Cher: A Living Legend
A Brief Biography
Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Recognized for having brought the sense of female autonomy and self-actualization into the entertainment industry, she is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in various areas of entertainment, as well as continuously reinventing both her music and image, which has led to her being nicknamed the
Goddess of Pop.
Cher became prominent in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband–wife duo Sonny & Cher, who popularized a particular smooth sound that successfully competed with the dominant British Invasion and Motown styles of the era. From 1965, she had established herself as a solo artist with successful singles such as "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady". Goldmine magazine's Phill Marder described her as the leader of an effort in the 1960s to "advance feminine rebellion in the rock world [and] the prototype of the female rock star, setting the standard for appearance [and] attitude". After the duo's drug-free lifestyle had lost its popular appeal in the United States owing to the drug culture of the 1960s, she returned to stardom in the 1970s as a television personality with her shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and Cher, both of which attained immense popularity. She became a fashion trendsetter with her daring outfits. After Cher and Sonny divorced in 1975, Cher experimented with various musical styles, including disco and new wave, before becoming a successful live act in Las Vegas in 1980.
In the early 1980s, Cher made her Broadway debut and starred in the film Silkwood, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1983. In the ensuing years, she starred in films such as Mask, The Witches of Eastwick, and Moonstruck, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1988. She made her directorial debut in the 1996 film If These Walls Could Talk. At the same time, she established herself as a rock singer by releasing platinum albums such as Heart of Stone (1989) and top-ten singles such as "I Found Someone" and "If I Could Turn Back Time". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Cher continued to experiment with musical styles, including R&B and dance. She reached a new commercial peak in 1998 with the song "Believe", which features the pioneering use of Auto-Tune, also known as the "Cher effect". Her 2002–2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour ended up as the highest-grossing music tour by a female artist then. In 2008, she signed a $60 million per-year deal to headline the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three years. Cher returned to film in the 2010 musical Burlesque. Cher's latest studio album Closer to the Truth was released in 2013. It became her highest-charting solo album in the US to date.
Cher has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, among several other honors. Her other ventures have included fashion designing, managing the film production company Isis, writing books, and supporting charitable foundations. Recognized as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, she has sold more than 100 million solo albums and over 40 million records as Sonny & Cher worldwide. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each of the past six decades.
Short List of Cher's Accomplishments
Cher has been honored with over 250 worldwide industry awards for her work in music, television and film. Cher has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, making her one of few artists to have received those honors.
On the Billboard Hot 100, she has so far achieved 4 #1 singles, 12 Top 10 singles, 22 Top 40 singles and a total of 34 charted singles as a solo artist and combined with Sonny 5 #1 singles, 18 Top 10 singles, 35 Top 40 hits and a total of 53 singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, making her one of few women in the rock era with that many chart entries. Of those singles 6 have been certified gold and 1 platinum. Her albums have so far included: 5 gold, 2 platinum and 2 multi-platinum albums RIAA certifications.She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each of the past six decades.
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Sales Awards
Note: The number of sales required to qualify for Gold and Platinum singles was higher prior to January 1, 1989. The thresholds were previously 1,000,000 units (Gold) and 2,000,000 units (Platinum).
Gold Awards
Studio Albums:
1965: "Look at Us"" - "Sonny & Cher"
1971: "All I Ever Need Is You" - "Sonny & Cher"
1971: "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves"
1973: "Half-Breed"
1979: "Take Me Home"
1991: "Love Hurts"
2001: "Living Proof"
Compilation Albums:
1999: "If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits"
Live Albums:
1971: "Sonny & Cher Live"
1999: "VH1 Divas 1999"
Soundtracks:
2010: "Burlesque"
Singles:
1965: "I Got You Babe" - "Sonny & Cher" (1,000,000)
1971: "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1,000,000)
1973: "Half-Breed" (1,000,000)
1974: "Dark Lady" (1,000,000)
1979: "Take Me Home" (1,000,000)
1989: "After All""
1989: "If I Could Turn Back Time"
Platinum Award
Studio Albums:
1987: Cher
Singles:
1998: "Believe"
Video Albums:
2004: "The Very Best of Cher: The Video Hits Collection"
Multi-Platinum Awards
Studio Albums:
1989: "Heart of Stone" (3x Platinum)
1998: "Believe" (4x Platinum)
Compilation Albums:
2003: "The Very Best of Cher" (2x Platinum)
Video Albums:
2003: "The Farewell Tour" (3x Platinum)
Major Awards
Academy Awards
Year Recipient Award Result
1984 Silkwood Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated
1988 Moonstruck Best Actress Won
- Cher was a featured vocalist on two Academy Award nominated songs ("Alfie" in 1967 and "After All" in 1989), but as the nominations are for the songwriters, not the performers, these do not count in her list of nominations.
