title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In July 2011, the Chili Peppers played three invitation-only warm-up shows in California, their first since 2007. They began a month-long promotional tour in August 2011, starting in Asia. The I'm with You World Tour ran from September 2011 until 2013. The North American leg, expected to begin in January 2012, was postponed to March due to a surgery Kiedis required for foot injuries he had sustained during the Stadium Arcadium tour. Following the "I'm with You World Tour", the band set out on another small tour, including their first shows in Alaska, Paraguay, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Recordings from the tours were released in 2012 on the free "2011 Live EP."


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The Chili Peppers were nominated for two MTV Europe Music Awards for "Best Rock Band" and "Best Live Artist" and nominated for "Best Group" at the 2012 People's Choice Awards "I'm with You" was also nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. In April 2012, the Chili Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. May saw the release of the download-only "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Covers EP", comprising previously released studio and live covers of artists that had influenced the band. From August 2012, the band began releasing a series of singles as the "I'm with You Sessions," which were compiled on the "I'm Beside You" LP in November 2013 as a Record Store Day exclusive.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In February 2014, the Chili Peppers joined Bruno Mars as performers at the Super Bowl XLVIII half-time show, watched by a record 115.3 million viewers. The performance was met with mixed reviews for its use of backing music; Flea responded that it was an NFL rule for bands to pre-record music due to time and technical issues, and that they had agreed because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He said Kiedis's vocals were completely live and the band had recorded "Give it Away" during rehearsals. The band began another tour in May 2013, which ended in June 2014. "2012-13 Live EP" was released in July 2014 through their website as a free download.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The Chili Peppers released "Fandemonium" in November 2014, a book dedicated to their fans. That December, they began work on their eleventh album, their first without producer Rick Rubin since 1989; it was instead produced by Danger Mouse. Flea broke his arm during a skiing trip, which delayed the recording for several months. "Dark Necessities", the first single from their upcoming album, was released on May 5. Their eleventh album, "The Getaway", was released in June. Kiedis said the songs were influenced by a two-year relationship that fell apart. "Dark Necessities" became the band's 25th top-ten single on the "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart, a record they hold over U2. In February 2016, "Circle of the Noose", an unreleased song recorded with Navarro in 1998, was leaked.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In May, the band released "The Getaway". The music video for "Dark Necessities", directed by actress Olivia Wilde, was released in June 2016. "The Getaway" made its debut at number 2 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, behind Drake, who had the number-one album for eight consecutive weeks. "The Getaway" outsold Drake its opening week with album sales of 108,000 to 33,000 (actually placing him at 4th in sales for the week) though due to album streaming, Drake managed to top the band for the top position in the charts. In July 2016, the "Live In Paris EP" was released exclusively through the music streaming website Deezer. "Go Robot" was announced as the second single from "The Getaway". In the same month, the band members started to post images from the set of the music video. "The Getaway" was reissued on limited edition pink vinyl in September, as part of 10 Bands 1 Cause. All money from sales of the re-issue went to Gilda's Club NYC an organization that provides community support for both those diagnosed with cancer and their caretakers. It is named after comedian Gilda Radner.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The band began the headlining portion of the Getaway World Tour in September with the North American leg, featuring Jack Irons, the band's original drummer, as an opening act, beginning in January 2017. Dave Rat, the band's sound engineer since 1991, announced that following the show of January 22, 2017, he would no longer be working with the band.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The Getaway World Tour concluded in October 2017. The tour consisted of 151 shows lasting a year and almost five months. In December, the band headlined the Band Together 2 Benefit Concert at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Money raised from the concert went to the Tipping Point Emergency Relief Fund which between 2005 and 2017 raised $150 million to educate, employ, house and support those in need in the Bay Area.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The recording of the next Chili Peppers album was delayed due to the Woolsey Fire; the band performed a benefit show for fire victims on January 13, 2019. In February, they performed "Dark Necessities" with rapper Post Malone at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. They appeared in Malone's music video for "Wow", released in March.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In February 2019, the Chili Peppers began a month-long tour, featuring their first headlining shows in Australia in 12 years, including their first show in Tasmania, which was briefly halted due to a power outage. On March 15, they performed in Egypt, becoming one of the few acts allowed to perform at the Pyramids of Giza. The performance was livestreamed. On October 26, the photographer David Mushegain announced that a Chili Peppers documentary was in the works.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: On December 15, 2019, the Chili Peppers announced that, after 10 years, they had split with Klinghoffer and that Frusciante had rejoined the band. They wrote that Klinghoffer was "a beautiful musician who we respect and love". In an interview on the podcast "WTF with Marc Maron", Klinghoffer said there was no animosity: "It's absolutely John's place to be in that band ... I'm happy that he's back with them." On November 2, the Chili Peppers performed at a charity event at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles; it was their final show with Klinghoffer. Klinghoffer released his debut solo album, "To Be One with You", on November 22, 2019, featuring Flea and the former Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: On February 8, 2020, Frusciante performed with the Chili Peppers for the first time in 13 years at a memorial service held by the Tony Hawk Foundation for late film producer Andrew Burkle, son of billionaire Ronald Burkle. Shows were scheduled for three festivals that May, but were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, the former Chili Peppers guitarist Jack Sherman died aged 64; the band issued a statement thanking him for "all times good, bad and in between".


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: On April 24, 2021, the Chili Peppers announced that they had left Q Prime, their management company for the previous 20 years, and would now be managed by their longtime friend Guy Oseary, founder of Maverick Records. On May 3, it was reported that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would sell their back catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $140–$150 million. On March 31, the Chili Peppers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The 12th Red Hot Chili Peppers album, "Unlimited Love", produced by Rubin, was released on April 1, 2022. It debuted at number one in ten countries, becoming the first US number-one Chili Peppers album since "Stadium Arcadium". It was promoted with the singles "Black Summer" and "These Are the Ways". "NME" wrote that "Unlimited Love" shared the "melancholic riffmaking, anthemic choruses and softly-sung melodies" of Frusciante's previous work with the Chili Peppers, but introduced new "grungy" and acoustic elements.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: On the day of the release, the broadcasting company Sirius XM launched a dedicated Red Hot Chili Peppers channel, Whole Lotta Red Hot, featuring music videos, live performances and acts that influenced the Chili Peppers. On June 4, the Red Hot Chili Peppers began their Global Stadium Tour.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The 12th Chili Peppers album, "Return of the Dream Canteen", recorded during the same sessions as "Unlimited Love," was released on October 14. The first single, "Tippa My Tongue", was released in August, followed by "The Drummer". The former Chili Peppers drummer D.H. Peligro died at the age of 63 on October 28, 2022.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has been characterized as funk rock, alternative rock, funk metal and rap rock, with influences from hard, psychedelic and punk rock. Regarding their genre, Flea stated in a 2006 "Guitar World" interview, "For all the styles that have come and gone through-out our career, we never really aligned ourselves with any of them; we were never part of any movement. At one time, people put us together in a category with Fishbone and Faith No More, but we were always different from those bands, and they were always different from us." The band's influences include Parliament-Funkadelic, Defunkt, Jimi Hendrix, the Misfits, Black Sabbath, Metallica, James Brown, Gang of Four, Bob Marley, Big Boys, Bad Brains, Sly and the Family Stone, Ohio Players, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, Deep Purple, the Beach Boys, Black Flag, Ornette Coleman, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Fugazi, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Santana, Elvis Costello, the Stooges, the Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Devo, and Miles Davis.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Kiedis provided multiple vocal styles. His primary approach up to "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" was spoken verse and rapping, which he complemented with traditional vocals. This helped the band to maintain a consistent style. As the group matured, notably with "Californication" (1999), they reduced the number of rapped verses. "By the Way" (2002) contained only two songs with a rap-driven verse and melodic chorus. Kiedis's more recent style was developed through ongoing coaching.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Original guitarist Slovak's style was based in blues and funk. Slovak was primarily influenced by hard-rock artists such as Hendrix, Kiss and Led Zeppelin, while his playing method was based on improvisation common in funk. He was noted for an aggressive playing style; he would often play with such force, that his fingers would "come apart". Kiedis observed that his playing evolved during his time away from the group in What Is This?, when Slovak adopted a more fluid style featuring "sultry" elements compared to his earlier hard-rock techniques. On "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" (1987), Slovak experimented with genres outside of traditional funk music including reggae and speed metal. His guitar riffs would often serve as the basis of the group's songs, with the other members writing their parts to complement his guitar work. His melodic riff featured in the song "Behind the Sun" inspired the group to create "pretty" songs with an emphasis on melody. Kiedis describes the song as "pure Hillel inspiration". Slovak also used a talk box on songs such as "Green Heaven" and "Funky Crime", in which he would sing into a tube while playing to create psychedelic effects.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Frusciante's musical style has evolved over the course of his career. His guitar playing employs melody and emotion rather than virtuosity. Although virtuoso influences can be heard throughout his career, he has said that he often minimizes this. Frusciante brought a melodic and textured sound, notably on "Californication", "By the Way" and "Stadium Arcadium" (2006). This contrasts with his earlier abrasive approach in "Mother's Milk", as well as his dry, funky and more docile arrangements on "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". On "Californication" and "By the Way", Frusciante derived the technique of creating tonal texture through chord patterns from post-punk guitarist Vini Reilly of the Durutti Column, and bands such as Fugazi and the Cure. On "By the Way", he wanted people to be able to sing the lead guitar part, influenced by John McGeoch of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Johnny Marr of the Smiths and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division. He initially wanted this album to be composed of "these punky, rough songs", drawing inspiration from early punk artists such as the Germs and the Damned. However, this was discouraged by producer Rick Rubin, and he instead built upon "Californication"s melodically driven style. During the recording of "Stadium Arcadium" (2006), he moved away from his new-wave influences and concentrated on emulating flashier guitar players such as Hendrix and Van Halen. Navarro brought his own sound to the band during his tenure, with his style based on heavy metal, progressive rock and psychedelia.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Flea's bass guitar style can be considered an amalgamation of funk, psychedelic, punk, and hard rock. The groove-heavy melodies, played through either finger-picking or slapping, contributed to their signature style. While Flea's slap bass style was prominent in earlier albums, albums after "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" have more melodic and funk-driven bass lines. He has also used double stops on some newer songs. Flea's bass playing has changed considerably throughout the years. When he joined Fear, his technique centered largely around traditional punk-rock bass lines. However, he changed this style when the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed. He began to incorporate a "slap" bass style that drew influence largely from Bootsy Collins. "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" saw a notable shift in style as it featured none of his signature technique but focused more on traditional and melodic roots. His intellectual beliefs as a musician also shifted: "I was trying to play simply on "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" because I had been playing too much prior to that, so I thought, 'I've really got to chill out and play half as many notes'. When you play less, it's more exciting—there's more room for everything. If I do play something busy, it stands out, instead of the bass being a constant onslaught of notes. Space is good."


