Born as Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946 in El Centro, California, Cher is an American pop music singer-songwriter, actress and record producer. Her father, John Sarkisian, was an Armenian refugee who worked as a truck driver. Her mother, Georgia Holt (born Jackie Jean Crouch, is of Cherokee, British and German descent. Cher’s parents divorced when she was young and primarily her mother, who had married Gilbert LaPierre, a banker who adopted Cher, raised her.

Due to financial problems, Cher’s mother placed her in foster care for a time as a child. Later, her mother provided acting lessons to help further her career. Due to severe, undiagnosed dyslexia, she left Fresno High School at the age of 16. In those years Cher had a relationship with very successful actor Warren Beatty.

Career:
Friend, lover, and eventually lover, Sonny, despite more than a decades seniority had a big hand in furthering Cher’s career. He was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood and through him, Cher started as a session singer, and sang backup on several of Spector’s classic recordings, including The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”, Darlene Love’s “A Fine, Fine Boy,” The Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron” and The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”. In the composition by Darlene Love, the listener can clearly hear both of them close to the mike. Her first solo recording, released in 1964, was highly unsuccessful.

Pairing up: Sonny and Cher Duo
Prior to being known as Sonny and Cher, the duo released an album under the name of “Caesar and Cleo”. Later they adopted the name of Sonny and Cher. Now calling themselves Sonny & Cher, the duo released their first album Look at Us in the summer of 1965. This album contained the overnight smash single “I Got You Babe” (1965) which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of 1965. Cher was 19 years old, Sonny 30. A re-released “Baby Don’t Go”, peaked at number eight.

The duo became a sensation, traveling and performing around the world. Following an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the fall of 1965 in which Mr. Sullivan had infamously pronounced her name ‘Chur’ during their introduction, the singer began spelling her name with a (misleading) acute accent: Cher. The couple soon appeared on other hit television shows of the era including American Bandstand, Top of the Pops, Hollywood a Go-Go, Podunk, Hollywood Palace, Hullabaloo, Beat Club, Ready Steady Go! and Shindig!.

All I Really Want to Do:
Later in 1965 Cher released her debut solo album, titled All I Really Want to Do which reached number 16 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The gold-certified album contained a cover of the Bob Dylan song “All I Really Want to Do” which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1966 Cher released her second solo album on the Imperial Records label, The Sonny Side of Cher. It peaked at number 26 in the U.S. charts, and number 11 in the UK chart. It contained the singles “Where Do You Go (#25 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”(#2 on the Billboard Hot 100). Both hits were written and produced by Sonny Bono. In the United States, the latter was Cher’s biggest solo hit of the 1960s. Other artists to record versions of the song include Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Cliff Richard, Petula Clark, and Terry Reid. Also in 1966, she released another album, Cher; The album itself was not as successful as its two predecessors. However, it did manage to provide the European top ten hit “Sunny”.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Among her career accomplishments in music, television and film, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards among others. Guinness World Records list her as the only female recording artist to have Top 10 hits in every decade, while her 2002-2005 “Living Proof: The Farewell Tour” is list as the top-grossing tour by a female artist, earned over 400 million dollars worldwide. In 2002, Rolling Stone estimates her personal net worth at over $600 million.
For more information about Cher Tickets visit:
http://www.ticketluck.com/concert-tickets/Cher/index.php