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Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946) is an American actress and singer of Armenian descent. She rose to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the duo Sonny and Cher and sold over 80 million records worldwide, then as a solo artist when the duo ended in 1974. She has sold solo over 100 million records worldwide since the start of her career.

Biography


Cher first achieved success as one of the pop music duo Sonny and Cher with her first husband, Sonny Bono (whom she met while working as a backup singer for producer Phil Spector). Together, Sonny and Cher 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 solo artist: "All I Really Want to Do" and "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)." After Sonny and Cher's career stalled (their easy-listening pop and anti-drug policy soon became unpopular in an era of edgier tunes and edgier consumption), 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.Cher Solo Arist Photography in 1970



Solo Artist

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). (She did, however, turn down two songs that later became #1 hits for two other singers in 1973: "Angie Baby" and "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia," for Helen Reddy and Vicki Lawrence, respectively.) 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 (founder of the band Deadsy). 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.

Acting


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''.

Solo Artist, Continued


Cher Picture from Heart of Stone Tour Book]]
In 1989 she scored another million-selling hit with the song ''If I Could Turn Back Time''. The album "Heart of Stone" went on to sell three million copies. Following the devastating earthquake that hit Armenia in December of 1988, Cher travelled to the country to participate in the relief activities. In 1990, Cher released the song "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss" individually, and in 1991, she released her final album for her Geffen Records contract, Love Hurts. The album featured a second take at the title track (the first was on the 1975 album Stars), and the hit singles "Save Up All Your Tears" and "Love And Understanding". Cher had proven herself again.Her ability to reinvent herself has allowed her to continue performing and creating successful recordings for more than 35 years. In 1995, she released It's a Man's World, panned by critics but loved by fans. She had also produced and recorded an alternative-rock independant 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 great success.

Fans Keep Believing


When magazines and newspapers declared her career over, Cher was about to embark on yet another reinvention, this time the biggest musical success of her career. In 1998 she had one of the biggest successes of her recording career with the number one hit ''Believe'' and the four-million selling album of the same name which won her her first 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 the UK.
Cher in the ''Alive Again'' music video from the Living Proof album]]
In 2001 in Europe and 2002 in the United States, Cher released her follow-up dance album Living Proof, sparking the hit singles "The Music's No Good Without You", "Alive Again", and the September 11th dedicated track, "Song for the Lonely", which peaked at #7. In 2004 she was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Dance Recording" for her song "Love One Another."=

Living Proof, Farewell Tour

=
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. 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 During Her Living Proof Farewell Tour Concert, Dancing With Bubba Carr
To date the tour has brought in a reported $250 million dollars and remains the most successful solo tour by a female in history. Other Farewell Tour statistics: concerts in the U.S. - 256; Europe - 28; Canada - 24; Australia - 12; Mexico - 3; New Zealand - 2. Two performances on November 8, 2002 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, were taped by NBC for a special program, aired April 2003; it won Cher her first Emmy. With the Emmy win, Cher joined the small elite group of entertainers to have won the top awards in Hollywood - the Grammy, the Oscar, the Emmy, and the Golden Globe. Only the Tony - the top award for Broadway theatre - eludes her.Among her many achievements, Cher is the only recording artist in history to score #1 hits in five 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.

As Gay Icon


Cher has emerged as something of a gay icon in popular culture, a status assisted by her openly lesbian daughter Chastity Bono. http://web.archive.org/web/20041011190353/http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/794/794_signorile.asp
http://www.hrc.org/TemplateRedirect.cfm?template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=9115
The NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'' has acknowledged her status by making her the idol of gay character Jack McFarland. Cher guest-starred as herself twice on the sitcom, in 2001 and 2002. On October 4th, 2005, the Bravo program "Great Things About Being..." declared Cher #1 greatest thing about being gay.