Golden Globe Awards
Year Recipient Award Result
1974 The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Won
1983 Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated
1984 Silkwood Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Won
1986 Mask Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Nominated
1988 Moonstruck Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Won
1997 If These Walls Could Talk Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated
- Cher was a featured vocalist on one Golden Globe Award winning song ("You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" in 2011) and two Golden Globe Award nominated songs ("Alfie" in 1967 and "After All" in 1989), but as the nominations are for the songwriters, not the performers, these do not count in her list of nominations.
Emmy Awards
Year Recipient Award Result
1972 The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Musical - Variety and Popular Music Nominated
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series Nominated
1973 The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series Nominated
1974 The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series Nominated
1975 Cher Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series Nominated
2000 Cher - Live In Concert from Las Vegas! Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Nominated
2003 Cher: The Farewell Tour Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special Won
Grammy Awards
Year Recipient Award Result
1966 Sonny & Cher Best New Artist Nominated
1971 "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Nominated
1971 "All I Ever Need Is You" (Sonny & Cher) Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group Nominated
2000 "Believe" Best Dance Recording Won
2000 "Believe" Record of the Year Nominated
2000 "Believe" Best Pop Vocal Album Nominated
2004 "Love One Another" Best Dance Recording Nominated
2012 "Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media with Christina Aguilera Nominated
- Cher was a featured vocalist on one Grammy Award nominated song ("You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" in the Best Song Written for Visual Media category), but as the nominations are for the songwriters, not the performers, this do not count in her list of nominations.
Cher as a Gay Icon
The reverence held for Cher by members of the gay community has been attributed to her accomplishments in her career, her sense of style and her longevity. Alec Mapa of The Advocate elaborates: "While the rest of us were sleeping, Cher's been out there for the last four decades living out every single one of our childhood fantasies... Cher embodies an unapologetic freedom and fearlessness that some of us can only aspire to." Cher has often been imitated by drag queens. Thomas Rogers of Salon magazine commented that "drag queens imitate women like Judy Garland, Dolly Parton and Cher because they overcame insult and hardship on their path to success, and because their narratives mirror the pain that many gay men suffer on their way out of the closet." Cher's performance as a lesbian in the film Silkwood as well as her transition to dance music and social activism in recent years has further contributed to her becoming a gay icon.
Her oldest child, now Chaz Bono (born Chastity Bono), first came out as a lesbian at the age of seventeen, which caused Cher feelings of "guilt, fear and pain". She later characterized this as "a very un-Cher-like reaction." However, Cher soon came to accept Chaz's sexual orientation, and came to the conclusion that LGBT people "didn't have the same rights as everyone else". She was the keynote speaker for the 1997 national Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) convention. Cher has since become one of the gay community's most vocal advocates. On June 11, 2009, Chaz Bono came out as a transgender individual, and his transition to male was legally finalized on May 6, 2010.
In 1998, Cher was honored with a GLAAD Media Award (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and in November 1999, The Advocate named Cher as one of the '25 Coolest Women'. In October 2005 the Bravo program Great Things About Being... declared Cher "the number one greatest thing about being gay." William J. Mann, author of Gay Pride: A Celebration of All Things Gay and Lesbian, comments "[w]e'll be dancing to a ninety-year-old Cher when we're sixty. Just watch", and in a 2007 'Top Ten Gay Icons', formed by Digital Spy, it was stated that: "US comedian Jimmy James was spot-on when he quipped: "After a nuclear holocaust, all that will be left are cockroaches and Cher"." The NBC sitcom Will & Grace acknowledged her status by making her the idol of gay character Jack McFarland. Cher guest-starred as herself twice on the sitcom, in 2000 and 2002. In 2000, Cher made a cameo on the show, in which Jack believed her to be a drag queen and said he could "do" a better Cher himself. In 2002, she portrayed God in Jack's imagined version of Heaven.
