Cher Pictures, Biography, Profile, Facts, Discography, Filmography, more.

Boyfriends: Gene Simmons (musician, Kiss, dated in late 1970s), Les Dudek (musician, Steve Miller Band, dated in late 1970s), Rob Camilletti (bartender, b. 1964, dated in mid 1980s), Val Kilmer (actor, dated in early 1980s), Tom Cruise (actor, dated in early 1980s), Michael Bolton (singer-songwriter, dated in 1986), Richie Sambora (musician, dated in late 1980s, 1990s)

Sometimes Credited As: Cher Bono, Sonny & Cher, Sonny and Cher, Cherilyn, Chér

Best known as: Plastic surgery diva, Half of the pop duo Sonny & Cher

Genre: Adult Contemporary, Rock/Pop, Lite Rock

Summary: Cher began working as a session singer in an attempt to finance an acting career. While recording with Phil Spector as a backing vocalist, she met and later married Sonny Bono. After releasing two singles under the name Ceaser And Cleo, the duo then achieved international acclaim as Sonny and Cher. Throughout this period Cher also sustained a solo career, initially singing a paean to Ringo Starr (‘Ringo I Love You’) under the pseudonym Bonnie Jo Mason.

Detailed Biography of Cher:

Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre was born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946 in El Centro, CA, USA. She is an American actress and singer.

Cher dropped out of high school and at age 16 she had her first brush with stardom when she was involved in a minor fender-bender with Hollywood lothario Warren Beatty. Beatty seduced her, which Cher remembers as "a disappointment." At 17 she wandered into a Los Angeles coffee shop and saw a goofy-looking 28-year-old man at a table. When their eyes met, Cher has said, "It was as if the whole room went to soft focus, like Tony and Maria at the dance." The man was Sonny Bono, then a menial worker in the recording industry and a part-time percussionist. They moved in together almost immediately, but the initial arrangement was strictly platonic, with Cher trading maid services for rent. It was weeks or months later before Bono felt for her what she had felt in that first instant.

Bono was impressed by Cher's singing ability, and introduced Cher to his boss, Phil Spector. But Cher was very nervous, and when she sang for Spector her voice was unsure and he was unimpressed. She felt more comfortable when Bono accompanied her, and although he could barely carry a tune, their sweet, almost innocent chemistry somehow made the music work. They performed as Caeser and Cleo, and had some success at small night clubs. When Bono wrote "I Got You Babe", it became their first hit and an enduring standard.

As Sonny & Cher, they had numerous hits in the mid-1960s, but their success waned as "acid rock" and hippie music took over the charts. Bono then used some of their accumulated earnings to finance two films -- Good Times, a musical comedy starring Sonny & Cher, and directed by William Friedkin, and Chastity, with Cher sans Bono turning in a decent dramatic performance as a tough but vulnerable wanderer. Bono wrote the screenplay and score and produced the film. Both movies were well-made and are still entertaining, but both flopped at the box office, and Sonny & Cher were considered passé.

The duo continued performing together, in smaller venues. Cher wanted to change their sound, but Bono would not allow it. In performances, she sometimes vented her frustrations by insulting him on stage. Both performers noticed that audiences laughed; soon these jabs at Bono became a part of their act, which began getting renewed notice and drawing larger audiences. They were eventually booked in Las Vegas to great success, and then were invited to bring their schtick and song act to television.

The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was a popular success, fueled by her zingers aimed at Bono, but tempered by what seemed to be genuine love as they ended each show with "I Got You Babe." Their old albums began selling again, and Cher recorded some new hits without Bono. With her increasingly outrageous Bob Mackie-designed costumes and musical success, Cher's star had far eclipsed Bono's, and she grew impatient with his Svengali-like control of her career. When she had friend, sometime lover, and future Hollywood mogul David Geffen look at her contract, she learned that her career was virtually owned by Bono. Cher filed for divorce in 1974. Bono went on to star in The Sonny Comedy Revue, and Cher starred in a variety show dubbed simply Cher. She admitted that she was terrified to be on television alone, but her show lasted two seasons while Bono's lasted only 13 weeks. They then re-united, at her request, for a new Sonny and Cher Show, with singing and comedy but no pretense of love.

The show was cancelled in 1977, but Cher -- then married to Gregg Allman -- continued touring with Bono until 1979. After that, she performed solo, or with her own band, or in duets with other singers. She re-emerged in movies with Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in 1982, and went on to great success as an actress in the 1980s and early 1990s. She was Oscar-nominated for Silkwood, and won the honor for her 1987 romantic comedy Moonstruck.