Political Interests


On October 27th, 2003, Cher anonymously called C-SPAN during a phone-in. She recounted a visit she had made to maimed soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, criticized the deficiency of media coverage and government attention given to injured servicemen. Cher also remarked that she watches C-SPAN every day. Though she simply identified herself as an unnamed entertainer with USO, she was recognized by the C-SPAN host, who subsequently questioned her about her 1992 support for independent presidential candidate Ross Perot. Stars Album]]

2003 The Very Best of Cher Album]]

  • ''Heart of Stone'' (1989)

  • ''Love Hurts'' (1991)

  • ''It's a Man's World'' (1995 Europe) (1996 USA)

  • ''Believe'' (November 10, 1998)

  • ''not.com.mercial'' (2000)

  • ''Living Proof'' (November 9, 2001 Europe) (February 26, 2002 USA)

  • ''The Very Best of Cher'' (April 1, 2003)

  • ''Live! The Farewell Tour'' (August 26, 2003)

  • ''Cher Gold'' (July 26, 2005)

    Separate Compilations



  • ''Greatest Hits'' (1974)

  • ''If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher's Greatest Hits'' (1999)

  • ''The Greatest Hits'' (1999) - Europe Only

  • ''20th Century Masters Presents The Best of Cher'' (2000)

  • ''The Way of Love - The Cher Collection (2000)

  • ''The Very Best of Cher'' (2003)

  • ''20th Century Masters Presents The Best of Cher Volume 2'' (2004)

  • 1965 - "All I Really Wanna Do" UK #9; US/Dutch #15; Sweden #13; Canada #26 (Cher's first #1 hit)

  • 1965 - "Where Do You Go?" US #25; Canada #22

  • 1966 - "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" UK #3; US #2; Italy #6; Sweden/Canada/Belgian #9; Dutch #16; Germany #17

  • 1966 - "Alfie" US #32; Canada #26

  • 1966 - "I Feel Something In the Air" UK #43

  • 1966 - "Sunny" UK #32, Dutch/Norway #2; Sweden #4

  • 1966 - "Behind the Door" US #97

  • 1966 - "Mama (When My Dollies Have Babies)" US #124; Canada #45

  • 1967 - "Hey Joe" US #94

  • 1967 - "You Better Sit Down Kids" US #9, Canada #7

  • 1968 - "The Click Song" US #84

  • 1969 - "For What Its Worth" US #125

  • 1971 - "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" US/Canada #1 UK #4; Norway #8; Dutch/Germany #25; Belgian #27

  • 1972 - "The Way Of Love" US #7; Canada #5

  • 1972 - "Living In A House Divided" US #22

  • 1972 - "Dont Hide Your Love" US #46

  • 1973 - "Half-Breed" US/Canada #1 (Gold); Sweden #6; Norway #15; Germany #29

  • 1974 - "Dark Lady" US/Canada/Sweden #1 (Gold); Norway #10; Dutch #17; Belgian #22; Uk #36

  • 1974 - "Train Of Thought" US #27, Canada #22

  • 1974 - "I Saw A Man and He Danced With His Wife" US #42

  • 1977 - "Pirate" US #93

  • 1979 - "Take Me Home" US #8 (Gold); Norway #9

  • 1979 - "Wasnt It Good" US #49

  • 1979 - "Hell On Wheels" US #59

  • 1981 - "Dead Ringer For Love (Cher & Meatloaf)" UK #5; Norway #26; Dutch #32

  • 1987 - "I Found Someone" UK #5 (Gold); US #10; Norway #14; Germany #35

  • 1988 - "We All Sleep Alone" US #14; UK #47; Norway #11

  • 1988 - "Skin Deep" US #78

  • 1989 - "After All" (duet with Peter Cetera) US #6 (1.000.000)

  • 1989 - "If I Could Turn Back Time" Norway/Australian #1; Top 10 UK/US/Dutch/Belgian; Top 20 Germany/Sweden/Italy/Austria

  • 1989 - "Just Like Jesse James" UK #11; US #8 (Gold); Germany #38; Belgian #13; Australian #22

  • 1990 - "Heart Of Stone" UK #43; US #20, Germany #23

  • 1990 - "You Wouldnt Know Love" UK #27 (Gold)