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Drummer Smith blends rock with funk, mixing metal and jazz to his beats. Influences include Buddy Rich and John Bonham. He brought a different sound to "Mother's Milk", playing tight and fast. In "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", he displays greater power. He is recognized for his ghost notes, his beats and his fast right foot. MusicRadar put him in sixth place on their list of the "50 Greatest Drummers Of All Time".


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: During their early career, the Chili Peppers would often perform nude, wearing only socks over their genitals; this became a part of their stage persona, and brought them early notoriety. They retired the tradition in 2000 as they approached their forties.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Early in the group's career, Kiedis wrote comical songs filled with sexual innuendos and songs inspired by friendship and the band members' personal experiences. However, after the death of his close friend and bandmate Hillel Slovak, Kiedis's lyrics became much more introspective and personal, as exemplified by the "Mother's Milk" song "Knock Me Down", which was dedicated to Slovak along with the "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" song "My Lovely Man".


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: When the band recorded "One Hot Minute" (1995) Kiedis had turned to drugs once again, which resulted in darker lyrics. He began to write about anguish, and the self-mutilating thoughts he would experience as a result of his heroin and cocaine addiction. The album also featured tributes to close friends the band lost during the recording process including Kurt Cobain on the song "Tearjerker" and River Phoenix on the song "Transcending".


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: After witnessing Frusciante's recovery from his heroin addiction, Kiedis wrote many songs inspired by rebirth and the meaning of life on "Californication". He was also intrigued by the life lessons that the band had learned, including Kiedis's experience with meeting a young mother at the YMCA, who was attempting to battle her crack addiction while living with her infant daughter.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: On "By the Way", Kiedis was lyrically influenced by love and his girlfriend. Drugs also played an integral part in Kiedis's writings, as he had only been sober since 2000. Tracks like "This Is the Place" and "Don't Forget Me" expressed his intense dislike for narcotics and the harmful physical and emotional effects they caused him. "Stadium Arcadium" (2006) continued the themes of love and romance; Kiedis stated, that "love and women, pregnancies and marriages, relationship struggles—those are real and profound influences on this record. And it's great, because it wasn't just me writing about the fact that I'm in love. It was everybody in the band. We were brimming with energy based on falling in love." "I'm with You" (2011) again featured Kiedis writing about the loss of a close friend, this time in the song "Brendan's Death Song", a tribute to club owner Brendan Mullen who gave the band some of their earliest shows and showed support to them throughout their career.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Themes within Kiedis's repertoire include love and friendship, teenage angst, good-time aggression, various sexual topics and the link between sex and music, political and social commentary (Native American issues in particular), romance, loneliness, globalization and the cons of fame and Hollywood, poverty, drugs, alcohol, dealing with death, and California.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The Red Hot Chili Peppers' mix of hard rock, funk and hip hop has influenced genres such as funk metal, rap metal, rap rock and nu metal. AllMusic claim that in 1992, "oodles of (mostly horribly bad) funk-metal acts were following in Faith No More and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' footsteps." Bands who have cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence include Incubus, Mr. Bungle, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, Papa Roach, 311 and Sugar Ray. The members of Korn, who were formerly in the funk metal band L.A.P.D., have also cited them as an influence. Kiedis said the band were early to combine "hardcore funk and hip-hop-style vocals", and suggested they had influenced Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, and Linkin Park. Smith said, "Certainly Anthony's singing style and voice lends itself to being unique, and nobody sounds like him. The cool thing about it is we can play any style of music whether it's hard and fast, or loud or quiet, slow or medium, whatever it is; rock or funk, and it still sounds like us. I'm proud of that because sometimes bands don't have that strong personality where you go, 'Oh, that's boom, right away.'"


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The Red Hot Chili Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame In April 2012. The induction lineup was Kiedis, Flea, Smith, Klinghoffer, Frusciante, Slovak (represented by his brother James), Irons and Martinez; Frusciante was invited, but did not attend. Navarro and Sherman were not inducted; Sherman said he felt "dishonored". The band performed "By the Way", "Give It Away" and "Higher Ground", which included Irons and Martinez on drums. It was the first time Kiedis and Flea had performed with Irons in more than 20 years.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In 2003, "Rolling Stone" released their first list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", with "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" at 310 and "Californication" at 399. In 2012, a revised list was released, with "Californication" at 401. In 2020, "Rolling Stone" released another version of the list, with "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" at 186 and "Californication" at 286.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 31, 2022. George Clinton, Woody Harrelson and Bob Forrest unveiled the star at the ceremony.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: On August 28, 2022, the band received the Global Icon Award at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. The award was presented to them by Cheech & Chong.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In 1990, the Chili Peppers appeared in PSA ads for Rock the Vote, a non-profit organization in the United States geared toward increasing voter turnout in the United States Presidential Election among voters ages 18 to 24.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: The band was invited by the Beastie Boys and the Milarepa Fund to perform at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in June 1996 in San Francisco. They also performed at the June 1998 Washington, D.C. concert. The concerts, which were held worldwide, were to support the cause of Tibetan independence. In September 2005, the band performed "Under the Bridge" at the benefit which was held to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The live event raised $30 million.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In July 2007, the band performed on behalf of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore who invited the band to perform at the London version of his Live Earth concerts which were held to raise awareness towards global warming and solving the most critical environmental issues of our time. The band performed a free concert in downtown Cleveland, Ohio in April 2012 in support of President Obama's re-election campaign. The requirement for getting into the concert was agreeing to volunteer for the Obama 2012 phone bank. The event quickly met its capacity limit after being announced.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In May 2013, the band performed a concert in Portland, Oregon, for the Dalai Lama as part of the Dalai Lama Environmental Summit. In January 2015, they performed their first show of the new year for the "Sean Penn & Friends Help Haiti Home" fundraiser in support of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. The band were among over 120 entertainers and celebrities to sign up and announce that they would be voting for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election in September. The band performed at a fundraiser event at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach in the same month. All money was donated to A Reason To Survive (ARTS), Heartbeat Music Academy, San Diego Young Artists Music Academy, and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. In October, Kiedis and Flea hosted the annual benefit for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. The band performed a special rare acoustic set.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In February 2016, the band headlined a fundraiser concert in support of Sanders. In April, they performed at a private function on behalf of Facebook and Napster founder Sean Parker for his launch of The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Smith and Will Ferrell hosted the "Red Hot Benefit Comedy + Music Show & Quinceanera" in the same month. The benefit featured a performance by the Chili Peppers along with comedy acts selected by Ferrell and Funny or Die. A portion of the proceeds went to Ferrell's Cancer for College and Smith's Silverlake Conservatory of Music.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In February 2018, Smith once again joined Ferrell at his One Classy Night benefit at the Moore Theater in Seattle to help raise money for Cancer for College. The event raised $300,000 in college scholarship money for students who have survived cancer.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In 1990, Anthony Kiedis was convicted of sexual battery and indecent exposure after a concert at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 21, 1989. Kiedis exposed himself and pressed his penis to a woman’s face against her wishes.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: Also in 1990, Flea and Chad Smith were arrested on charges of battery in Daytona Beach, Florida, at a performance for MTV during spring break, with Flea also charged with disorderly conduct and solicitation to commit an unnatural and lascivious act. Flea picked up a 20-year-old woman and threw her into the sand, while Smith forcibly removed her bathing suit and slapped her buttocks. Flea allegedly demanded that she perform oral sex on him before both he and Smith were escorted off the premises by security. In a 1992 "Rolling Stone" interview, Flea said of the Florida incident: "I did verbally abuse her, and it was wrong ... I will admit to that every time. I wish I'd never done it, and it was a really stupid thing to do. I was out of control. But I did not assault anybody, and it was not sexual. It had nothing to do with sex." The arrests led to the State University of New York at New Paltz banning the band from performing a free scheduled concert.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In Kiedis's autobiography "Scar Tissue", he admitted to having sexual relations with a 14-year-old fan who was the daughter of a Louisiana police chief despite her telling Kiedis she was underage. He wrote the song "Catholic School Girls Rule" about the incident. In 1986, Kiedis dated the 16-year old Ione Skye, daughter of Donovan, despite her being below the age of consent in California.


