Cher Born: Queen of Reinvention Arrives
Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California, the daughter of an actress and an Armenian-American truck driver who was absent for most of her childhood. She dropped out of school at 16, moved to Los Angeles, and met Sonny Bono in a coffee shop. Their duo act built through the 1960s; their TV variety show ran until 1974. When Sonny left, critics assumed she was finished. She reinvented as a solo rock act, then reinvented again as an actress — winning the Academy Award for Moonstruck in 1987. She is the only artist to have a number-one single in each of the six decades from the 1960s through the 2010s. At 73, 'Believe' — in which she used Auto-Tune not to hide her voice but as an instrument — was named the 100th greatest song by Rolling Stone.
May 20, 1946
80 years ago
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