Cher's contributions to various areas of entertainment earned her the nickname "Goddess of Pop". AEG Live declared Cher as the "World's Number One Pop Icon". She received a special World Music Award and Billboard Music Award for her "lifelong contribution to the music industry" and for having "helped redefine popular music through success on the Billboard charts", respectively. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each of the past six decades. Although her regular exposure on television in the 1970s allowed people to see and hear her without having to buy her records, she has sold over 100 million solo albums worldwide. In 1992, Madame Tussauds wax museum honored her as one of the five most beautiful women of history by creating a life-size statue. In a 2001 poll, A&E's Biography magazine ranked her as their third favorite leading actress of all time, behind Audrey Hepburn and Katharine Hepburn. She was featured on the "100 Greatest Movie Stars of our Time" list compiled by People. In 2010, she ranked 44th on the "75 Greatest Women of All Time" list compiled by Esquire magazine. In November 2010, Cher received the honor of placing her handprints and footprints in cement in the courtyard in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. That month, Glamour magazine honored her with the Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
According to Goldmine magazine's Phill Marder, Cher "has been and remains today one of the Rock Era's most dominant figures". He wrote that as a female rock star, she had set "the standard for appearance, from her early hippie days to her later outlandish outfits, and her attitude—the perfect female punk long before punk even was a rock term." He agreed that, with her dominant attitude over her partner Sonny Bono and her daring outfits, she influenced the presence of women in rock music, inspiring contemporary followers Marianne Faithfull and Nancy Sinatra. According to the Chicago Tribune, Cher has influenced pop singers such as Madonna and Lady Gaga. Her career shifts and her ability to overcome career downturns led The New York Times to declare her as the "Queen of the Comeback". Biographer Connie Berman wrote that Cher's transition from a difficult childhood to fame has led her to become an inspiration. Her "integrity" and "perseverance" were highlighted in the Reaching Your Goals book series of illustrated inspirational stories for children, in which her life was detailed emphasizing the importance of self-actualization: "For years, Cher worked hard to become a successful singer. Then she worked hard to become an actress. Even when she needed money, she turned down movie roles that weren't right for her. Her goal has always been to be a good actress, not just a rich and famous one." Cher's 1998 musical comeback inspired veteran recording artists such as Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and Tina Turner, who tried to emulate her new sound and replicate its success.
Cher has drawn attention from feminist critics. She was featured in the 16th-anniversary edition of Ms. magazine as an "authentic feminist hero" and a 1980s role model for women: "Cher, the straightforward, tattooed, dyslexic single mother, the first Oscar winner to have entered into matrimony with a known heroin addict and to have admitted to being a fashion victim by choice, has finally landed in an era that's not afraid to applaud real women." Kathleen Park of Orlando Sentinel criticized this choice, stating that despite her stardom, Cher "hardly embodies, at least publicly, the qualities that earn one respect in this world". Stephanie Brush of The New York Times wrote that Cher "performs the function for women moviegoers that Jack Nicholson has always fulfilled for men. Free of the burden of ever having been America's sweetheart, she is the one who represents us [women] in our revenge fantasies, telling all the fatheads ... exactly where they can go. You need to be more than beautiful to get away with this. You need to have been Cher for 40 years."
The reverence the gay community holds for Cher has been attributed to the accomplishments in her career, her sense of style and her longevity. Alec Mapa of The Advocate elaborates: "While the rest of us were sleeping, Cher's been out there for the last four decades living out every single one of our childhood fantasies ... Cher embodies an unapologetic freedom and fearlessness that some of us can only aspire to." According to Thomas Rogers of Salon magazine, she has often been imitated by drag queens because she "overcame insult and hardship on [her] path to success" and because her story "mirror[s] the pain that many gay men suffer on their way out of the closet". Bego wrote, "No one in the history of show business has had a career of the magnitude and scope of Cher's. She has been a teenage pop star, a television hostess, a fashion magazine model, a rock star, a pop singer, a Broadway actress, an Academy Award-winning movie star, a disco sensation, and the subject of a mountain of press coverage."