title: Red Hot Chili Peppers

text: In 2016, former music executive Julie Farman penned an essay in which she discussed being sexually harassed by two members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1991.


title: Cher

text: Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. Cher is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances throughout her six-decade-long career. Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song "I Got You Babe" peaked at number one on the US and UK charts. Together they sold 40 million records worldwide. Her solo career was established during the same time, with the top-ten singles "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" and "You Better Sit Down Kids". She became a television personality in the 1970s with her CBS shows; first "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour", watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and then the namesake "Cher". She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows. While working on television, Cher released the US "Billboard" Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady", becoming the female artist with the most number-one singles in United States history at the time. After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975, she released the disco album "Take Me Home" (1979) and earned $300,000 a week for her 1979–1982 concert residency in Las Vegas.


title: Cher

text: In 1982, Cher made her Broadway debut in the play "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" and starred in its film adaptation. She subsequently garnered critical acclaim for her performances in films such as "Silkwood" (1983), "Mask" (1985), "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987), and "Moonstruck" (1987), the last of which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then revived her music career by recording the rock-inflected albums "Cher" (1987), "Heart of Stone" (1989), and "Love Hurts" (1991), all of which yielded successful singles such as "I Found Someone", "If I Could Turn Back Time", and "Love and Understanding". Cher contributed to the soundtrack for her next film, "Mermaids" (1990), which spawned the UK number-one single "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". She made her directorial debut with a segment in the abortion-themed anthology "If These Walls Could Talk" (1996).


title: Cher

text: Cher reached a new commercial peak in 1998 with the dance-pop album "Believe", whose title track topped the "Billboard" Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1999 and became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK. It features pioneering use of Auto-Tune to distort her vocals, known as the "Cher effect". Her 2002–2005 became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, earning $250 million. In 2008, she signed a $60 million deal to headline the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three years. During the 2010s, she landed starring roles in the films "Burlesque" (2010) and "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" (2018) and released studio albums "Closer to the Truth" (2013) and "Dancing Queen" (2018), both of which debuted at number three on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Cher

text: Having sold 100 million records, Cher is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her achievements include a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, the "Billboard" Icon Award, and awards from the Kennedy Center Honors and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a "Billboard" chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. Aside from music and acting, she is noted for her political views, social media presence, philanthropic endeavors, and social activism, including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.


title: Cher

text: Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946. Her father, John Sarkisian, was an Armenian-American truck driver with drug and gambling problems; her mother, Georgia Holt (born Jackie Jean Crouch), was a former model and retired actress who claims Irish, English, German, and Cherokee ancestry. Cher's father was rarely home when she was an infant, and her parents divorced when Cher was ten months old. Her mother later married actor John Southall, with whom she had another daughter, Georganne, Cher's half-sister.


title: Cher

text: Now living in Los Angeles, Cher's mother began acting while working as a waitress. She changed her name to Georgia Holt and played minor roles in films and on television. Holt also secured acting parts for her daughters as extras on television shows like "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet". Her mother's relationship with Southall ended when Cher was nine years old, but she considers him her father and remembers him as a "good-natured man who turned belligerent when he drank too much". Holt remarried and divorced several more times, and she moved her family around the country (including New York, Texas, and California). They often had little money, and Cher recounted having had to use rubber bands to hold her shoes together. At one point, her mother left Cher at an orphanage for several weeks. Although they met every day, both found the experience traumatic.


title: Cher

text: When Cher was in fifth grade, she produced a performance of the musical "Oklahoma!" for her teacher and class. She organized a group of girls, directing and choreographing their dance routines. Unable to convince boys to participate, she acted the male roles and sang their songs. By age nine, she had developed an unusually low voice. Fascinated by film stars, Cher's role model was Audrey Hepburn, particularly due to her role in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Cher began to take after the unconventional outfits and behavior of Hepburn's character. She was also inspired by Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, and Katharine Hepburn. She was disappointed by the absence of dark-haired Hollywood actresses whom she could emulate. She had wanted to be famous since childhood but felt unattractive and untalented, later commenting, "I couldn't think of anything that I could do ... I didn't think I'd be a singer or dancer. I just thought, well, I'll be famous. That was my goal."


title: Cher

text: 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, whose students were mostly from affluent families. The school's upper-class environment presented a challenge for Cher; biographer Connie Berman wrote, "[she] stood out from the others in both her striking appearance and outgoing personality." A former classmate commented, "I'll never forget seeing Cher for the first time. She was so special ... She was like a movie star, right then and there ... She said she was going to be a movie star and we knew she would." Despite not being an excellent student, Cher was intelligent and creative, according to Berman. She earned high grades, excelling in French and English classes. As an adult, she discovered that she had dyslexia. Cher's unconventional behavior stood out: she performed songs for students during the lunch hours and surprised peers when she wore a midriff-baring top. She later recalled, "I was never really in school. I was always thinking about when I was grown up and famous."


title: Cher

text: At age 16, Cher dropped out of school, left her mother's house, and moved to Los Angeles with a friend. She took acting classes and worked to support herself, dancing in small clubs along Hollywood's Sunset Strip and introducing herself to performers, managers, and agents. According to Berman, "[Cher] did not hesitate to approach anyone she thought could help her get a break, make a new contact, or get an audition." Cher met performer Sonny Bono 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 Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Spector produced her first single, "Ringo, I Love You", which Cher recorded under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. The song was rejected by many radio stations programmers as they thought Cher's deep contralto vocals were a man's vocals; therefore, they believed it was a male homosexual singing a love song dedicated to the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.


title: Cher

text: Cher and Sonny became close friends, eventual lovers, and performed their own 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".


title: Cher

text: 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 version of Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do". It peaked at number 15 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 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 "Billboard" 200; it was later described by AllMusic's Tim Sendra as "one of the stronger folk-pop records of the era".


title: Cher

text: In early 1965, Caesar and Cleo began calling themselves Sonny & Cher. Following the recording of "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, "English newspaper photographers showed up when S&C were thrown out of the London Hilton [because of their outfits] the night they arrived—literally overnight, they were stars. London went gaga for the heretofore-unseen S&C look, which was neither mod nor rocker."


title: Cher

text: "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"; "Rolling Stone" listed it among "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2003. As the song knocked the Beatles off the top of the British charts, English teenagers began to emulate Sonny and Cher's fashion style, such as bell-bottoms, striped pants, ruffled shirts, industrial zippers and fur vests. Upon their return to the US, the duo made several appearances on the teen-pop showcases "Hullabaloo" and "Shindig!" and completed a tour of some of the largest arenas in the US. Their shows attracted Cher look-alikes—"girls who were ironing their hair straight and dyeing it black, to go with their vests and bell-bottoms". Cher expanded her creative range by designing a clothing line.


title: Cher

text: Sonny and Cher's first album, "Look at Us" (1965), released for the Atco Records division of Atlantic Records, spent eight weeks at number two on the "Billboard" 200, behind the Beatles' "Help!". Their material became popular, and the duo successfully competed with the dominant British Invasion and Motown sounds of the era. Author Joseph Murrells described Sonny and Cher as "part of the leading exponents of the rock-folk-message type of song, a hybrid combining the best and instrumentation of rock music with folk lyric and often lyrics of protest." Sonny and Cher charted ten "Billboard" top 40 singles between 1965 and 1972, including five top-ten singles: "I Got You Babe", "Baby Don't Go", "The Beat Goes On", "All I Ever Need Is You", and "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done". At one point, they had five songs in the top 50 at the same time, a feat equaled only by the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Together they sold 40 million records worldwide and had become, according to "Time" magazine's Ginia Bellafante, rock's "it" couple.


title: Cher

text: Cher's following releases kept her solo career fully competitive with her work with Sonny. "The Sonny Side of Chér" (1966) features "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", which reached number two in the US and number three in the UK and became her first million-seller solo single. "Chér", also released in 1966, contains the Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition "Alfie", which was added to the credits of the American version of the 1966 film of the same name and became the first stateside version of the popular song. "With Love, Chér" (1967) includes songs described by biographer Mark Bego as "little soap-opera stories set to rock music" such as the US top-ten single "You Better Sit Down Kids".


title: Cher

text: By the end of the 1960s, Sonny and Cher's music had ceased to chart. According to Berman, "the heavy, loud sound of groups like Jefferson Airplane and Cream made the folk-rock music of Sonny and Cher seem too bland." Cher later said, "I loved the new sound of Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the electric-guitar oriented bands. Left to myself, I would have changed with the times because the music really turned me on. But [Sonny] didn't like it—and that was that." Their monogamous lifestyle during the period of the sexual revolution and the anti-drug position they adopted at the height of the drug culture lost them popularity among American youths. According to Bego, "in spite of their revolutionary unisex clothes, Sonny and Cher were quite 'square' when it came to sex and drugs." In an attempt to recapture their young audience, the duo produced and starred in the film "Good Times" (1967), which was commercially unsuccessful.


title: Cher

text: Cher's next album, "Backstage" (1968), in which she explores diverse musical genres including Brazilian jazz and anti-war protest settings, was not a commercial success. In 1969, she was dropped from Imperial Records while Sonny and Cher had been dropped from Atco; however, the label wanted to sign Cher for a solo album. "3614 Jackson Highway" (1969) was recorded without the guidance of Sonny and incorporates experiments in rhythm and blues and soul music. AllMusic's Mark Deming proclaimed it "arguably the finest album of her career", and still "a revelation" decades later. Displeased with the "3614 Jackson Highway" album, Sonny prevented Cher from releasing more recordings for Atco.


