Cher

Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers, and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono. They achieved fame with two hit songs in 1965, Baby Don't Go and I Got You Babe. Performing under her first name, Cher (1946) went on to a highly successful career as a solo singer and actress, while Sonny Bono was eventually elected to Congress as a U.S. Representative from California.


Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht. no. AX 6383.


Vintage photo. Cher in Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987).

I Got You Babe

Cherilyn Sarkisian was born in 1946 in El Centro, California, the daughter of Georgia Holt (the former Jackie Jean Crouch) and truck driver John Sarkisian. She has a sister, Georganne LaPiere. The father deserted the family when Cher was young, and her mother later married banker Gilbert LaPiere.

Her mother, who aspired to be an actress and model, paid for Cher's acting classes. Cher had undiagnosed dyslexia, which acutely affected her studies; frustrated, she quit Fresno High School at 16 to pursue her dream. At that time, she had a brief relationship with actor Warren Beatty.

In 1962 Cher's life changed forever when she met the older-by-11-years Sonny Bono. He was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood and managed to persuade Spector to hire Cher as a session singer. She recorded backup vocals on Spector classics like 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'' and 'Be My Baby.'

The couple's relationship evolved and they married in 1964. At first, Cher sang solo with Sonny behind the scenes writing, arranging, and producing her songs. When the records went nowhere, Sonny decided they needed to perform as a team, They signed with Atco/Atlantic Records and put out two songs in 1964 under the recording names of Caesar and Cleo ('The Letter' and 'Baby Don't Go'). Again, no success.

The changing of their names, however, made a difference and in 1965, they officially took on the music world as Sonny & Cher and earned instant rewards. The now 19-year-old Cher and 30-year-old Sonny became huge hits following the release of their first album, 'Look at Us' (1965), which contained the hit single 'I Got You Babe'. With the song catapulting to #1, they decided to re-release their earlier single 'Baby Don't Go', and it also raced up the charts to #8. An assembly line of mild hits dotted the airwaves over the next year or two, culminating in the huge smash hit 'The Beat Goes On' (#6, 1967). Between 1965 and 1972 Sonny & Cher charted a total of six Top 10 hits.


Italian postcard by Silvercart, Milano, no. 530/1. Photo: Dischi Ariston.


Italian postcard by Litografice Diesse / Cristo S. Pietro in Carte, Montecelli.

Bang, Bang

Sonny and Cher released three studio albums in the late 1960s. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "The kooky couple became icons of the late '60s 'flower power' scene, wearing garish garb and outlandish hairdos and makeup. However, they found a way to make it trendy and were embraced around the world. TV musical variety and teen pop showcases relished their contrasting styles - the short, excitable, mustachioed, nasal-toned simpleton and the taller, exotic, unflappable fashion maven. They found a successful formula with their repartee, which became a central factor in their live concert shows, even more than their singing."

With all this going on, Sonny still endeavored to promote Cher as a solo success. Other than such hits with 'All I Really Want to Do' (#16) and 'Bang, Bang' (#2), she struggled to find a separate identity. Sonny arranged film projects for her but Good Times (William Friedkin, 1967), an offbeat fantasy starring the couple, and Cher's serious solo effort Chastity (Alessio de Paola, 1969) both flickered out and died a quick death.

Gary Brumburgh: "By the end of the 1960s, Sonny & Cher's career had stumbled as they witnessed the American pop culture experience a drastic evolutionary change. The couple maintained their stage act and all the while Sonny continued to polish it up in a shrewd gamble for TV acceptance. While Sonny on stage played the ineffectual object of Cher's stinging barbs on stage, he was actually the highly motivated mastermind off stage and, amazingly enough, his foresight and chutzpah really paid off. Although the couple had lost favor with the new 70s generation, Sonny encouraged TV talent scouts to catch their live act."

In 1972, after four years of silence, the couple returned to the studio and released two other albums under the MCA/Kapp Records label. They also positioned themselves as media personalities. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971) was given the green light as a summer replacement series and it was an instant sensation when the show earned its own time spot that fall season. The show received numerous Emmy Award nominations during its run and the couple became stars all over again. Their lively, off-the-wall comedy sketch routines, her outré Bob Mackie fashions, and their harmless, edgy banter were the highlights of the hour-long program. Their daughter Chaz Bono occasionally appeared on the show.

