Cher

Cher (born May 20, 1946, El Centro, California, U.S.) is an American entertainer who parlayed her status as a teenage pop singer in the 1960s into a successful recording, concert, and acting career, projecting an image that is altogether tough, vulnerable, outspoken, and resilient. Known for having a devoted fan base, Cher is regarded as a cultural icon who continually reinvents herself through fashion and new projects.

Childhood

Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt (birth name Jackie Jean Crouch), was an actress who twice married and twice divorced Cher’s father, John Paul Sarkisian, a horse breeder. After her parents’ first divorce, Cher was placed temporarily in an orphanage as her mother struggled financially. Her mother married several other times and had a second daughter, Georganne. In 1961 Cher’s mother married a bank manager, Gilbert Hartmann LaPiere, who adopted Cher and Georganne.

Sonny and Cher

Growing up, Cher struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia, which made her education an unhappy experience. At age 16 she left school and moved to Los Angeles, where she met entertainer and songwriter Salvatore (“Sonny”) Bono, whom she married in 1964. The couple began singing together, and their first big pop hit came in 1965 with “I Got You Babe,” which sold more than three million copies. The duo went on to score a number of hits. With their noticeable height difference, they made for a visually striking couple. But by the late 1960s their popularity had begun to fade. A jump start came in 1971 with the television variety show The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, which ran until 1974. During this time Cher’s solo singing career flourished. She had three number one hits in the early 1970s: “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” “Half-Breed,” and “Dark Lady.” Cher and Sonny divorced in 1974, though they appeared as cohosts of another television show in 1976–77.

Britannica Quiz

Oscar-Worthy Movie Trivia

Acting career

After Sonny left show business, Cher cultivated a successful nightclub act and revisited an earlier interest in acting. She appeared in the Broadway and film versions of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) and received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Silkwood (1983). In 1988 she won an Academy Award for her starring role as an Italian American widow in the romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987). Her other films include Mask (1985), Suspect (1987), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Mermaids (1990), and Tea with Mussolini (1999).

Cher’s television credits include the movie If These Walls Could Talk (1996), with Demi Moore and Sissy Spacek, and guest appearances on the sitcom Will & Grace, where she was the object of a devoted obsession belonging to wannabe entertainer Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes). In 2010 she starred opposite Christina Aguilera as a nightclub owner and performer in the musical drama Burlesque, and in the following year she provided the voice of a lioness in the comedy Zookeeper. Cher later appeared in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).

Later music career

In the late 1980s Cher released two successful albums—Cher (1987) and Heart of Stone (1989). She had a top 10 hit in 1988 with the power ballad “I Found Someone,” followed by what became one of her signature songs, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” which reached number three in 1989. After this success, her music career waned, but she made a comeback with Believe (1998) and Living Proof (2002). In 2000 she won a Grammy Award for the dance single “Believe,” which went to number one on the Billboard chart. “Believe” was the first hit song to make use of Auto-Tune, a form of technology that allows studios to digitally enhance a singer’s pitch.

Personal life and honors

Cher has two sons, Chaz Bono (from her marriage to Sonny Bono) and Elijah Blue Allman (from her marriage to musician Gregg Allman, which lasted from 1975 to 1979). Cher’s enduring popularity with many different generations was evident with a successful (and elaborate) Las Vegas residency from 2008 to 2011. In 2017 she began another concert residency, in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Her later albums include Closer to the Truth (2013), Dancing Queen (2018), and Christmas (2023).

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

In 2018 Cher was named a Kennedy Center honoree. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024. That same year she published Cher: The Memoir, Part One, which covers the icon’s life from childhood up until the beginning of her acting career. The candid memoir was received positively by critics. Cher announced plans to publish the second part in 2025.