title: Cher

text: Meanwhile, Sonny dated others, and by the end of the 1960s their relationship had begun to unravel. According to "People" magazine, "[Sonny] tried desperately to win her back, telling her he wanted to marry and start a family." They officially married after she gave birth on March 4, 1969, to Chaz Bono.


title: Cher

text: The duo spent $500,000 and mortgaged their home to make the film "Chastity" (1969). Written and produced by Sonny, who did not appear in the movie, it tells the story of a young woman, played by Cher, searching for the meaning of life. The art film failed commercially, putting the couple $190,000 in debt with back taxes. However, some critics noted that Cher showed signs of acting potential; "Cue" magazine wrote, "Cher has a marvelous quality that often makes you forget the lines you are hearing."


title: Cher

text: At the lowest point of their career, the duo put together a nightclub routine that relied on a more adult approach to sound and style. According to writer Cintra Wilson, "Their lounge act was so depressing, people started heckling them. Then Cher started heckling back. Sonny ... reprimanded her; then she'd heckle Sonny". The heckling became a highlight of the act and attracted viewers. Television executives took note, and the couple began making guest appearances on prime-time shows, in which they presented a "new, sophisticated, and mature" image. Cher adopted alluring, low-cut gowns that became her signature outfits.


title: Cher

text: CBS head of programming Fred Silverman offered Sonny and Cher their own television program after he noticed them as guest-hosts on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1971. "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" premiered as a summer replacement series on August 1, 1971, and had six episodes. Because it was a ratings success, the couple returned that December with a full-time show.


title: Cher

text: Watched by more than 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" was praised for the comedic timing, and deadpan Cher mocked Sonny about his looks and short stature. According to Berman, they "exuded an aura of warmth, playfulness, and caring that only enhanced their appeal. Viewers were further enchanted when a young [Chaz] also appeared on the show. They seemed like a perfect family." Cher honed her acting skills in sketch comedy roles such as the brash housewife Laverne, the sardonic waitress Rosa, and historical vamps, including Cleopatra and Miss Sadie Thompson. The Bob Mackie-designed clothing Cher wore was part of the show's attraction, and her style influenced the fashion trends of the 1970s.


title: Cher

text: In 1971, Sonny and Cher signed with the Kapp Records division of MCA Records, and Cher released the single "Classified 1A", in which she sings from the point of view of a soldier who bleeds to death in Vietnam. Written by Sonny, who felt that her first solo single on the label had to be poignant and topical, the song was rejected by radio station programmers as uncommercial.


title: Cher

text: Since Sonny's first attempts at reviving their recording career as a duo had also been unsuccessful, Kapp Records recruited Snuff Garrett to work with them. He produced Cher's second US number-one single, "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", which "proved that ... Garrett knew more about Cher's voice and her persona as a singer than Sonny did", writes Bego. "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was the first single by a solo artist to rank number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart at the same time as on the Canadian Singles Chart. "Billboard" called it "one of the 20th century's greatest songs". It was featured on the 1971 album "Chér" (eventually reissued under the title "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves"), which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its second single, "The Way of Love", reached number seven on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and established Cher's more confident image as a recording artist.


title: Cher

text: In 1972, Cher released the all-ballad set "Foxy Lady", demonstrating the evolution of her vocal abilities, according to Bego. Following the release of the album, Garrett quit as producer after disagreeing with Sonny about the kind of material Cher should record. At Sonny's insistence, in 1973 Cher released an album of standards called "Bittersweet White Light", which was commercially unsuccessful. That year, lyricist Mary Dean brought Garrett "Half-Breed", a song about the daughter of a Cherokee mother and a white father, that she had written especially for Cher. Although Garrett did not have Cher as a client at the time, he was convinced that "it's a smash for Cher and for nobody else", so he held the song for months until he got Cher back. "Half-Breed" was featured on the album of the same name and became Cher's third US number-one single. Both the album and the single were certified gold by the RIAA.


title: Cher

text: In 1974, Cher released the song "Dark Lady" as the lead single from the namesake album. It reached the top position on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Cher's fourth number-one single and making her the female artist with the most number-one singles in United States history at the time. Later that year, she released a "Greatest Hits" album that, according to "Billboard" magazine, proved her to be "one of the most consistent hitmakers of the past five years", as well as a "proven superstar who always sells records".


title: Cher

text: Between 1971 and 1973, Sonny and Cher's recording career was revived with four albums released under Kapp Records and MCA Records: "Sonny & Cher Live" (1971), "All I Ever Need Is You" (1972), "Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer, Papa Used to Write All Her Songs" (1973), and "Live in Las Vegas Vol. 2" (1973). Cher later commented on this period: "I could do a whole album ... in three days ... We were on the road ... and we were doing the Sonny & Cher Show".


title: Cher

text: Cher and Sonny had had marital problems since late 1972, but appearances were maintained until 1974. "The public still thinks we are married," Sonny wrote in his diary at the time, "[and] that's the way it has to be." In February 1974, Sonny filed for a separation, citing "irreconcilable differences". A week later, Cher countered with a divorce suit and charged Sonny with "involuntary servitude", claiming that he withheld money from her and deprived her of her rightful share of their earnings. The couple battled in court over finances and the custody of Chaz, which was eventually granted to Cher. Their divorce was finalized on June 26, 1975.


title: Cher

text: In 1974, Cher won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour". The same year, Sonny premiered a solo show on ABC, "The Sonny Comedy Revue", which carried the creative team behind the Sonny and Cher show. It was canceled after 13 weeks.


title: Cher

text: During the divorce proceedings, Cher had a two-year romantic relationship with record executive David Geffen, who freed her from her business arrangement with Sonny, under which she was required to work exclusively for Cher Enterprises, the company he ran. Geffen secured a $2.5 million deal for Cher with Warner Bros. Records, and she began work on her first album under that label in 1975. According to Bego, "it was their intention that [this album] was going to make millions of fans around the world take her seriously as a rock star, and not just a pop singer."


title: Cher

text: Despite Cher's efforts to develop her musical range by listening to artists such as Stevie Wonder, Elton John, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan, the resulting album "Stars" was commercially and critically unsuccessful. Janet Maslin of "The Village Voice" wrote, "Cher is just no rock and roller ... Image, not music, is Cher Bono's main ingredient for both records and TV." The album has since become a cult classic and is generally considered among her best work.


title: Cher

text: On February 16, 1975, Cher returned to television with a solo show on CBS. Called "Cher", it began as a highly rated special with guests Flip Wilson, Elton John, and Bette Midler. The show was produced by Geffen and centered on Cher's songs, monologs, comedy performance, and her variation of clothing, which was the largest for a weekly TV show. Early critical reception was favorable; the "Los Angeles Times" exclaimed that "Sonny without Cher was a disaster. Cher without Sonny, on the other hand, could be the best thing that's happened to weekly television this season." "Cher" lasted for less than a year, replaced by a new show in which she professionally reunited with ex-husband Sonny; she said, "doing a show alone was more than I could handle." According to "The Ringer" Lindsay Zoladz, "[Cher] found the network censors to be more watchful than they were when she was married to Sonny ... When she was single or casually dating, Cher always seemed to pose more of a threat to the "status quo" than she did when she was Sonny's wife."


title: Cher

text: On June 30, 1975, four days after finalizing her divorce from Sonny, Cher married rock musician Gregg Allman, co-founder of The Allman Brothers Band. She filed for divorce nine days later because of his heroin and liquor problems, but they reconciled within a month. They had one son, Elijah Blue, on July 10, 1976. Sonny and Cher's TV reunion, "The Sonny and Cher Show", debuted on CBS in February 1976—the first show ever to star a divorced couple. Although the show was a ratings success on its premiere, Cher and Sonny's insulting onscreen banter about their divorce, her reportedly extravagant lifestyle, and her troubled relationship with Allman caused a public backlash that eventually contributed to the show's cancellation in August 1977.


title: Cher

text: In 1976, Mego Toys released a line of toys and dolls in the likeness of Sonny and Cher, which coincided with the popularity of "The Sonny and Cher Show". The miniature version of Cher ended up being the highest selling doll of 1976, surpassing Barbie.


title: Cher

text: Cher's next albums, "I'd Rather Believe in You" (1976) and "Cherished" (1977), the latter a return to her pop style at Warner's producers' insistence, were commercially unsuccessful; "Orange Coast" magazine's Keith Tuber commented, "A weekly television series ... can spell disaster for a recording artist ... Regular exposure on TV allowed people to see and hear these performers without having to buy their records ... That's what happened to Cher[.]" In 1977, under the rubric "Allman and Woman", she recorded alongside Allman the duet album "Two the Hard Way". Their relationship ended following the release of the album, and their divorce was finalized in 1979. Beginning in 1978, she had a two-year live-in relationship with Kiss member Gene Simmons. That year, she legally changed her name from Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman to Cher, to eliminate the use of four surnames. She returned to prime time television with the ABC specials "Cher... Special" (1978)—featuring a 15-minute segment in which she performs all of the roles in her version of "West Side Story"— and "Cher... And Other Fantasies" (1979).


title: Cher

text: A single mother with two children, Cher realized that she had to make a choice about the direction of her singing career. Deciding to temporarily abandon her desire to be a rock singer, she signed with Casablanca Records and launched a comeback with the single "Take Me Home" and the album of the same name, both of which capitalized on the disco craze. Both the album and the single became instant successes, remained bestsellers for more than half of 1979, and were certified gold by the RIAA. Sales of the album may have been boosted by the image of a scantily clad Cher in a Viking outfit on its cover. Despite her initial lack of enthusiasm for disco music, she changed her mind after the success, commenting, "I never thought I would want to do disco ... [but] it's terrific! It's great music to dance to. I think that danceable music is what everybody wants."


