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.

Thereafter, she secured several hits, including an opportunistic cover version of the Byrds’ ‘All I Really Want To Do’. The sultry ‘Bang Bang’, with its gypsy beat and maudlin violins was a worldwide smash in 1966, leading Cher to tackle more controversial themes in ‘I Feel Something In The Air’ and ‘You Better Sit Down Kids’. Although her acting aspirations seemed long-forgotten, she did appear in two minor 60s films, Good Times (1967) and Chastity (1969). In 1971, the zestful, chart-topping ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’ and its attendant album saw her back in the ascendant. Two further US number 1 hits (‘Half Breed’ and ‘Dark Lady’) preceded her divorce from Sonny, though for a time the duo continued to appear together on stage and television. In 1975 she switched to Warner Brothers Records for the Jimmy Webb-produced Stars, while her on-off relationship with Gregg Allman (whom she divorced in 1979) resulted in one album, the punningly titled, Allman and Woman: Two The Hard Way.

By the late 70s, she became a regular fixture in gossip columns and fashion magazines which lauded over her sartorial outrageousness and much publicized musical and personal relationships with Allman, Gene Simmons (of Kiss) and Les Dudek. In 1981, Cher appeared on Meat Loaf’s ‘Dead Ringer For Love’ but recording interests increasingly took a back seat to her first love: acting. A leading role in Come Back To The Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) was followed by a lucrative part in Silkwood (1983), and an Oscar nomination. Appearances in Mask (1985), The Witches Of Eastwick (1987) and Suspect (1987) emphasized that her thespian aspirations were no mere sideline. For Moonstruck (1987), she won an Oscar for Best Actress and celebrated that honor with another musical comeback courtesy of Cher and its concomitant Top 10 single, ‘I Found Someone’. Her 1991 number 1 hit, a cover of the Betty Everett song, ‘The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)’ was the theme song to another screen appearance, Mermaids. In 1995 she did a credible cover of Marc Cohn’s ‘Walking In Memphis’ which preceded It’s a Man’s World. In addition to the James Brown title track her voice admirably suited a reworking of the Walker Brothers classic, ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’.

With her professional life as a singer and actress now scrutinized by the mass media, as well as the added intrigue of her love-life and public fascination for her penchant for cosmetic surgery, Cher has become one of the great American icons of the 90s. Her powerful voice is often overlooked amidst the AOR glitz.

ALBUMS:

All I Really Want To Do (Liberty 1965)**, The Sonny Side of Cher (Liberty 1966)**, Cher I (Imperial 1966)***, With Love, Cher (Imperial 1968)**, Backstage (1968)**, 3614 Jackson Highway (Atco 1969)**, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves (Kapp 1971)***, Foxy Lady (Kapp 1972)**, Half Break (MCA 1973)**, Dark Lady (MCA 1974)**, Bittersweet White Light (MCA 1974)**, Stars (Warners 1975)**, I’d Rather Believe In You (1976)**, with Gregg Allman as Allman and Woman Two The Hard Way (Warners 1977)*, Take Me Home (Casablanca 1979)**, Prisoner (Casablanca 1980)**, Black Rose (1980)**, Paralyze (Columbia 1982)**, Cher II (Geffen 1987)**, Heart of Stone (Geffen 1989)**, Love Hurts (Geffen 1991)****, It’s a Man’s World (Warners 1995)***.

Filmography:

  1999 : Tea with Mussolini

  1996 : If These Walls Could Talk

  1995 : Faithful

  1990 : Mermaids

  1987 : Moonstruck

  1987 : Suspect

  1987 : The Witches of Eastwick

  1985 : Mask

  1983 : Silkwood

  1982 : Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

  1967 : Good Times

Cher a singer, actress and director who was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California. As a teenager she met Sonny Bono and one day tagged along with Sonny to Phil Spector's Gold Star Studios and filled in for a singer who did not show up. From there, she started as a back-up singer for Phil Spector and recorded some duets with Sonny.

Following a modest start as "Caesar and Cleo" the duo finally clicked as Sonny and Cher, turning out the first of several hit records in 1965 including their first chart-topping million seller, I Got You Babe. The growing popularity of Sonny and Cher prompted their own TV variety show.

Their daughter Chastity was born in 1969 who was named after their film Chastity and was a regular guest on their show. The exotically attired Cher continued for a season with her own variety show, Cher and re-teamed with her former husband in The Sonny and Cher Show from 1976-77. A son from her second marriage to rock star Gregg Allman was born in 1976.

On her own Cher starred in opulent TV specials. She was already famous for her outrageous costumes. She soon tired of Hollywood glitz, and traveled to New York and auditioned for the director Robert Altman, who cast her in the play, then in 1982 in the film version of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. In this and in subsequent films she proved herself a capable actress.

She was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Silkwood for director Mike Nichols and won a Golden Globe for her performance in 1983. She received the Best Actress Award at Cannes for Mask in 1985. In 1987 Cher starred in The Witches of Eastwick, Suspect and Moonstruck, for which she won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award as Best Actress. Also in 1987, she returned to her singing roots and released the chart-topping song, I Found Someone.

In 1992 Cher was seen in The Player and in 1994 Pret-a-Porter for Robert Altman. She was inactive on screen for several years, focusing instead on hugely success exercise videos and informercials. In 1996 she made her directorial debut with If Walls Could Talk. As well as Tea with Mussolini, in 1998 she will star in a film Breakers.

With the release of Tea With Mussolini, a new album entitled Believe, and her book The First Times, Cher demonstrates she is truly an artist of many media.