# Cher
**Cher** (born 1946 in [El Centro, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/el-centro-california), as Cherilyn Sarkisian) is an American singer, actress, and television personality whose career, begun in 1965 as half of the folk rock duo [Sonny & Cher](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonny-and-cher), has spanned folk-pop, rock, disco, and dance-pop across six decades.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) • [2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) She has sold 100 million records, won an Academy Award for her acting, and become one of the world's best-selling music artists.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1946, El Centro, California, as Cherilyn Sarkisian[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Breakthrough | "I Got You Babe" with Sonny & Cher, number one on US and UK charts in 1965; the duo had sold 40 million records worldwide by the end of 1967[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Television | *The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour*, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Acting peak | Academy Award for Best Actress for *Moonstruck* (1987), after acclaimed roles in *Silkwood*, *Mask*, and *The Witches of Eastwick*[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Signature hit | "Believe" (1998), whose pioneering Auto-Tune vocal treatment became known as the "Cher effect"; the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Chart record | The only artist to date with a number one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Sales | 100 million records sold to date[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) |
| Honors | Grammy, Emmy, Academy Award, three Golden Globes, a Cannes Film Festival Award, the Billboard Icon Award, and Kennedy Center Honors; Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, 2024[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) • [2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) |
## Early life
Cher grew up in California with her mother, the singer and actress [Georgia Holt](https://www.edgepedia.org/georgia-holt), moving constantly because of her mother's erratic relationships; the family later settled in Los Angeles, where her half-sister Georganne was born.[3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher) At school she struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia. Producing her fifth-grade class's musical *Oklahoma!*, taking the men's roles herself when the boys refused to participate, was when she discovered her distinct contralto range.[3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher) At 16 she dropped out of high school, moved to Hollywood, took acting classes, and performed in clubs.[3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher)
## Sonny & Cher and the 1960s
In 1962 she met Salvatore "Sonny" Bono, a protégé of producer [Phil Spector](https://www.edgepedia.org/phil-spector), at a Los Angeles coffee shop; she was one month shy of 17 and he was 11 years older. Bono first hired her as a live-in housekeeper and then introduced her to Spector, which led to her singing backup on the Ronettes' "Be My Baby."[3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher) She married [Sonny Bono](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonny-bono), and the pair began releasing music as Sonny & Cher in 1964.[4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher) • [5](https://www.grammy.com/news/cher-songbook-era-by-era-comebacks-videos)
**Rapid fame.** In 1965 "I Got You Babe" peaked at number one on both the US and UK charts and made the duo a defining act of the era; by the end of 1967 they had sold 40 million records worldwide.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) Their songs, such as "I Got You Babe" and "Little Man," mixed folk, pop, and rock with a recognizable hippie-era look.[4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher) Cher began her solo career at the same time, releasing the transatlantic top three single "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" in 1966 and her second album, *The Sonny Side of Cher*, in March 1966.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) • [3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher) Her first acting role came in a 1967 episode of *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.* titled "The Hot Number Affair," in which she played Ramona, a model.[4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher)
## Television personality and 1970s solo star
The 1970s made Cher a television fixture. *[The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sonny-and-cher-comedy-hour)*, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and her own show *Cher* established her as a television personality, and the elaborate outfits she wore on air made her a fashion trendsetter.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) Many of those stage and television costumes were designed by [Bob Mackie](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-mackie).[2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) The comedy hour won a Golden Globe in 1974, when Cher was named Best Television Actress in a Musical/Comedy Series.[4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher)
While working in television she established herself as a solo artist with three US Billboard Hot 100 number one singles: "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," "Half-Breed," and "Dark Lady."[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) After her 1975 divorce from Sonny Bono, she married musician [Gregg Allman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gregg-allman) four days after the divorce was finalized; their son Elijah Blue was born in 1976, and the couple divorced in 1979.[4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher) She then launched a comeback with the disco album *Take Me Home* (1979) and earned $300,000 a week for a 1979 to 1982 concert residency in Las Vegas.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher)
