Few stars have had as long and varied careers (much less tabloid-filling) as the four-lettered one. Along the way she has been a No. 1 charting solo recording artist, a member of duos and bands, an Academy Award-winning actress, a workout-tape mentor and an entrepreneur. Now in her 32nd year as a pro, Cher is still immensely popular and successful.
Born Cherilyn Sarkasian LaPier on May 20, 1946, she left El Centro, California for Hollywood to begin an acting career. She landed work as a session vocalist for Phil Spector in 1963, where she met Sonny Bono. Sonny & Cher became one of the most successful and recognizable duos of the '60s, scoring 10 top 10 singles into 1972. But Cher also maintained a solo career during this period, first as Bonnie Jo Mason ("Ringo I Love You") and then as Cher, scoring her own chart-toppers beginning with Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want To Do" ('65), and followed by "Bang Bang" ('66) and the No. 1 hits "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves" ('71), "Half-Breed" ('73) and "Dark Lady" ('74). Acting remained on the back-burner, with the minor '60s pop films Good Times and Chasity (the last of which inspired the name of her daughter with Bono). She had two successful television variety shows co-hosted with Sonny between '71 and '77, and her own show, which lasted two seasons.
Five days following her '75 divorce from Bono, Cher married Gregg Allman, which led to the LP Allman And Woman, a son named Elijah Blue, and a divorce in '79. Later that year she had a disco hit with "Take Me Home" and then went hard-rock as the singer of Black Rose, which featured then-boyfriend Les Dudek. In '82, Cher hit Broadway, starring in the acclaimed Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Starring in the film version of Jimmy Dean launched the acting career which had initially been her quest, and a series of great performances in Silkwood, Mask, Moonstruck (for which she won a Best Actress Oscar), Suspect, The Witches Of Eastwick, Mermaids and Faithful followed.
Having become the star she set out to be, Cher returned to recording in '87, and released three successful LPs for Geffen. Her career as a great collaborative vocalist came full-circle with an updated performance of "I Got You Babe" with Beavis & Butthead in '95.
Throughout much of the '90s, Cher laid low except for the variety of products bearing her name and likeness, including workout videos, perfume, skin care products and a catalog of medieval-inspired furniture and bric-a-brac for your own castle. Her most notable public appearance was her tearful and touching eulogy at the funeral of ex-husband Sonny Bono, who died in a freak skiing accident in early '98. But later in that same emotional year, she released the album Believe, which, though still building slowly in the U.S., scored her a triumphant No. 1 hit in the U.K. with its title track. As she moves on to happier times, Cher is proving that she is one show business survivor to "Believe" in.
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