CHER INFORMATION:
Genre: Pop, Dance
Hometown: El Centro, CA
Awards: 1 Grammy Award, 1 Emmy Award, 1 Academy Award, 3 Golden Globes
Selected Albums: 1965 All I Really Want to Do, 1971 Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves, 1973 Half-Breed, 1978 Cher, 1989 Heart of Stone, 1991 Love Hurts, 1995-6 It's a Man's World, 1998-9 Believe, 2001-2 Living Proof
Selected Hits: "All I Really Want to Do", "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", "Dark Lady", "If I Could Turn Back Time", "Believe", "Strong Enough"
Other: The single "Believe" is the biggest selling dance song world-wide. Cher was formally married to Greg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
One of pop music's most enduring icons was born in El Centra, California to an Armenian refugee, and an aspiring actress of Cherokee, British, and German ancestry. She met and fell in love with Sonny Bono, who was working with legendary producer Phil Spector. So began the singing career that would eventually turn her into an international recording star and actress.
With a career spanning 5 decades, Cher's fortunes have run hot and cold. Initial success with Sonny in recording and television in the late 60's and early 70's didn't last, as the couple divorced and the late 70's was not a period of great success. The 80's saw Cher break out in on film, eventually capturing the Academy Award in 1987 for her role in Moonstruck. Cher's musical success ramped up once more as the 80's ended and the 90's began, when she achieved multi-platinum success with the albums Cher and Heart of Stone.
Much of the remainder of the 90's was another down period, including the death of former spouse Sonny Bono. The 90's would end with her biggest musical success to date, the Believe album. A departure from her usual pop/rock sound, the dance focused album is still Cher's most commercially successful album to date and garnered 3 Grammy Award nominations and went 4x Platinum. Cher embarked on the successful 3 year "Farewell Tour" through 2005 and now plays at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.