## Film career and the Oscar
In 1982 Cher made her Broadway debut in the play *Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean* and starred in its film adaptation, which led to a run of critically acclaimed film roles: a uranium-plant worker in *Silkwood* (1983), the mother of a son with a severe facial deformity in *Mask* (1985), and *The Witches of Eastwick* (1987).[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) • [3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher) *Moonstruck* (1987), a romantic comedy, won her the [Academy Award for Best Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-actress).[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) During this period she balanced acting with a revived music career, recording the rock-inflected albums *Cher* (1987), *Heart of Stone* (1989), and *Love Hurts* (1991), which produced hits such as "I Found Someone" and "[If I Could Turn Back Time](https://www.edgepedia.org/if-i-could-turn-back-time)." Her next film, *[Mermaids](https://www.edgepedia.org/mermaids-1990-film)* (1990), spawned "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)," her first solo number one single in the UK.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) • [4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher)
## "Believe" and the Cher effect
In 1998 the dance-pop album *Believe* took Cher to a new commercial peak. Its title track won the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year and became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) The song's most consequential feature was its vocal treatment: producers ran her voice through [Auto-Tune](https://www.edgepedia.org/auto-tune) set to exaggerated settings, producing a stuttering, robotic timbre that Cher herself insisted be kept on the record.[5](https://www.grammy.com/news/cher-songbook-era-by-era-comebacks-videos) • [1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) This deliberate distortion, widely imitated in later pop and dance music, became known as the "Cher effect," and it kept her a dancefloor staple for decades afterward.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) • [2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) Her 2002 to 2005 *Living Proof: The Farewell Tour* became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, earning $250 million.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher)
## Later career and recognition
Cher continued working into her eighth decade. Three years of headlining at [Caesars Palace](https://www.edgepedia.org/caesars-palace)'s Colosseum in Las Vegas were secured in 2008 through a $180 million contract.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) Her album *Closer to the Truth* (2013) reached number three on the Billboard 200, tying with *Dancing Queen* (2018), recorded after her return to film in *Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again*, for her highest-charting US solo album.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) She released a Christmas album in 2023 and the festive song "Christmas Is Here" in 2025, and her memoir *Cher: The Memoir, Part One* appeared in 2024.[4](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher) • [3](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher) In 2024 she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by the actress Zendaya.[2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) At the 2026 [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards) she received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award, alongside [Chaka Khan](https://www.edgepedia.org/chaka-khan), Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Fela Kuti, and Whitney Houston.[6](https://apnews.com/article/43c16a7eaa14a17b2f29c7bddf4a902e)
**Chart durability.** Her awards record spans every medium she has worked in: a Grammy, an Emmy, an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a People's Choice Award.[7](https://www.amfar.org/honorees/cher/) The Television Academy credits her as the only artist to date with a number one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) The Recording Academy and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame state the record slightly differently, as the only solo artist, and the only woman respectively, with number one hits across seven consecutive decades.[5](https://www.grammy.com/news/cher-songbook-era-by-era-comebacks-videos) • [2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/)
## Voice and image
Cher's instrument is a distinctive contralto, recognizable enough that her low, dark tone stamped every genre she moved through, from folk-pop to disco to electropop.[2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) A Los Angeles Times concert review in 1990 described her "deep, melodramatic belting" as sounding full-bodied against the lighter girlish pop tones then in fashion.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-23-ca-118-story.html) Her visual image has been equally central: body-baring and often outrageous television outfits, most of them designed by Bob Mackie, made her a fashion figure in her own right, and a 1986 Academy Awards appearance in one of Mackie's designs remains among her best-known looks.[2](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/) • [9](https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/bob-mackie-best-looks-of-all-time)
Outside performing, she is noted for her political views, social media presence, and activism, including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher) She has also directed a documentary about her mother, Georgia Holt, which aired on Lifetime TV.[7](https://www.amfar.org/honorees/cher/)
## References
1. [Cher, Television Academy, Emmy Awards and Nominations](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cher)
2. [Cher, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame](https://rockhall.com/inductees/cher/)
3. [Cher: Biography, Singer, Grammy Winner, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/musicians/cher)
4. [Cher: A look back at the success of the singer, actress and TV host, Heart (Hellorayo)](https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/news/music/pop/cher)
5. [Songbook: How Cher's Perseverance And Rule-Breaking Persona Created A Career To Believe In, GRAMMY.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/cher-songbook-era-by-era-comebacks-videos/)
6. [Chaka Khan, Cher, Whitney Houston, Fela Kuti get Grammys Life Achievement Awards, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/43c16a7eaa14a17b2f29c7bddf4a902e)
7. [Cher, amfAR Honorees](https://www.amfar.org/honorees/cher/)
8. [POP MUSIC REVIEW: Cher: Glitz, Not Gold, Los Angeles Times (1990)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-23-ca-118-story.html)
9. [Bob Mackie's Dazzling Legacy, Marie Claire](https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/bob-mackie-best-looks-of-all-time)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Pop singers, 1960s and 1970s › Pop singers mainly active in the 1970s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license