title: Cher

text: Encouraged by the popularity of "Take Me Home", Cher planned to return to rock music in her next album, "Prisoner" (1979). The album's cover features Cher draped in chains as a "prisoner of the press", which caused controversy among feminist groups for her perceived portrayal of a sex slave. She included rock songs, which made the disco release seem unfocused and led to its commercial failure. "Prisoner" produced the single "Hell on Wheels", featured on the soundtrack of the film "Roller Boogie". The song exploits the late 1970s roller-skating fad and contributed to its popularity.


title: Cher

text: In 1980, alongside Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder, Cher wrote her last Casablanca disco recording, "Bad Love", for the film "Foxes". She formed the rock band Black Rose that year with her then-lover, guitarist Les Dudek. Although Cher was the lead singer, she did not receive top billing because she wanted to create the impression that all band members were equal. Since she was easily recognized when she performed with the band, she developed a punk look by cutting her trademark long hair. Despite appearances on television, the band failed to earn concert dates. Their album "Black Rose" received unfavorable reviews; Cher told "Rolling Stone", "The critics panned us, and they didn't attack the record. They attacked me. It was like, 'How dare Cher sing rock & roll?'"


title: Cher

text: Black Rose disbanded in 1981. During Black Rose's active period, Cher was simultaneously doing a residency show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, earning $300,000 a week. Titled Cher in Concert, the three-year performance residency opened in June 1979 and eventually became Cher's first world concert tour as a solo artist (also referred to as the Take Me Home Tour), with additional dates in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. It yielded two television specials: "Standing Room Only: Cher in Concert" (1981) and "Cher... A Celebration at Caesars" (1983), the latter of which won Cher the CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Variety Program.


title: Cher

text: In 1981, Cher released a duet with musician Meat Loaf called "Dead Ringer for Love", which reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and was later described by AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco as "one of the more inspired rock duets of the 1980s". In 1982, Columbia Records released the album "I Paralyze", later deemed by Bego as Cher's "strongest and most consistent solo album in years" despite its low sales.


title: Cher

text: With decreasing album sales and a lack of commercially successful singles, Cher decided to further develop her acting career. While she had previously aspired to venture into film, she had only the critically and commercially unsuccessful movies "Good Times" and "Chastity" to her credit, and the Hollywood establishment did not take her seriously as an actress. Cher later recalled, "I was making a fortune on the road, but I was dying inside. Everyone kept saying, 'Cher, there are people who would give anything to have standing room only at Caesars Palace. It would be the pinnacle of their careers.' And I kept thinking, 'Yes, I should be satisfied' ... But I wasn't satisfied." She moved to New York in 1982 to take acting lessons with Lee Strasberg, founder of the Actors Studio, but never enrolled after her plans changed. She auditioned for and was signed by director Robert Altman for the Broadway stage production "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", playing a member of a James Dean fan club holding a 20-year reunion. That year, Altman cast her again in the film adaptation of the same title.


title: Cher

text: Director Mike Nichols, who had seen Cher onstage in "Jimmy Dean", offered her the part of Dolly Pelliker, a plant co-worker and Meryl Streep's lesbian roommate in the film "Silkwood". When it premiered in 1983, audiences questioned Cher's ability as an actress. She recalls attending a film preview during which the audience laughed when they saw her name in the credits. For her performance, Cher received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.


title: Cher

text: In 1985, Cher formed the film production company Isis. Her next film, "Mask" (1985), reached number two at the box office and was Cher's first critical and commercial success as a leading actress. For her role as a drug addict biker with a teenage son who has a severe physical deformity, she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. During the making of the film, however, she clashed with director Peter Bogdanovich, and was ultimately omitted from the Oscar nomination list. She attended the 58th Academy Awards in a tarantula-like costume, later deemed by "Vanity Fair" Esther Zuckerman as Cher's "Oscar revenge dress". "As you can see, I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress," Cher declared before presenting the nominees for Best Supporting Actor. The incident garnered her much publicity.


title: Cher

text: Cher's May 1986 guest appearance on talk show "Late Night with David Letterman", during which she called Letterman "an asshole", attracted much media coverage; Letterman later recalled, "It did hurt my feelings. Cher was one of the few people I've really wanted to have on the show ... I felt like a total fool, especially since I say all kinds of things to people." She returned to the show in 1987, reuniting with Sonny for the last time before his death to sing an impromptu version of "I Got You Babe". According to "Rolling Stone" Andy Greene, "they weren't exactly the best of friends at this point, but both of them knew it would make for unforgettable television. Had YouTube existed back then, this would have gone insanely viral the next morning." "Rolling Stone" listed the performance among "David Letterman's Top 10 Musical Moments" in 2015.


title: Cher

text: Cher starred in three films in 1987. In "Suspect", she played a public defender who is both helped and romanced by one of the jurors in the homicide case she is handling. Alongside Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, she starred as one of three divorcees involved with a mysterious and wealthy visitor from hell who comes to a small New England town in the comedy horror "The Witches of Eastwick". In Norman Jewison's romantic comedy "Moonstruck", she played an Italian widow in love with her fiancé's younger brother. The two last films ranked among the top ten highest-grossing films of 1987, at number ten and five, respectively.


title: Cher

text: "The New York Times" Janet Maslin wrote "Moonstruck" "offers further proof that Cher has evolved into the kind of larger-than-life movie star who's worth watching whatever she does." For that film, Cher won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. By 1988, Cher had become one of the most bankable actresses of the decade, commanding $1 million per film. That year, she released the fragrance Uninhibited, which earned about $15 million in its first year sales.


title: Cher

text: In 1987, Cher signed with Geffen Records and revived her musical career with what music critics Johnny Danza and Dean Ferguson describe as "her most impressive string of hits to date", establishing her as a "serious rock and roller ... a crown that she'd worked long and hard to capture". Michael Bolton, Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, and Richie Sambora produced her first Geffen album, "Cher". Despite facing strong retail and radio airplay resistance upon its release, the album proved to be a commercial success, certified platinum by the RIAA. "Cher" features the rock ballad "I Found Someone", Cher's first US top-ten single in more than eight years.


title: Cher

text: By the end of the 1980s, Cher was also receiving attention for her controversial lifestyle, including her tattoos, plastic surgeries, exhibitionist fashion sense, and affairs with younger men. She had romantic relationships with actors Val Kilmer, Eric Stoltz, and Tom Cruise, hockey player Ron Duguay, film producer Josh Donen, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, and Rob Camilletti, a bagel baker 18-years her junior whom she dated from 1986 to 1989.


title: Cher

text: Cher's 19th studio album "Heart of Stone" (1989) was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The music video for its second single, "If I Could Turn Back Time", caused controversy due to Cher's performance on the battleship , straddling a cannon, and wearing a leather thong that revealed her tattooed buttocks. The song topped the Australian charts for seven weeks, reached number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and became one of Cher's most successful singles. Other songs from "Heart of Stone" to reach the US top ten were "After All", a duet with Peter Cetera, and "Just Like Jesse James". At the 1989 People's Choice Awards, Cher won the Favorite All-Around Female Star Award. She embarked on the Heart of Stone Tour in 1989. Most critics liked the tour's nostalgic nature and admired Cher's showmanship. Its parent television special "" (1991) was filmed during a concert in Las Vegas.


title: Cher

text: In her first film in three years, "Mermaids" (1990), Cher paid tribute to her own mother in this story about a woman who moves her two daughters from town to town at the end of a love affair. She clashed with the film's first two directors, Lasse Hallström and Frank Oz, who were replaced by Richard Benjamin. Believing Cher would be the star attraction, the producers allowed her creative control for the film. "Mermaids" was a box office success and received generally positive reviews. One of the two songs Cher recorded for the film's soundtrack, a cover version of Betty Everett's "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", topped the UK Singles Chart for five weeks.


title: Cher

text: Cher's final studio album for Geffen Records, "Love Hurts" (1991), stayed at number one in the UK for six weeks and produced the UK top-ten single "Love and Understanding". The album was certified gold by the RIAA. In later years, Cher commented that her Geffen label "hit years" had been especially significant to her, "because I was getting to do songs that I really loved ... songs that really represented me, and they were popular!" She released the exercise book "Forever Fit" in 1991, followed by the 1992 fitness videos "" and "". She embarked on the Love Hurts Tour during 1992. That year, the UK-only compilation album "" peaked at number one in the country for seven weeks. It features three new songs: "Oh No Not My Baby", "Whenever You're Near", and "Many Rivers to Cross".


title: Cher

text: Partially due to her experiences filming "Mermaids", Cher turned down leading roles in such films as "The War of the Roses" and "Thelma & Louise". According to Berman, "After the success of "Moonstruck", she was so worried about her next career move that she was overly cautious." In the early 1990s, she contracted the Epstein–Barr virus and developed chronic fatigue syndrome, which left her too exhausted to sustain her music and film careers. Because she needed to earn money and was not healthy enough to work on other projects, she starred in infomercials launching health, beauty, and diet products, which earned her close to $10 million in fees. The skits were parodied on "Saturday Night Live" and critics considered them a sellout, many suggesting her film career was over. She told "Ladies' Home Journal", "Suddenly I became the Infomercial Queen and it didn't occur to me that people would focus on that and strip me of all my other things."


