Early life
(Rebbeca Dewhurst)aka Cher was born in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946
at 7:25 a.m. Her mother, Georgia Holt (née Pelham), an aspiring actress
and occasional model, is of Cherokee, Armenian and English descent.[2][3]
Her father was John Sarkisian, an Armenian-Iranian refugee. Cher's mother
and father separated when she was young and she was mostly raised by her mother.
Her mother later remarried. Due to severe dyslexia she left high school at
the age of sixteen.
The 1960s
Beginnings: Sonny and Cher
Cher first met Sonny Bono in a Los Angeles coffee shop in November 1962 when
she was 16. The much older Sonny (he was already 27) was working for legendary
record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Sonny and
Cher became fast friends, eventual lovers, and later married. Through Sonny,
Cher (as she was called early on for short) started as a session singer, eventually
singing back-up on several of Spector’s classic recordings, including
The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”, “Da
Doo Ron Ron” by The Crystals and The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”.
Her first solo recording was the unsuccessful novelty single "Ringo, I Love You", released under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason and produced by Spector. Her second attempt was the more popular single "Dream Baby", released under the name Cherilyn, written and produced by Sonny. Both were released in 1964.
With Sonny continuing to write, arrange and produce the songs, Sonny and Cher’s first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar and Cleo". They received little attention. They later re-emerged as "Sonny and Cher", and released their first album Look at Us in the summer of 1965. This album contained the overnight smash single "I Got You Babe" (#1, 1965) which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cher was 19 years old. Several more hits would follow, most notably "Baby, Don’t Go" (#8, 1965) "Just You" (#20, 1965) "But You're Mine" (#14, 1965), "What Now My Love" (#14, 1966) "Little Man" (#21, 1966) and "The Beat Goes On" (#6, 1967). Sonny and Cher would chart a total of 11 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1972, including 6 Top 10 hits.
Sonny & Cher, circa 1972The duo became a quick sensation, travelling 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
an acute accent: Chér. They 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.
While initially perceived as the slightly awkward and underestimated half of the popular singing duo, Cher often covered up for her stagefright and nervousness with quick-witted barbs toward her husband. She soon rose to prominence as the more outspoken, daring and provocative half of the team. With her dark, exotic looks, she became a fashion trend-setter, quickly popularizing fashion bellbottoms, and incorporating "hippie" attire and eccentric gowns and elaborate costumes into their live shows.