In 1987, Sonny & Cher had a tearful reunion on Late Night with David Letterman, but her musical career continued while his had long-since fizzled. In 1998 Bono died after skiing into a tree. Four months after his funeral, Cher described hearing his disembodied voice reassure her from beyond the grave. "Don't worry about me, Babe," she says he said. "I'm fine. It's great here."

Cher's singing career had its ups and downs, but every down period was followed by another hit. The longevity of her musical career has established several records, including making Cher the oldest female performer to chart a #1 hit, with "Believe" in 1999, when she was 53. She first hit the Top 100 with "I Got You Babe" in 1965, and last hit the charts with "Song for the Lonely" in 2002, a record-setting span of 37 years. She also holds records for the longest gap between #1 songs, from "Dark Lady" in 1974 to "Believe" in 1999.

Cher has been her legal name since 1979, when she petitioned a court to have her middle and last names officially dropped. In 1990, Bono & Cher's daughter Chastity came out as a lesbian. Cher says she "went ballistic" at first, but within weeks she came to view her daughter's girlfriend as "a son-in-law." Cher has since become active with Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG), and admitted to having had lesbian affairs herself in the 1970s.

In 2004 she was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Dance Recording" for her song "Love One Another" but she lost to Kylie Minogue. She was at the time in the throes of 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.

Cher Trivia / Timeline:

Mother, with Sonny Bono, of Chastity Bono.

Her Oscar-winning part in Moonstruck (1987) was originally offered to Sally Field, who turned it down.

Diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 30.

Half-sister-in-law of actress Virginia Madsen.

Was living with rock musician Gene Simmons of Kiss for several years.

Had started dating producer David Geffen after she and estranged husband Sonny Bono split up.

Half-sister-in-law of Michael Madsen.

Offered the part of Thelma in Thelma & Louise (1991).

Her father was Armenian, her mother was part Cherokee.

Beat out Céline Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" for the best selling single of 1998 with "Believe."

In a recent poll, A&E's Biography Magazine ranked her as people's Number 3 favorite actress of all time behind her two Hollywood idols, Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn.

Wanted to play Morticia in the The Addams Family (1991), but the part went to Anjelica Huston.

Has mostly been living in London, UK over the last few years.

In addition to her Oscar and Emmy wins, Cher won a 2000 Grammy for the song "Believe" as Best Dance Recording.

Holds the record for oldest female artist with a #1 hit ("Believe").

Holds the record for the the longest gap between #1 hits ("Dark Lady" 1974, "Believe" 1999).

Son, Elijah Allman, fronts the band Deadsy.

Is tying with Mako as the Oscar-nominated actor throughout history with the shortest name. Technically wins, as her name is only one syllable and is her actual legal name.

Suffers from fear of flying.

Wears size 8 shoes.

Cher's very first recording was novelty record "I Love You Ringo," under the name of Bonnie Jo Mason in 1963.

Measurements: 32B-24-36 (in 1990), 34C-24-35 1/2 (after breast lift surgery), 35 1/2 -25 1/2-36 (late 1990s), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

She and Barbra Streisand are the only two female performers in the U.S. to have had a #1 hit and won an Oscar.

She won an Grammy in 1999 for the song "Believe" and an Emmy in 2003 for a special on her farewell concert tour.

Ranked #43 on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll."

Wore braces as an adult.

Spoke the eulogy at ex-husband Sonny Bono's funeral.

Her 1998 hit single "Believe" was ranked #60 on VH1's 100 Greatest Dance Songs.

Is a big Katharine Hepburn fan.

Although her music video "If I Could Turn Back Time" is often cited as the first video to be banned by MTV, this is not true. The Rolling Stones ("Neighbors"), The Ramones ("Psychotherapy") and Laura Branigan all had videos banned several years beforehand.

Named after Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane.

Is the only certified female performer in music history to have had a U.S #1 single in the 1960s 1970s 1980s and 1990s.

Has appeared solo on the cover of People magazine a near record 13 times.

US-born Cher is the most famous Hollywood personality of Armenian ethniciy, the USSR-born genius Sergei Parajanov is the most famous non-Hollywood Armenian cinema personality.

Her favourite makeup artist, Kevyn Aucoin, died in 2002 of a brain tumor.

A 2002 Rolling Stone article estimated her wealth at over 600 million dollars. Since then she has embarked on a hugely successful farewell tour that is still going and released a greatest hits CD that has spent weeks in the the Billboard Top 10.