title: Cher

text: Cher made cameo appearances in the Robert Altman films "The Player" (1992) and "Prêt-à-Porter" (1994). In 1994, she started a mail-order catalog business, "Sanctuary", selling Gothic-themed products, and contributed a rock version of "I Got You Babe" to MTV's animated series "Beavis and Butt-head". Alongside Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry, and Eric Clapton, she topped the UK Singles Chart in 1995 with the charity single "Love Can Build a Bridge". Later that year, she signed with Warner Music UK's label WEA and released the album "It's a Man's World" (1995), which came out of her idea of covering men's songs from a woman's point of view. In general, critics favored the album and its R&B influences, some saying her voice had improved. Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" wrote that "From an artistic standpoint, this soulful collection of grown-up pop songs ... is the high point of her recording career." "It's a Man's World" reached number 10 on the UK Albums Chart and spawned the UK top-ten single "One by One". Tracks were remixed for the American release of the album, abandoning its original rock sound in favor of a style more accessible to US radio. The US release failed commercially, reaching number 64 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Cher

text: In 1996, Cher played the wife of a businessman who hires a hitman to murder her in the Chazz Palminteri-scripted dark comedy film "Faithful". Although the film received negative reviews from critics, Cher was praised for her role; "The New York Times" Janet Maslin wrote that she "does her game best to find comic potential in a victim's role." Cher refused to promote the film, claiming it was "horrible". She made her directorial debut with a segment in the abortion-themed anthology "If These Walls Could Talk" (1996), in which she starred as a doctor murdered by an anti-abortion fanatic. It drew the highest ratings for an original HBO movie to date, registering an 18.7 rating with a 25 share in HBO homes and attracting 6.9 million viewers. Her music played a large role in the American TV series "The X-Files" episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus", which aired in November 1997. Written for her, it tells the story of a scientist's grotesque creature who adores Cher because of her role in "Mask", in which her character cares for her disfigured son.


title: Cher

text: Following Sonny Bono's death in a skiing accident in 1998, Cher delivered a tearful eulogy at his funeral, calling him "the most unforgettable character" she had met. She paid tribute to him by hosting the CBS special "Sonny & Me: Cher Remembers", which aired on May 20, 1998. That month, Sonny and Cher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television. Later that year, Cher published "The First Time", a collection of autobiographical essays of "first-time" events in her life, which critics praised as down-to-earth and genuine. Although the manuscript was almost finished when Sonny died, she could not decide whether to include his death in the book; she feared being criticized for capitalizing on the event. She told "Rolling Stone", "I couldn't ignore it, could I? I might have if I cared more about what people think than what I know is right for me."


title: Cher

text: Cher's 22nd studio album "Believe" (1998) marked a musical departure for her, as it comprises dance-pop songs, many of which capture the "disco-era essence"; Cher said, "It's not that I think this is a '70s album ... but there's a thread, a consistency running through it that I love.'" "Believe" was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA and went on to be certified gold or platinum in 39 countries, selling 10 million copies worldwide. The album's title track reached number one in more than 23 countries and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. It became the bestselling recording of 1998 and 1999, respectively, in the UK and the US, and Cher's most successful single to date. "Believe" topped the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks and became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK, selling over 1.84 million copies in the country up until October 2018. It also topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for four weeks, selling over 1.8 million units in the US up until December 1999. The song earned Cher the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording and the 1999 Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year.


title: Cher

text: On January 31, 1999, Cher performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl XXXIII. Two months later, she sang on the television special "VH1 Divas Live 2", which attracted 19.4 million viewers. According to VH1, it was the most popular, and most watched program in the television network's history, as Cher's presence was "a huge part of making it exactly that." The Do You Believe? tour ran from 1999 to 2000 and was sold out in every American city in which it was booked, amassing a global audience of more than 1.5 million. Its companion television special, "Cher: Live in Concert – From the MGM Grand in Las Vegas" (1999), was the highest rated original HBO program in 1998–99, registering a 9.0 rating among adults 18 to 49 and a 13.0 rating in the HBO universe of about 33 million homes. Capitalizing on the success of "Believe", Cher's former record company Geffen Records released in April 1999 the US-only compilation album "", which features the previously unreleased song "Don't Come Cryin' to Me". It was certified gold by the RIAA. Seven months later, Cher released the compilation album "The Greatest Hits", which sold three million copies outside of the US up until January 2000.


title: Cher

text: Cher was named the number-one dance artist of 1999 by "Billboard". At the 1999 World Music Awards, she received the Legend Award for her "lifelong contribution to the music industry". Her next film, Franco Zeffirelli's "Tea with Mussolini" (1999), received generally positive reviews, and she earned critical acclaim for her performance as a rich, flamboyant American socialite whose visit to Italy is not welcome among the Englishwomen; one reviewer from "Film Comment" wrote, "It is only after she appears that you realize how sorely she's been missed from movie screens! For Cher is a star. That is, she manages the movie star trick of being at once a character and at the same time never allowing you to forget: that's Cher."


title: Cher

text: "Not Commercial" (2000) was written mostly by Cher after she had attended a songwriters' conference in 1994; it marked her first attempt at writing most of the tracks for an album. As the album was rejected by her record label for being uncommercial, she chose to sell it only on her website. In the song "Sisters of Mercy", she criticized as "cruel, heartless and wicked" the nuns who prevented her mother from retrieving her from a Catholic orphanage in Scranton, PA. The Catholic church denounced the song.


title: Cher

text: Cher's highly anticipated dance-oriented follow-up to "Believe", "Living Proof" (2001), entered the "Billboard" 200 at number nine and was certified gold by the RIAA. The album includes the UK top-ten single "The Music's No Good Without You" and "Song for the Lonely", the latter song dedicated to "the courageous people of New York" following the September 11 attacks. In May 2002, she performed during the benefit concert "VH1 Divas Las Vegas". At the 2002 "Billboard" Music Awards, she won the Dance/Club Play Artist of the Year Award and was presented with the Artist Achievement Award by Steven Tyler for having "helped redefine popular music with massive success on the "Billboard" charts". That year, her wealth was estimated at $600 million.


title: Cher

text: In June 2002, Cher embarked on the , announced as the final live concert tour of her career, although she vowed to continue making records and films. The show highlighted her successes in music, television, and film, featuring video clips from the 1960s onwards and an elaborate backdrop and stage set-up.


title: Cher

text: Initially scheduled for 49 shows, the worldwide tour was extended several times. By October 2003, it had become the most successful tour ever by a woman, grossing $145 million from 200 shows and playing to 2.2 million fans. A collection of live tracks taken from the tour was released in 2003 as the album "Live! The Farewell Tour". The NBC special "Cher – The Farewell Tour" (2003) attracted 17 million viewers. It was the highest rated network-TV concert special of 2003 and earned Cher the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special.


title: Cher

text: After leaving Warner UK in 2002, Cher signed a worldwide deal with the US division of Warner Bros. Records in September 2003. "The Very Best of Cher" (2003), a greatest-hits collection that surveys her entire career, peaked at number four on the "Billboard" 200 and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. She played herself in the Farrelly brothers comedy "Stuck on You" (2003), mocking her public image as she appears in bed with a much younger boyfriend.


title: Cher

text: Cher's 326-date Farewell Tour ended in 2005 as one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, seen by over 3.5 million people and earning $250 million. After three years of retirement, she began in 2008 a three-year, 200-performance residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, for which she earned a reported $60 million. Titled Cher, the production featured state-of-the-art video and special effects, elaborate set designs, 14 dancers, four aerialists and more than 20 costume changes.


title: Cher

text: In "Burlesque" (2010), Cher's first musical film since 1967's "Good Times", the actress plays a nightclub impresario whom a young Hollywood hopeful is looking to impress. One of the two songs she recorded for the film's soundtrack, the power ballad "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me", reached number one on the "Billboard" Dance Club Songs chart in January 2011, making Cher the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a "Billboard" chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. In November 2010, she received the honor of placing her handprints and footprints in cement in the courtyard in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The next year, she lent her voice to Janet the Lioness in the comedy "Zookeeper". "Dear Mom, Love Cher", a documentary she produced about her mother Georgia Holt, aired on Lifetime in May 2013.


title: Cher

text: "Closer to the Truth", Cher's 25th studio album and the first since 2001's "Living Proof", entered the "Billboard" 200 at number three in October 2013, her highest position on that chart to date. Michael Andor Brodeur of "The Boston Globe" commented that "Cher's 'Goddess of Pop' sash remains in little danger of undue snatching; at 67, she sounds more convincing than J-Lo or Madonna reporting from 'the club'". Cher premiered the lead single "Woman's World" on the season four finale of the talent show "The Voice", her first live TV performance in over a decade. She later joined the show's season five as judge Blake Shelton's team adviser.


title: Cher

text: On June 30, 2013, Cher headlined the annual Dance on the Pier benefit, celebrating Gay Pride day. It became the event's first sellout in five years. In November 2013, she appeared as a guest performer and judge on the seventeenth season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars", during its eighth week, which was dedicated to her. She embarked on the Dressed to Kill Tour in March 2014, nearly a decade after announcing her "farewell tour". She quipped about that fact during the shows, saying this would actually be her last farewell tour while crossing fingers. The tour's first leg, which included 49 sold-out shows in North America, grossed $54.9 million. In November 2014, she canceled all remaining dates due to an infection that affected kidney function.