  • 1991 - "The Shoop Shoop Song" UK/Norway/Irish/Europe/Austria #1; US #33; Top 10 Germany/France/Sweden/Dutch/Belgian/Swiss/Australian

  • 1991 - "Love And Understanding" US #17; Top 10 UK/Dutch/Belgian/Norway/Austria; Germany #20; Top 30 France/Sweden/Australian

  • 1991 - "Save Up All Your Tears" UK #37; US #37; Austria #18; Germany #56

  • 1991 - "Love Hurts" UK #43; Norway #2

  • 1992 - "Couldve Been You" UK #31; Germany #72

  • 1992 - "Oh Not Not My Baby" UK #33; Germany #52; Austria #30; Swiss #19

  • 1993 - "Many Rivers to Cross" UK #37

  • 1993 - "Whenever Youre Near" UK #72

  • 1994 - "I Got You Babe (Cher & Beavis And Butthead) US #108; UK #35; Dutch 9; Europe #18

  • 1995 - "Love Can Build a Bridge" UK #1; Germany #62; Swiss #21; Austria #18

  • 1995 - "Walking In Memphis" UK #11; Norway #7; Sweden #13; Austria #17; Germany #63

  • 1996 - "One By One" UK #7; US #52

  • 1996 - "Not Enough Love In the World" UK #31

  • 1996 - "The Sun Aint Gonna Shine Anymore" UK #22

  • 1998 - "Believe" UK #1; US #1 (2x Platinum)- in 24 countries #1, and over 30 countries Top 10

  • 1999 - "Strong Enough" Croatien/Denmark #1; US #57; Top 10 UK/Germany/France/Belgian/Swiss/Europe/Italy/Austria/Finland/New Zealand/Spain/Jogoslawien

  • 1999 - "All or Nothing" US #38; UK/Europe 12; Top 10 Rumaenien/Finnland/Jogoslawien/Denmark; Norway #19

  • 1999 - "DovA lAmore" UK #21; Top 10 Europe/Italy/Rumaenien/Finnland/Spain/Creeze

  • 2001 - "The Musics No Good Without You" Russia #1; Top 10 UK/Canada/Italy/Taiwan/Portugal; Top 20 Sweden/Norway/Europe/Finnland

  • 2002 - "Alive Again" Germany #27; Israel #8; Norway #32; Swiss #80

  • 2002 - "Song For The Lonely" US Maxi-Single #1; US POP #7; Hot US #85; Canada #18

  • 2002 - "A Different Kind of Love Song" US Maxi-Single #2

  • 2003 - "When The Moneys Gone/Love One Another" US Maxi Single #2

    US other charts



Year Title Hot Dance Music/Club Play Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Adult Contemporary 1979Take Me Home# 2Not releasedNot released1988Skin Deep# 41Not releasedNot released1988We All Sleep AloneNot releasedNot released#111989After AllNot releasedNot released# 11989If I Could Turn Back TimeNot releasedNot released# 11989Just Like Jesse JamesNot releasedNot released# 91990Heart of StoneNot releasedNot released# 301990The Shoop Shoop SongNot releasedNot released# 71991Love and UnderstandingNot releasedNot released# 31991Save Up All Your TearsNot releasedNot released# 161991The Shoop Shoop SongNot releasedNot released# 71992When Lovers Become StrangersNot releasedNot released# 151996One by One# 7# 6# 91996Paradise Is Here# 11# 27Not released1998Believe# 1# 1# 31999All or Nothing# 1# 2Not released1999Dove L'Amore# 5Not releasedNot released1999Strong Enough# 1# 3# 292001The Music's No Good Without You# 19Not releasedNot released2002Song for the Lonely# 1# 1# 112002A Different Kind of Love Song# 1# 2# 302002(This Is) A Song For The Lonely# 23# 1# 152003When the Money's Gone# 1# 2Not released


Filmography

*''Wild on the Beach'' (1965)