She was the subject of an episode of "The X Files" (1993) called "The Post-Modern Prometheus" (5X06; first aired November 3, 1997). This episode concerned a deformed man who adored Cher because of her role in Mask (1985), in which her character cared for her deformed son. Several Cher songs appeared on the soundtrack of this episode, including "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". At the end of the episode, Mulder and Scully take the Cher fan to a Cher concert, where they hear her sing her cover of "Walkin' in Memphis". Cher, an "X-Files" fan, was asked to play herself in this scene but declined the producers' offer. However, she revealed on The X-Files Movie Special (1998) (TV) that once the episode aired, she regretted not having appeared in it.

Legally changed her name from "Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre Bono Allman" to simply "Cher."

Cher Quotes:

"I'm like a bumper car. When I did an infomercial I was fodder for every TV comedy show. I couldn't get a job. People said I was a huge joke. I've been a joke so many times. I've been on my way out since I started, but I'm strong willed. My mother is so much tougher than I am and my grandmother is so much tougher than my mother."

"I don't like my voice that much. I think I'm a much better actress than singer. Singing is like going to a party at someone else's house. Acting is like having the party at your own house. When you go to someone else's house for a party, it's not your responsibility at all, but when you have the party at your own house, there's a lot of responsibility. Everyone has to have a good time. So for me, acting is deeper."

"I'm not a role model, nor have I ever tried to be a role model. The only thing about me as a role model is I've managed to stay here and be working and survive. For 40 years."

"In this business you have to be tough, and if someone pushes me really far I can certainly be impossible. I've always said, 'if you're nice they walk over you and if you stand up for yourself they call you a bitch.'"

Cher Discography:

Solo Albums:

1965 - All I Really Want To Do #9 UK (Gold) #6 US (Gold) (ww sales 1,940,000)

1965 - Look At Us with Sonny Bono

1966 - The Sonny Side of Cher #11 UK (Platinum) #1US (Gold) (ww sales 2,900,000)

1966 - Cher (ww sales 100,000)

1966 - The Wonderous World of Sonny and Cher with Sonny Bono

1967 - In Case You're in Love with Sonny Bono

1967 - Backstage (ww sales 1,000,000)

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 US#8 (Platinum) (ww sales 3,500,000)

1972 - All I Ever Need Is You with Sonny Bono

1972 - Foxy Lady (ww sales 700,000)

1973 - Mama Was A Rock & Roll Singer... with Sonny Bono

1973 - Bittersweet White Light

1973 - Half Breed US#16 (Gold) (ww sales 2,900,000)

1974 - Live In Las Vegas Vol. 2 with Sonny Bono

1974 - Dark Lady US#26 (Gold) (ww sales 2,000,000)

1975 - Stars US#54 (ww sales 1,000,000)

1976 - I'd Rather Believe in You US#77 (ww sales 800,000)

1977 - Cherished US #123 (ww sales 500,000)

1977 - Two The Hard Way with Gregg Allman US#194 (ww sales 550,000)

1979 - Take Me Home US#4 (Platinum) (ww sales 4,500,000)

1979 - Prisoner US#28 (Gold) (ww sales 1,800,000)

1980 - Black Rose with Black Rose

1982 - I Paralyze US #53 (ww sales 880,000)

1987 - Cher #26 UK (Gold) #11US (2x Platinum) (ww sales 6,950,000)

1989 - Heart of Stone #7 UK (Platinum) #10 US (4x Platinum) (ww sales 10,800,000)

1991 - Love Hurts #1 UK (5x Platinum) #48 US (Platinum) (ww sales 11,000,000)

1992 - Greatest Hits 1965 - 1992 #1 UK (ww sales 7,000,000)

1995 - It's a Man's World #10 UK (2x Platinum) #19US (Gold) (ww sales 3,400,000)

1998 - Believe #7 UK (5x Platinum) #1 US (8x Platinum) (ww sales 19,000,000)

2000 - Not Commercial

2001 - Living Proof #6 UK (2x Platinum) #4 US (3x Platinum) (ww sales 8,400,000)

2003 - The Very Best Of Cher #17 UK (Gold) #2US (4x Platinum) (ww sales 8,500,000)

2003 - Live: The Farewell Tour US#12 (Platinum)

Cher Albums with Sonny:

1965 - Look at us UK #7 US#2

1966 - The wonderous world of Sonny and cher UK #15 US#6

Solo Singles of Cher:

1965 - All I Really Wanna Do UK #9 US#5 (Gold)

1966 - Bang Bang (My Baby Shoot Me Down) UK #3 US #2 (Gold)

1966 - I Feel Something Good In the Air UK #43 US#16

1966 - Sunny UK #32

1966 - Behind the Door US #48

1967 - Hay Joe US #47

1967 - You Better Sit Down Kids US #6 (Gold)

1971 - Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves UK #4 (Gold) US #1 (5 weeks)(Platinum)

