Cher is a vocalist.
Cher ( [ ˈʃɛər ] born Cherilyn Sarkisian , May 20 , 1946 ) is an American singer and actress . She 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 during her five-decade-long career . After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975 , Cher launched a comeback in 1979 with the disco-oriented album Take Me Home and earned $ 300,000 a week for her 198082 residency show in Las Vegas . She then revived her musical career by recording the rock-inflected albums Cher ( 1987 ) , Heart of Stone ( 1989 ) , and Love Hurts ( 1991 ) , all of which yielded several successful singles . Cher 's first studio album in 12 years , Closer to the Truth ( 2013 ) , became her highest-charting solo album in the U.S. to date at number three .