She already has an acclaimed jazz era and a Golden Globe!!1!
And her Oscar is coming.
Aww the Cannes win will never come. Never.
This newest resurge of Cher, the woman who can't be killed, gave her another hit - one she hates performing!
She had taken a three year break from film to concentrate on music, but was ready to return. She chose Mermaids a film that had special meaning to her; it was about a single mother of two young girls who still hustled to live out her dreams. A 60s girl group classic she covered to support the film only went top forty here, but topped the UK charts for over a month.
Her experience on Mermaids made her cautious to take another film, and she came down with Epstein-Barr syndrome, an illness that sidelined her. Desperate for money, she did some infomercials.
Her reputation in the US was ruined for most of the decade. The film roles dried up, she was now solidly in her 40s, and was considered passé. She did manage two number ones in the 90s; one was an all-star collaboration for charity, and the other, a cover, might be one of her finest singles:
It did seem like it was all over for Cherilyn, though.
I love the reveal to this. Cher is amazing. We need a rate of some of her non singles sometime though....although it would have to be in parts probably.....she has way too many albums to ever do a normal discography or essentials rate.
Also some of her flop late 70s albums are soo good. Stars is fantastic and I'd Rather Believe In You has some really great moments. It is a shame they still haven't been released digitally or on cd.
1998 was the source of great pain and pleasure for our Cher.
Early in the year, Sonny died in a freak skiing accident. Although they had an oft-acrimonious relationship, Cher was quite rightly devastated, and gave a memorable eulogy at his funeral. In an odd way, it endeared her to the American public again.
She also got her hands on a track written by up and coming British songwriters like Brian Higgins --who would go on to fund his Xenomania production house with the moneys gained from...
Believe. I believe you've heard of it. (See what I did there!)
The I Will Survive for Generation X/the young millennials, Believe greatly outpaced all expectations. It topped the charts in sixteen countries, including the US. It was the first song to gain Grammy recognition for Cher, getting nominated for Record of the Year - and winning Best Dance Recording. At the age of 44, Cher had become a Grammy winner. There's still hope, **** *****!
Another single struggled here, but went top five everywhere else - a Sorry by Madonna tea.
Finally getting it, Cher stuck to dance - and recorded a single that was her response to 9/11. Unfortunately, tastes on American radio were changing, and this was her last single to debut on the Hot 100.
She doesn't give up trying though!
Bang Bang! (My Baby Shot Me Down)
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
Half-Breed
Dark Lady
Take Me Home
I Found Someone
If I Could Turn Back Time
Just Like Jesse James
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)
One by One
Believe
Strong Enough
Song for the Lonely
A Woman's World
I was going to do a hint for her, but I actually wanted to include some songs that I LOVE that I will not include - because she has so many ****ing hits.
Really I could make her contribution twenty five and none of you would complain.
Aretha ****ing Franklin. Queen of Soul. Lezzibehonest, Queen of Popular Music.
The best thing Memphis, Tennessee has ever given us. (You can give us a thousand JTs as our punishment for the divinity you bestowed on us in 1943!) Born to an travelling preacher, and already a part of a big family, Aretha's father moved the family to Detroit when she was five. Three weeks before her tenth birthday, Aretha's mother died. Around this time, by ear, she learned to play piano. The rest was written ...
Aretha sang her first solo, at her father's church, at the age of ten. Within the next four years, she was travelling with him as the star of his roadshow. (She also became a mother around this time - which, **** a Teen Mom when you've Aretha Franklin as an example of what an unplanned pregnancy can do!) By the age of eighteen, Aretha was ready to break free - and told her father she wanted to follow in the footsteps of their family friend, Sam Cooke, and record secular music. Thank the Lorde for that.
In 1960, Aretha signed to Columbia records. She didn't really make any hits while there, so we'll skip that and head to 1967, when she signed to Atlantic.
Woo LORDE the hits. CLASSICS.
Starting with ...
The groove! The combo of lived in sensuality and raw power! Her first number one on the R&B charts, and her first top ten on the Hot 100.
What's next? How bout taking an Otis Redding song, flipping the gender, and making sure white feminism always had a stinging rebuke?!?!?
Aretha came up with that outro - "sock it to me!" - and never asked for writing credit. Woo that thought just blew Madonna and Beyoncé their heads. A NUMBER ONE on both charts.
A funkier groove, you want?
Aretha even tried her hands at a song written by the inimitable team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Years later, when Carole took it back for Tapestry, most assumed it was a cover!
Kinda sorta one of the best vocal performances ever committed to record. Think of how much she doesn't do. No unneeded melisma. Just truth. UGH her power.
Aretha has like both the greatest musical catalogue as well as the richest history when it comes to feuds, shadiness, and downright bitchiness. Mariah could NEVER
Poor everyone from Patti, Whitney, Natalie, and Gladys, right down to our contemporaries Taylor and Nicki. Idk WHO Aretha likes
It's also a shame how her Columbia years always get ignored because I thought she was a pretty great interpreter of the Jazz classics and all. It simply doesn't compare to her classics starting from I Never Loved A Man I guess
I'm ready!