title: Cher

text: On May 7, 2014, Cher confirmed a collaboration with American hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan on their album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin". Credited as Bonnie Jo Mason, she uses an alias of hers originated in 1964. Only one copy of the album has been produced, and it was sold by online auction in November 2015. It is the most expensive single album ever sold. After appearing as Marc Jacobs' guest at the 2015 Met Gala, Cher posed for his brand's fall/winter advertising campaign. The fashion designer stated, "This has been a dream of mine for a very, very long time."


title: Cher

text: Classic Cher, a three-year concert residency at both the Park Theater at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, and The Theater at MGM National Harbor, Washington, opened in February 2017. At the 2017 "Billboard" Music Awards, Cher performed "Believe" and "If I Could Turn Back Time", her first awards show performance in more than 15 years, and was presented with the "Billboard" Icon Award by Gwen Stefani, who called her "a role model for showing us how to be strong and true to ourselves [and] the definition of the word Icon."


title: Cher

text: In 2018, Cher returned to film for the romantic musical comedy film "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again". "New York" magazine's Viviana Olen and Matt Harkins commented that "it's only at the climax of the movie when its true promise is fulfilled: Cher arrives ... It becomes clear that every single movie—no matter how flawless—would be infinitely better if it included Cher." She stars as Ruby Sheridan, who is the grandmother of Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, and the mother of Donna, portrayed by Meryl Streep. Cher recorded two ABBA songs for the film's soundtrack: "Fernando" and "Super Trouper". Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA commented, "She makes Fernando her own. It's her song now."


title: Cher

text: On March 4, 2018, Cher headlined the 40th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Tickets sold out within three hours after she hinted her performance on her Twitter account. In September 2018, Cher embarked on the Here We Go Again Tour.


title: Cher

text: While promoting "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again", Cher confirmed she was working on an album that would feature cover versions of songs from ABBA. The album, "Dancing Queen", was released on September 28, 2018. Brittany Spanos from "Rolling Stone" commented that "the 72-year-old makes ABBA songs not only sound like they should've been written for her in the first place but like they firmly belong in 2018". Marc Snetiker from "Entertainment Weekly" called it Cher's "most significant release since 1998's "Believe"" and noted that "the album ender, 'One of Us', is frankly one of Cher's best recordings in years." "Dancing Queen" debuted at number three on the "Billboard" 200, tying with 2013's "Closer to the Truth" for Cher's highest-charting solo album in the US. With first-week sales of 153,000 units, it earned the year's biggest sales week for a pop album by a female artist, as well as Cher's largest sales week since 1991. "Dancing Queen" also topped "Billboard"s Top Album Sales chart, making it Cher's first number-one album on that chart.


title: Cher

text: "The Cher Show", a jukebox musical based on Cher's life and music, officially premiered at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, on June 28, 2018, and played through July 15. It began Broadway previews November 1, with its official opening on December 3, 2018. Written by Rick Elice, it features three actresses playing Cher during different stages of her life. "The Cher Show" is set to launch a UK and Ireland tour in 2022.


title: Cher

text: On December 2, 2018, Cher received a Kennedy Center Honors prize, the annual Washington distinction for artists who have made extraordinary contributions to culture. The ceremony featured tribute performances by Cyndi Lauper, Little Big Town and Adam Lambert. During 2018, Cher used Twitter to announce she was working on four new projects for the next two years: a Christmas album; a second album of ABBA covers; an autobiography; and a biographical film about her life.


title: Cher

text: In October 2019, Cher launched a new perfume, Cher Eau de Couture, which was four years in the making. Described as "genderless", it is Cher's second fragrance after 1987's Uninhibited. On February 4, 2020, Cher was announced as the new face of fashion brand Dsquared2. She starred in the brand's spring/summer advertising campaign, which was directed by photographers Mert and Marcus. In May, Cher released her first Spanish-language song, a cover of ABBA's "Chiquitita". Proceeds from the single were donated to UNICEF following the COVID-19 pandemic. In November, Cher spawned a UK top-ten single as part of the charity supergroup BBC Radio 2 Allstars with "Stop Crying Your Heart Out", an Oasis cover recorded in support of BBC's "Children in Need" charity.


title: Cher

text: Cher appeared in a voice-over role as a bobblehead version of herself in the animated feature film "" (2020). The same year, she was featured on "The New York Times Magazine"s list of "The Best Actors of 2020", the first time an actor not in a current-year theatrical release made it on the annual list; film critics Wesley Morris and A. O. Scott commented, "Cher's radiant performance in "Moonstruck" warmed us in quarantine." In May 2021, Cher guest-starred as God in Pink's music video "All I Know So Far". In January 2022, Cher appeared as the star of MAC Cosmetics' "Challenge Accepted" campaign alongside rapper Saweetie. In June 2022, Cher partnered with Donatella Versace for an exclusive "Chersace" capsule collection in honor of Pride month. A portion of the proceeds was donated to Gender Spectrum, a charity which works with LGBTQIA+ children and young people.


title: Cher

text: Cher has employed various musical styles, including folk rock, pop rock, power ballads, disco, new wave music, rock music, punk rock, arena rock, and hip hop; she said she has done this to "remain relevant and do work that strikes a chord". Her music has mainly dealt with themes of heartbreak, independence, and self-empowerment for women; by doing so, she became "a brokenhearted symbol of a strong but decidedly single woman", according to "Out" magazine's Judy Wieder. "Goldmine" magazine's Phill Marder credited Cher's "nearly flawless" song selection as what made her a notorious rock singer; while several of her early songs were penned by or sung with Sonny Bono, most of her solo successes, which outnumbered Sonny and Cher's successes, were composed by independent songwriters, selected by Cher. "Not Commercial" (2000), Cher's first album mostly written by herself, presents a "1970s singer-songwriter feel" that proves "Cher adept in the role of storyteller", according to AllMusic's Jose F. Promis.


title: Cher

text: Robert Hilburn of the "Los Angeles Times" writes, "There were a lot of great records by female singers in the early days of rock ... None, however, reflected the authority and command that we associate with rock 'n' roll today as much as [Cher's] key early hits". Some of Cher's early songs discuss subjects rarely addressed in American popular music such as divorce, prostitution, unplanned and underaged pregnancy, and racism. According to AllMusic's Joe Viglione, the 1972 single "The Way of Love" is "either about a woman expressing her love for another woman, or a woman saying au revoir to a gay male she loved" ("What will you do/When he sets you free/Just the way that you/Said good-bye to me"). Her ability to carry both male and female ranges allowed her to sing solo in androgynous and gender-neutral songs.


title: Cher

text: Cher has a contralto singing voice, described by author Nicholas E. Tawa as "bold, deep, and with a spacious vibrato". Ann Powers of "The New York Times" called it "a quintessential rock voice: impure, quirky, a fine vehicle for projecting personality." AllMusic's Bruce Eder wrote that the "tremendous intensity and passion" of Cher's vocals coupled with her "ability to meld that projection with her acting skills" can provide "an incredibly powerful experience for the listener." "The Guardian" Laura Snapes described her voice as "miraculous ... capable of conveying vulnerability, vengeance and pain all at once". Paul Simpson, in his book "The Rough Guide to Cult Pop" (2003), posits that "Cher [is] the possessor of one of the huskiest, most distinctive voices in pop ... which can work wonders with the right material directed by the right producer". He further addresses the believability of her vocal performances: "she spits out the words ... with such conviction you'd think she was delivering an eternal truth about the human condition".


title: Cher

text: Writing about Cher's musical output during the 1960s, Robert Hilburn of the "Los Angeles Times" stated that "Rock was subsequently blessed with the staggering blues exclamations of Janis Joplin in the late '60s and the raw poetic force of Patti Smith in the mid-'70s. Yet no one matched the pure, seductive wallop of Cher". By contrast, her vocal performances during the 1970s were described by Eder as "dramatic, highly intense ... [and] almost as much 'acted' as sung". First heard in the 1980 record "Black Rose", Cher employed sharper, more aggressive vocals on her hard rock-oriented albums, establishing her sexually confident image. For the 1995 album "It's a Man's World", she restrained her vocals, singing in higher registers and without vibrato.


title: Cher

text: The 1998 song "Believe" has an electronic vocal effect proposed by Cher, and was the first commercial recording to feature Auto-Tune—an audio processor originally intended to disguise or correct off-key inaccuracies in vocal music recordings—as a deliberate creative effect. According to "Rolling Stone" Christopher R. Weingarten, the "producers ... used the pitch correction software not as a way to fix mistakes in Cher's iconic voice, but as an aesthetic tool." After the success of the song, the technique became known as the "Cher effect" and has since been widely used in popular music. Cher continued to use Auto-Tune on the albums "Living Proof" (2001), "Closer to the Truth" (2013), and "Dancing Queen" (2018).


title: Cher

text: In a 2013 interview with the "Toronto Sun", Cher reflected on how her voice has evolved throughout her career, becoming stronger and suppler over the years. She said working with vocal coaches had made a significant difference: "It's so freaky because people my age are having to lose notes and I'm gaining notes, so that's pretty shocking."


title: Cher

text: "Maclean's" magazine's Barbara Wickens wrote, "Cher has emerged as probably the most fascinating movie star of her generation ... [because] she has managed to be at once boldly shocking and ultimately enigmatic." "New York Post" movie critic David Edelstein attributes Cher's "top-ranking star quality" to her ability of projecting "honesty, rawness and emotionality. She wears her vulnerability on her sleeve." Jeff Yarbrough of "The Advocate" wrote that Cher was "one of the first superstars to 'play gay' with compassion and without a hint of stereotyping", as she portrays a lesbian in the 1983 film "Silkwood".


