Cher

Cher (/ʃɛər/ SHAIR; born Cheryl Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Goddess of Pop", she is known for her androgynous contralto voice, multifaceted career and bold visual presentation, while cultivating a screen persona that mirrors her public image by often portraying strong-willed and outspoken women. Her continual reinvention has fueled multiple comebacks over a career spanning more than six decades.

Cher gained fame in 1965 as part of the folk rock duo Sonny & Cher, early exponents of 1960s counterculture, while also scoring solo top-ten singles such as "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". In the 1970s, she topped the US Billboard Hot 100 with narrative pop songs "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady". After a hiatus, she reemerged in a hair metal style with the albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989) and Love Hurts (1991), producing international number-one singles "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". At 52, she reached a commercial peak with the dance-pop album Believe (1998), which introduced the "Cher effect"—a stylized use of Auto-Tune to distort vocals. The title track became 1999's number-one song in the US and the UK's best-selling single by a female artist. In the 21st century, she released her highest-charting US Billboard 200 albums, Closer to the Truth (2013) and Dancing Queen (2018), both of which debuted at number three.

Cher became a TV star in the 1970s with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and her solo show Cher, both on CBS, attracting over 30 million weekly viewers. She gained critical acclaim after debuting on Broadway and starring in the film adaptation of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). Transitioning to film, Cher earned two Academy Award nominations—for Silkwood (1983) and Moonstruck (1987), winning Best Actress for the latter—and received the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award for Mask (1985). Other starring roles include The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Mermaids (1990), If These Walls Could Talk (1996, her directorial debut), Tea with Mussolini (1999), Burlesque (2010) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). Her life and career inspired the 2018 jukebox musical The Cher Show.

Cher is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated global sales of over 100 million records. She is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and the only solo artist with number-one singles on the US Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades (1960s–2020s). Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes, the Billboard Icon Award and the Kennedy Center Honors. Her 2002–2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour was the highest-grossing concert tour by a female artist at the time, earning $250 million—about $402 million in 2025. Beyond music and acting, Cher is known for her progressive politics and advocacy for causes including LGBTQ rights and HIV/AIDS awareness.

Cheryl Sarkisian was born in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946. Her father, John Sarkisian, an Armenian-American truck driver with drug and gambling problems, was rarely present during her early life. Her mother, Georgia Holt, was a model and actress of Irish, English, German and Cherokee descent. Cher's paternal grandparents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Cher's parents divorced when she was ten months old. Before leaving, her father placed her in an orphanage for several months; Holt was allowed to visit once a week, only able to see Cher through a window. Both found the experience traumatic.

In 1951, Holt married actor John Southall, with whom she had Cher's half-sister, Georganne. Holt's marriage to Southall ended when Cher was nine; Cher later described him as her "real father" and a "good-natured man who turned belligerent when he drank too much". Holt remarried and divorced several times, frequently moving the family across states, including New York, Texas and California. They often struggled financially, and Cher recalled using rubber bands to hold her shoes together. While living in Los Angeles, Holt pursued acting while working as a waitress, occasionally securing minor TV roles for her daughters in shows such as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

By fifth grade, Cher organized a class performance of the musical Oklahoma!, taking on male roles when boys refused to participate. At nine, her voice was unusually low for a female child. Fascinated by film stars, Cher idolized Audrey Hepburn, particularly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), emulating Hepburn's character's unconventional outfits and demeanor. She also admired Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, but felt discouraged by the lack of dark-haired actresses in Hollywood. She recalled, "In the Walt Disney cartoons, all the witches and evil queens were really dark. There was nobody I could look at and think, 'That's who I'm like.'" As a child, she dreamed of fame but struggled with feelings of inadequacy, describing herself as "unattractive" and "untalented". Reflecting on her ambitions, she later said, "I couldn't think of anything that I could do ... I just thought, 'I'll be famous'. That was my goal."