1972 - The Way Of Love US #2 (Gold)

1972 - Living In A House Divided US #11

1972 - Don't Hide Your Love US #28

1973 - Half-Breed US #1 (4 weeks)(Platinum)

1974 - Dark Lady UK #36 US #1 (3 week)(Gold)

1974 - Train Of Thought US #13 (Gold)

1974 - I Saw A Man US #26

1974 - Danced With His Wife US #20

1977 - Pirate US #41

1979 - Take Me Home US #1 (5 weeks)(Platinum)

1979 - Wasn't It Good US #9 (Gold)

1979 - Hell On Wheels US #13

1987 - I Found Someone UK #5 (Gold) US #7 (Gold)

1988 - We All Sleep Alone UK #47 US #11

1988 - Skin Deep US #38

1989 - After All US #5 (Gold)

1989 - If I Could Turn Back Time UK #6 (Gold) US #1 (2 weeks)(Platinum)

1989 - Just Like Jesse James UK #11 US #7 (Gold)

1990 - Heart Of Stone UK #21 US #12

1990 - You Wouldn't Know Love UK #27 (Gold)

1990 - The Shoop Shoop Song UK #1 US #2 (Gold)

1991 - Love And Understanding UK #8 (Gold) US #11

1991 - Save Up All Your Tears UK #11 US #21

1991 - Love Hurts UK #43 US #12

1992 - Could've Been You UK #31

1992 - Oh Not Not My Baby UK #12

1993 - Many Rivers to Cross Uk #11

1993 - Whenever You're Near UK #9

1994 - I Got You Babe (re-issue) UK #8

1995 - Love Can Build a Bridge UK #1

1995 - Walking In Memphis Uk #11 US#3

1996 - One By One UK #7 US #27

1996 - Not Enough Love In the World UK #31 US#43

1996 - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore UK #22

1999 - Believe UK #1(million seller) US #1 (6 weeks)(2x Platinum)

1999 - Strong Enough UK #1 (Platinum) US #12 (Gold)

1999 - All or Nothing UK #12 US#27

1999 - Dove L'Amore UK #21 US#93

2001 - The Music's No Good Without You UK #2 (Platinum) US#14 (Gold)

2002 - Alive Again US#16

2002 - Song For The Lonely US #12 (Gold)

2002 - A Different Kind of Love Song/The Music's No Good Without You US #2

2003 - When The Money's Gone/Love One Another US #19

Cher Singles with Sonny:

1965 - I Got You Babe UK #1 US #1 (3 weeks)

1965 - Baby Don't Go UK #11 US #7

1965 - But Your Mine UK #17

1966 - Have I Stayed Too Long UK #42

1966 - Little Man UK #4

1966 - Living For You UK #44

1967 - The Beat Goes On UK #29 US#13

1972 - All I Ever Need Is You UK #8 US#3

1993 - I Got You Babe (re-issue) UK #66

COMPILATIONS:

Cher’s Golden Greats (Imperial 1968)

The Best of Cher 60s recordings (EMI America 1991)

The Sony and Cher Collection: An Anthology of Their Hits Alone and Together (1991)

Greatest Hits (Geffen 1992)

VIDEOS:

Extravaganza—Live at the Mirage (1992)

Cher Filmography:

As Actress:

In the Pink (2007)

Tea with Mussolini (1999) .... Elsa Morganthal Strauss-Armistan ... aka Te con Mussolini, Un (Italy)

If These Walls Could Talk (1996) (TV) .... Dr. Beth Thompson (segment "1996")

Faithful (1996) .... Margaret

9 (1996) (VG) (voice) .... Isadora

Mermaids (1990) .... Rachel Flax

Club Rhino (1990) (TV)

Moonstruck (1987) .... Loretta Castorini

Suspect (1987) .... Kathleen Riley

The Witches of Eastwick (1987) .... Alexandra Medford

Mask (1985) .... Florence 'Rusty' Dennis ... aka Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (USA: complete title)

Rabbit Ears: The Ugly Duckling (1985) (V) .... Storyteller

Silkwood (1983) .... Dolly Pelliker

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) .... Sissy

Chastity (1969) (as Chér) .... Chastity

Cinnamon Cinder Show Christmas Special (1965) (TV) .... Sonny and Cher

As Director:

The Very Best of Cher: The Video Hits Collection (2004) (V) (vidoes "Save Up All Your Tears", "Main Man", "I Found Someone" & "We All Sleep Alone")

If These Walls Could Talk (1996) (TV) (segment "1996")

As Writer:

The Very Best of Cher: The Video Hits Collection (2004) (V)