Cher's TV success also generated renewed interest in her as a solo recording artist and she came up with three #1 hits during this time ('Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves', 'Half-Breed', and 'Dark Lady'). A now-confident Cher yearned to be free of her husband Sonny's Svengali-like control over her life and career. The marriage split at the seams in 1974 and they publicly announced their separation. The couple's career as a duo ended in 1975 following their divorce.

In late June of 1975, only three days after the couple's divorce, Cher married rock musician Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. That marriage imploded rather quickly amid reports of out-of-control drug use on his part. They were divorced by 1977 with only one bright outcome - son Elijah Allman. In 1976 Sonny and Cher attempted to 'make up' again, this time to the tune of a second The Sonny and Cher Show (1976). Audiences, however, did not accept the "friendly" divorced couple after so much tabloid nastiness. After the initial curiosity factor wore off, the show was canceled amid poor ratings. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher sold 80 million records worldwide. The duo was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998, right after Sonny's death.


Italian promotion card by Ri-Fi Record Co., Milano. Photo: Atlantic / Ri-Fi Record.


German postcard by ISV, no. H 129.

If I Could Turn Back Time

Cher found mild success with the disco hit 'Take Me Home' in 1979, but not much else. Not one to be counted out, however, the ever-resourceful singer decided to lay back and focus on acting instead. At age 36, Cher made her Broadway debut in 1982 in what was essentially her first live acting role with 'Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean'.

Centering around a reunion of girlfriends from an old James Dean fan club, her performance was critically lauded. This earned her the right to transfer her stage triumph to film alongside Karen Black and Sandy Dennis. Cher earned critical raves for Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Robert Altman, 1982), her first film role since 1969.

With film #2 came a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win for her portrayal of a lesbian toiling in a nuclear parts factory in Silkwood (Mike Nichols, 1983), starring Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell.

This in turn was followed by her star turn in Mask (Peter Bogdanovich, 1985) as the blunt, footloose mother of a son afflicted with a rare disease, played beautifully by Eric Stoltz. Once again Cher received high praise and copped a win from the Cannes Film Festival for her poignant performance. Fully accepted by this time as an actress of high caliber, she integrated well into the Hollywood community.

Proving that she could hold up a film outright, she was handed three hit vehicles to star in: The Witches of Eastwick (George Miller, 1987), Suspect (Pewter Yates, 1987), and Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Along with all this newfound Hollywood celebrity came the interest in her as a singer and recording artist again. 'If I Could Turn Back Time' (#3) and the Peter Cetera duet 'After All' (#6) placed her back on the Billboard charts.


American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. CL/Personality #5 Photo: Douglas Kirkland / Contact, 1977.


East-German postcard by Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 500/12/89. Photo: Filmspiegel. Cher in Mask (Peter Bogdanovich, 1985).

Believe

During the 1990s Cher continued to veer back and forth among films, TV specials, and expensively mounted concerts. In January of 1998, tragedy struck when Cher's ex-husband Sonny Bono, who had forsaken an entertainment career for California politics and became a popular Republican congressman in the process, was killed in a freak skiing accident.

In the meantime, an astounding career adrenaline rush came in the form of the monstrous, disco-flavored hit single 'Believe'. The song became a #1 hit and the same-titled album the biggest hit of her career. 'Believe' reached #1 in 23 different countries.

Having little to prove anymore to anyone, Cher decided to embark on a 'Farewell Tour' in the early part of the millennium and, after much stretching, her show finally closed in 2005 in Los Angeles. It didn't take long, however, for Cher to return from this self-imposed exile. In 2008, she finalized a deal with Las Vegas' Caesars Palace for the next three years to play the Colosseum and has since returned live on numerous 'farewell' tour extravaganzas. Never say never.

Cher returned to films with her co-starring role opposite Christina Aguilera in Burlesque (Steve Antin, 2010), but has since only provided a glitzy cameo in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Ol Parker, 2018).

In other facets of her life, Cher has been involved with many humanitarian groups and charity efforts over the years. Gary Brumburgh, once again: "The beat goes on ... and on ... and as strong as ever for this superstar entertainer who has well surpassed the four-decade mark while improbably transforming herself from an artificial, glossy "fashion plate" singer into a serious, Oscar-worthy, dramatic actress ... and back again! With more ups and downs than the 2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average, Cher managed to rise like a phoenix from the ashes each time she was down, somehow re-inventing herself with every decade and finding herself on top all over again."


American postcard by Fotofolio. Photo: David LaChapelle. Caption: Cher and pretty pony, 1996.

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.