In 1961, Holt married bank manager Gilbert LaPiere, who adopted Cher (under the name Cheryl LaPiere) and Georganne and enrolled them at Montclair College Preparatory School, a private school in Encino. Coming from a modest background, Cher faced challenges in the upper-class environment, where, as biographer Connie Berman wrote, her "striking appearance" and "outgoing personality" set her apart. A former classmate recalled, "I'll never forget seeing Cher for the first time. She was so special ... like a movie star, right then and there ... She said she was going to be a movie star and we knew she would." Known for her creativity and wit, Cher excelled in French and English but struggled with other subjects, later discovering she has dyslexia. Her unconventional behavior also stood out: she performed songs for students during lunch and surprised peers when she wore a midriff-baring top. Reflecting on her lack of focus in school, Cher said, "I was never really [there]. I was always thinking about when I was grown up and famous."

At 16, Cher left school and moved out of her mother's house to live with a friend. She took acting classes and supported herself by dancing in nightclubs along Hollywood's Sunset Strip, where she introduced herself to performers, managers and agents. According to Berman, "[Cher] did not hesitate to approach anyone she thought could help her get a break". Cher met performer Sonny Bono, 11 years her senior, in November 1962 when he was working for record producer Phil Spector. Cher's friend moved out and Cher accepted Sonny's offer to be his housekeeper. Sonny introduced Cher to Spector, who used her as a backup singer on many recordings, including the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and the Ronettes' "Be My Baby". Spector produced her first single, "Ringo, I Love You", which Cher recorded under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. Many radio programmers rejected the song, mistaking Cher's deep contralto for a man's voice and assuming it was a male homosexual singing a love song to the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

Cher and Sonny became close friends, later lovers and held an unofficial wedding ceremony in a hotel room in Tijuana, Mexico, on October 27, 1964. Although Sonny had wanted to launch Cher as a solo artist, she encouraged him to perform with her because she suffered from stage fright and he began joining her onstage, singing the harmonies. Cher disguised her nervousness by looking at Sonny; she later commented that she sang to the people through him. In late 1964, they emerged as a duo called Caesar & Cleo, releasing the poorly received singles "Do You Wanna Dance?", "Love Is Strange" and "Let the Good Times Roll".

Cher signed with Liberty Records' Imperial imprint in the end of 1964 and Sonny became her producer. The single "Dream Baby", released under the name "Cherilyn", received airplay in Los Angeles. Imperial encouraged Cher to work with Sonny on her second solo single for the label, a cover of Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do". It peaked at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the UK singles chart in 1965. Meanwhile, the Byrds had released their own version of the same song. When competition on the singles charts started between Cher and the Byrds, the group's record label began to promote the B-side of the Byrds' single. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds commented, "We loved the Cher version ... We didn't want to hassle. So we just turned our record over." Cher's debut album, All I Really Want to Do (1965), reached number 16 on the US Billboard 200; it was later described by AllMusic's Tim Sendra as "one of the stronger folk-pop records of the era".

Following Cher's solo success, the duo rebranded as Sonny & Cher. After recording "I Got You Babe", they traveled to England in July 1965 at the Rolling Stones' advice; Cher recalled, "[they] had told us ... that Americans just didn't get us and that if we were going to make it big, we were going to have to go to England." According to writer Cintra Wilson,

"I Got You Babe" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became, according to AllMusic's Bruce Eder, "one of the biggest-selling and most beloved pop/rock hits of the mid-'60s". As the song knocked the Beatles off the top of the British charts, English teenagers began to emulate Sonny & Cher's fashion style, such as bell-bottoms, striped pants and fur vests. Upon their return to the US, the duo debuted on film with a cameo in Wild on the Beach (1965), made several appearances on the teen-pop showcases Hullabaloo and Shindig! and completed a tour of some of the largest arenas in the country. Their shows attracted Cher look-alikes, with girls straightening and dyeing their hair black to emulate her style, often pairing it with vests and bell-bottoms.