title: Cher

text: Author Yvonne Tasker, in her book "Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema" (2002), notes that Cher's film roles often mirrors her public image as a rebellious, sexually autonomous, and self-made woman. In her films, she recurrently serves as a social intermediary to disenfranchised male characters, such as Eric Stoltz's Craniodiaphyseal dysplasia character in "Mask" (1985), Liam Neeson's mute homeless veteran in "Suspect" (1987), and Nicolas Cage's socially isolated baker with a wooden hand in "Moonstruck" (1987). Film critic Kathleen Rowe wrote of "Moonstruck" that the depiction of Cher's character as "a 'woman on top' [is] enhanced by the unruly star persona Cher brings to the part'".


title: Cher

text: For "Moonstruck", Cher was ranked 1st on "Billboard"s list of "The 100 Best Acting Performances by Musicians in Movies", and her performance was described as "the standard by which you mentally check all others". "Moonstruck" was acknowledged by the American Film Institute as the eighth best romantic comedy film of all time.


title: Cher

text: Cher's public image is also reflected in her music videos and live performances, in which she "repeatedly comments on her own construction, on her search for perfection and on the performance of the female body", wrote Tasker. Unlike other acts of that time, who often featured female backers mimicking the singer's performance, Cher uses a male dancer dressed as her in the 1992 concert video "Cher at the Mirage"; author Diane Negra commented, "In authorizing her own quotation, Cher acknowledges herself as fictionalized production, and proffers to her audience a pleasurable plurality." James Sullivan of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote that "Cher is well aware that her chameleonic glitz set the stage for the current era of stadium-size razzle-dazzle. She's comfortable enough to see such imitation as flattery, not theft." American singer Pink, who is recognized by her acrobatic stage presence, started studying Aerial silks after watching Cher's in 2004.


title: Cher

text: Cher was ranked 17th on VH1's list of the "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era". The 1980 video for "Hell on Wheels" involves cinematic techniques and was one of the first music videos ever. Deemed "controversial" for her performance on the battleship , straddling a cannon, and wearing a leather thong that revealed her tattooed buttocks, the 1989 music video for "If I Could Turn Back Time" was the first ever to be banned by MTV.


title: Cher

text: "Time" magazine's Cady Lang described Cher as a "cultural phenomenon [who] has forever changed the way we see celebrity fashion." Cher emerged as a fashion trendsetter in the 1960s, popularizing "hippie fashion with bell-bottoms, bandanas, and Cherokee-inspired tunics". She began working as a model in 1967 for photographer Richard Avedon after then-"Vogue" magazine editor Diana Vreeland discovered her at a party for Jacqueline Kennedy that year. Avedon took the controversial photo of Cher in a beaded and feathered nude gown designed by Bob Mackie for the cover of "Time" magazine in 1975; "Billboard" magazine's Brooke Mazurek described it as "one of the most recreated and monumental looks of all time." Cher first wore the gown to the 1974 Met Gala. According to "Vogue" magazine's André Leon Talley, "it was really the first time a Hollywood celebrity attended, and it changed everything. We are still seeing versions of that look on The Met red carpet 40 years later." "Billboard" wrote that Cher has "transformed fashion and [become] one of the most influential style icons in red carpet history".


title: Cher

text: Through her 1970s television shows, Cher became a sex symbol with her inventive and revealing Mackie-designed outfits, and fought the network censors to bare her navel. Although Cher has been erroneously attributed to being the first woman to expose her navel on television (e.g. Nichelle Nichols, BarBara Luna and Diana Ewing in the 1960s TV series ""), she was the most prominent to do so since the establishment of the American Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters in 1951, which prompted network censors to ban navel exposure on US television. "People" dubbed Cher the "pioneer of the belly beautiful". In 1972, after she was featured on the annual "Best Dressed Women" lists, Mackie stated: "There hasn't been a girl like Cher since Dietrich and Garbo. She's a high-fashion star who appeals to people of all ages."


title: Cher

text: In May 1999, after the Council of Fashion Designers of America recognized Cher with an award for her influence on fashion, Robin Givhan of the "Los Angeles Times" called her a "fashion visionary" for "striking just the right note of contemporary wretched excess". Givhan referenced Tom Ford, Anna Sui and Dolce & Gabbana as "[i]nfluential designers [who] have evoked her name as a source of inspiration and guidance." She concluded that "Cher's Native American showgirl sexpot persona now seems to epitomize the fashion industry's rush to celebrate ethnicity, adornment and sex appeal." "Vogue" proclaimed Cher "[their] favorite fashion trendsetter" and wrote that "[she] set the grounds for pop stars and celebrities today", describing her as "[e]ternally relevant [and] the ruler of outré reinvention". Alexander Fury of "The Independent" lauded Cher as "the ultimate fashion icon" and traced her influence among female celebrities such as Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Kim Kardashian, stating that "[t]hey all graduated from the Cher school of never sharing the stage, with anyone, or anything ... They're trying to share the spotlight, to have Cher's success."


title: Cher

text: Cher has attracted media attention for her physical appearance—particularly her youthful looks and her tattoos. Paddy Calistro of the "Los Angeles Times" observed that during Cher's rise as a movie star in the 1980s, her "highly articulated bone structure captured audience attention", which led to an increased number of medical requests for "surgically inserted 'cheekbones.'" Journalists have often called Cher the "poster girl" of plastic surgery. Author Grant McCracken, in his book "Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture" (2008), draws a parallel between Cher's plastic surgeries and the transformations in her career: "Her plastic surgery is not merely cosmetic. It is hyperbolic, extreme, over the top ... Cher has engaged in a transformational technology that is dramatic and irreversible." Caroline Ramazanoglu, author of "Up Against Foucault: Explorations of Some Tensions Between Foucault and Feminism" (1993), wrote that "Cher's operations have gradually replaced a strong, decidedly 'ethnic' look with a more symmetrical, delicate, 'conventional' ... and ever-youthful version of female beauty ... Her normalised image ... now acts as a standard against which other women will measure, judge, discipline and 'correct' themselves."


title: Cher

text: Cher has six tattoos. "The Baltimore Sun" called her the "Ms. Original Rose Tattoo". She got her first tattoo in 1972. According to Sonny Bono, "Calling her butterfly tattoos nothing was like ignoring a sandstorm in the Mojave. That was exactly the effect Cher wanted to create. She liked to do things for the shock they created. She still does. She'll create some controversy and then tell her critics to stick it." In the late 1990s, she began having laser treatments to remove her tattoos. The process was still underway in the 2000s. She commented, "When I got tattooed, only bad girls did it: me and Janis Joplin and s. Now it doesn't mean anything. No one's surprised."


title: Cher

text: In 1992, Madame Tussauds wax museum honored Cher as one of the five "most beautiful women of history" by creating a life-size statue. She was ranked 26th on VH1's list of the "100 Sexiest Artists" published in 2002.


title: Cher

text: Cher was the inspiration for Mother Gothel, a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated feature film "Tangled "(2010). Director Byron Howard explained that Gothel's exotic appearance, whose beauty, dark curly hair and voluptuous figure were deliberately designed to serve as a foil to Rapunzel's, was based on Cher's "exotic and Gothic looking" appearance, continuing that the singer "definitely was one of the people we looked at visually, as far as what gives you a striking character."


title: Cher

text: Cher's social media presence has drawn analysis from journalists. "Time" named her "Twitter's most outspoken (and beloved) commentator". "The New York Times" writer Jenna Wortham commended Cher on her social media usage, stating, "Most celebrities' social-media feeds feel painfully self-aware and thirsty ... In her own way, Cher is an outlier, perhaps the last unreconstructed high-profile Twitter user to stand at her digital pulpit and yell (somewhat) incomprehensibly, and be rewarded for it. Online, authenticity and originality are often carefully curated myths. Cher thrives on a version of nakedness and honesty that is rarely celebrated in the public eye." Monica Heisey of "The Guardian" described Cher's Twitter account as "a jewel in the bizarro crown of the internet", and remarked, "While many celebrities use Twitter for carefully crafted self-promotion, Cher just lets it all hang out."


title: Cher

text: The reverence held for Cher by members of the LGBT community has been attributed to her career accomplishments, her sense of style, and her longevity. Cher is considered a gay icon, and has often been imitated by drag queens. According to "Salon" magazine's Thomas Rogers, "[d]rag 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". According to "Maclean's" magazine's Elio Iannacci, Cher was "one of the first to bring drag to the masses" as she hired two drag queens to perform with her at her Las Vegas residency in 1979. Cher's role as a lesbian in the film "Silkwood", as well as her transition to dance music and social activism, have further contributed to her becoming a gay icon. The NBC sitcom "Will & Grace" acknowledged Cher's status by making her the idol of gay character Jack McFarland. Cher guest-starred as herself twice on the show, in 2000—making the episode "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" (named after her 1971 song "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves") "Will & Grace"s second-highest rating ever— and 2002.


title: Cher

text: Cher's primary philanthropic endeavors have included support of health research and patients' quality of life, anti-poverty initiatives, veterans rights, and vulnerable children. The Cher Charitable Foundation supports international projects such as the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Operation Helmet, and the Children's Craniofacial Association.


title: Cher

text: Beginning in 1990, Cher served as a donor and as the National Chairperson and Honorary Spokesperson for the Children's Craniofacial Association, whose mission is to "empower and give hope to facially disfigured children and their families". The annual Cher's Family Retreat is held each June to provide craniofacial patients, their siblings and parents an opportunity to interact with others who have endured similar experiences. She supports and promotes Get A-Head Charitable Trust, which aims to improve the quality of life for people with head and neck diseases.