Biography of CherCher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946, later adopted by Gilbert LaPierre.) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, author and entertainer. Among her many accomplishments in music, television and film, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a Cannes Film Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and several Billboard Music Awards, among others.
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 25 albums, contributing to numerous compilations, and tallying 34 Billboard Top 40 entries over her career, both solo and with Sonny. These include eighteen Top 10 singles and five number one singles (four solo). Cher has had 16 top ten hits in the UK between 1965 and 2003, four of which reached number one (two solo, one with Sonny, one as part of a charity single).
She became a television star in the 1970s and a film actress in the 1980s. In 1987, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the romantic comedy Moonstruck.
In a career surpassing 40 years, Cher has been described as an enduring pop icon and one of the most popular female artists in music history. Since her debut in 1964, Cher has sold as a solo artist over 100 million records worldwide and with duo Sonny and Cher over 80 million records becoming one of the biggest-selling artists of all time.
Cher was born in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946, at 7:25 a.m. Her father, John Sarkisian, was an Armenian refugee who worked as a truck driver. Her mother, Jackie Jean Crouch ("Georgia Holt"), born at Sharp County, Arkansas, 9 June 1927 (née Jackie Jean Crouch), an aspiring actress and occasional model, is of Cherokee, English, German and Irish descent. Cher's mother and father separated and divorced when she was young and she was raised primarily by her mother (whose later husbands include John Southall), who had married Gilbert LaPierre, a banker who adopted Cher. Due to financial problems, Cher's mother placed her in foster care for a time as a child. Later, her mother provided acting lessons to help further her career.[10] In those years Cher had a relationship with actor Warren Beatty. Due to severe, undiagnosed dyslexia, she left Fresno High School at the age of 16.
The much older Sonny (he was already 27) was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Sonny and Cher became fast friends, eventual lovers, and later married. Through Sonny, Cher started as a session singer, and sang backup on several of Spector’s classic recordings, including The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and 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 and produced by Phil Spector. Her second attempt was "Dream Baby," released under the name "Cherilyn" and written and produced by Sonny Bono. Both were released in 1964.
With Sonny continuing to write, arrange and produce the songs, Sonny and Cher’s first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar and Cleo(patra)."[13] They received little attention, despite releasing the single "The Letter" in late 1964 which featured the B-side "Baby Don't Go".
Sonny and Cher's career had stalled by 1968, as album sales dried up. Their gentle, easy-listening rock folk sound and drug-free life had become "unhip" in an era becoming increasingly consumed with psychedelic rock, and the overall evolutionary change in the American pop culture landscape during the late 1960s.
Sonny and 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 and producing the film Chastity, intended as a dramatic debut for Cher as an actress. That film (directed by first and only-time director Alessio De Paulo) was also a commercial failure.
Sonny decided to forge ahead, carving a new career for the duo in Las Vegas resorts, where they sharpened their public persona with Cher as the wise-cracking singer, and Sonny as the good-natured recipient of her insults. In reality, Sonny controlled every aspect of their act, from the musical arrangements to the joke-writing. While success was slow to come, their luck improved when network TV talent scouts attended a show, noting their potential appeal for a variety series.
The Cher Show debuted as an elaborate, all-star television special on February 16, 1975 featuring Flip Wilson, Bette Midler and special guest Elton John. Cloris Leachman and Jack Albertson both won Emmy Awards for their appearances as guest stars a few weeks later, and the series received four 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 and 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, and the daring ensembles created by famed designer Bob Mackie.[15] 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 and 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 and 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 and Cherished.
On February 2, 1976 The Sonny and Cher Show debuted with a Top 10 rating and high expectations. Some of the guests who appeared on The Sonny and 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, and Betty White. However, ratings soon fell, and the show was cancelled after its second season.
Their overall television success, though brief, was unique because 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) and Cher … and Other Fantasies in 1979. One highlight for her fans was a song and 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 and 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" and "Without You".
Later in 1979, Cher would capitalize on the disco craze, signing with Casablanca Records, and racking up another Top-10 single with "Take Me Home" (#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 RIAA-certified Gold. For her second Casablanca release, Prisoner (1979), Cher appeared on the album's cover virtually naked and wrapped in chains, spurring controversy among some women's rights groups for her perceived "sex slave" image. This album produced the minor hit single Hell on Wheels (1979); the tune was also featured in the film "Roller Boogie".
Cher became famous for her many tattoos, long before they were fashionable among women in Hollywood. Among them were a large butterfly and floral design on her buttocks, later imitated by androgynous Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns; a flowing necklace on her left upper arm with three charms hanging on it: an Egyptian ankh, a cross and a heart, a kanji on her right shoulder (Chinese 'li'; Japanese 'chikara'; meaning 'power'); a small cluster of Art Deco crystals on her inner right arm; a black orchid design just above the crease of her right thigh; and a chrysanthemum on her left ankle.
Media reports in recent years have indicated that Cher has since committed to having all of her tattoos removed, and the process has apparently been underway. Some pictures from her most recent concert tour have shown blank skin where some of the smaller tattoos once were. Elderly pop culture historian Thomas Caputo actually specializes in Cher tattoos.
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