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Cher (singer))
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 (who she met working as a backup singer for producer Phil Spector). Together, they 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 bubble-gum pop soon became not popular in an era of edgier tunes), 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. However, while this tour may be her last, it shows no signs of terminating in the near future; it has included over 200 shows and continues to add new venues.
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
With Sonny Bono:
- 1965 Look At Us
- 1966 The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher
- 1967 In Case You're In Love
- 1971 Sonny & Cher Live
- 1972 All I Ever Need Is You
- 1973 Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer and Papa Used to Write All Her Songs
Solo:
- 1965 All I Really Want to Do
- 1966 The Sonny Side of Cher
- 1967 Cher
- 1967 Cher Backstage
- 1968 With Love, Cher
- 1969 3614 Jackson Highway
- 1971 Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves
- 1972 Foxy Lady
- 1973 Bittersweet White Light
- 1973 Half-Breed
- 1974 Dark Lady
- 1975 Stars
- 1976 I'd Rather Believe in You
- 1976 Two the Hard Way (w/ Gregg Allmann )
- 1977 Cherished
- 1979 Prisoner
- 1979 Take Me Home
- 1980 Black Rose
- 1982 I Paralyze
- 1987 Cher
- 1989 Heart of Stone
- 1991 Love Hurts
- 1996 It's a Man's World
- 1998 Believe
- 2001 Living Proof
Filmography
External links
Last updated: 05-14-2005 07:03:17
