Sonny & Cher

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Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher
Background information
Origin United States
Genre(s) Pop rock
Years active 1964 – 1974
Label(s) Atco
MCA
Associated
acts		 Cher (solo career)
Former members
Sonny Bono
Cher

Sonny & Cher were an American rock & roll duo, made up of husband and wife team Sonny Bono and Cher in the 1960s and 1970s. They were among the first hippie personas with mainstream appeal.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] The 1960s: The origin

Cher first met Sonny Bono in a Los Angeles coffee shop in November 1962, when she was sixteen. The much older Sonny (he was already twenty-seven) was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. The two became fast friends, eventual lovers, and later married. Through Sonny, Cher (as she was called early on for short) eventually got to sing back-up on several of Spector’s classic recordings.

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 and eventual number-one single "I Got You Babe" (1965). Cher was nineteen years old. Several more top forty hits would follow, most famously "Baby, Don’t Go" and "The Beat Goes On."

The two became a quick sensation, travelling and performing around the world. Periodic solo releases continued during the Sonny & Cher days, including a major success with "Little Man."

In an attempt to capitalize on the duo’s success, Sonny penned their first feature film (themed similarly to The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine) Good Times in 1967, in which the duo starred. The film was a flop.

Sonny and Cher's career had stalled by 1968, as album sales quickly dried up. Their gentle, easy-listening pop sound and drug-free life had become unpopular in an era becoming increasingly consumed with the psychedelic rock that came with the overall evolutionary change in the landscape of American pop culture during the late 1960's.

Sonny and Cher also welcomed their first child, Chastity Bono, born on March 4, 1969. The duo made another unsuccessful foray into film later in 1969 with Bono writing and producing the film Chastity, intended as a dramatic debut for Cher as an actress. That film (directed by first and only-time director Alessio De Paulo) was also a commercial failure.

[edit] The 1970s/80s: Success, divorce and what became of Sonny & Cher

In 1970, Sonny and Cher starred in their first television special, The Sonny and Cher Nitty Gritty Hour. A mixture of slapstick comedy, skits and live music, the show was a critical success, which led to numerous guest spots on other early 70’s hit television shows.

Sonny and Cher caught the eye of CBS head of programming Fred Silverman while guest-hosting on The Merv Griffin Show, and Silverman offered the duo their own variety show. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour debuted in 1971 as a summer replacement series. It returned to primetime later that year and was an immediate hit, quickly reaching the top ten in their time slot. The show received numerous Emmy Award nominations throughout its initial four seasons on CBS. The duo also revived their recording career, releasing four albums and charting two more top ten hits: "All I Ever Need Is You," and "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" (1972).

By the third season of the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour in early 1974, the marriage of Sonny and Cher began to fall apart; the duo separated later that year. The show also therefore fell apart, while still in the top 10 of the ratings. What followed was a nasty and very public divorce (finalized on June 27, 1975). Bono launched his own show, The Sonny Comedy Revue in the fall of 1974 while Cher also announced plans to host and star in a new variety TV series of her own. Bono’s show was abruptly cancelled, however, after only six weeks. The Cher show debuted as an elaborate, all-star television special on February 16, 1975 featuring Flip Wilson, Bette Midler and special guest Elton John. Cloris Leachman and Jack Albertson both won Emmy Awards for their appearances as guest-stars a few weeks later, and the series received 4 additional Emmy nominations that year. The first season ranked in the Top 25 of the year-end ratings.

As a result of the divorce Sonny and Cher went their separate ways but eventually Cher attended the opening of one of Sonny's restaurants in something of a reconciliation. The Sonny & Cher Show in 1976 proceeded on through 1977, even though they were no longer married. After struggling with low ratings, Sonny and Cher finally departed their own ways for good. Sonny went on to an acting career and later entered politics, eventually becoming a U.S. Representative, Cher continued a successful singing career.

The couple made two surprise impromptu reunion performances: the first in 1979 on The Mike Douglas Show and the second in 1987 on Late Night with David Letterman where they performed their hit song "I Got You Babe".

[edit] Death of Sonny Bono

On January 5, 1998, Bono died of injuries after hitting a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California. He was 62 years old. Bono's death came just days after Michael Kennedy died in a similar accident. Bono's widow, Mary, was elected to fill the remainder Congressional term. She has since been re-elected in her own right. She continues to champion many of her late husband's causes, including the ongoing fight as how to best save the Salton Sea.

Cher gave a tearful eulogy at Bono's funeral, after which the attendees sang the song "The Beat Goes On." His final resting place is Desert Memorial Park in nearby Cathedral City, California, the same cemetery in which Frank Sinatra was laid to rest later that same year. The epitaph on Bono's headstone reads: "And The Beat Goes On."

[edit] Trivia

"I Got You Babe" made a bit of a comeback when it was used as Bill Murray's wake-up call in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day[citation needed]. Previously, the song had been covered in 1985 by British reggae band UB40 with American singer Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders).

The NBC-TV sitcom The Golden Girls referenced Sonny and Cher several times. Sonny Bono was a guest star in one episode as a rival (with Lyle Wagoner) for Dorothy's (Bea Arthur) affection in a dream sequence; Sonny made Dorothy sing the chorus to "I Got You Babe" to him over the telephone. In another episode, Dorothy and her mother Sophia (Estelle Getty) dressed up as Cher and Sonny, respectively, to sing "I Got You Babe" as part of a potential routine for a mother-daughter talent show.

The fictional folk duo "Mitch and Mickey" in the film A Mighty Wind is a parody of Sonny & Cher.

[edit] Television work

[edit] Tours

  • 1966-1967: "Wondrous World Tour"
  • 1971-1972: "All I Ever Need Is You Tour"

[edit] Discography

  • (US) = United States
  • (CAN) = Canada
  • (UK) = United Kingdom
  • (GER) = Germany
  • (NOR) = Norway
  • (SWE) = Sweden
  • (IRE) = Ireland
  • (BEL) = Belgium
  • (NET) = Netherlands
  • (FRA) = France

[edit] Singles

Year Title Album Chart positions Sales
US
 CAN UK GER NOR SWE IRE BEL NET FRA
1964 "Love Is Strange" Baby Don't Go 131 - - - - - - - - - 0.05m
1965 "Baby Don't Go" Baby Don't Go 8 1 11 - - 16 - - 20 - 2.00m
1965 "I Got You Babe" Look At Us 1 4 1 3 6 4 2 12 4 5 5.00m
1965 "Just You / Sing C'est La Vie" Look At Us 20 15 - - - - - 1 - - 1.25m
1965 "The Letter" Look At Us 75 24 - - - - - - - - 0.30m
1965 "But You're Mine" The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher 15 - 17 23 - - - - - - 1.00m
1966 "What Now My Love" The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher 14 - 13 - - - - 10 - - -
1966 "Laugh At Me" The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher 10 - 9 - - - - - - - -
1966 "Have I Stayed Too Long" The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher 49 - 42 - - - - - - - 0.25m
1966 "Little Man" In Case You're In Love 21 6 4 2 1 1 - 1 1 1 3.00m
1966 "Living For You" In Case You're In Love 87 - 44 - - - - - - - 0.20m
1967 "The Beat Goes On" In Case You're In Love 6 9 29 24 - - - 5 8 2 3.00m
1967 "A Beautiful Story" In Case You're In Love 53 - - - - - - - - - -
1967 "Plastic Man" In Case You're In Love 74 - - - - - - - - 13 -
1967 "Good Combination" In Case You're In Love 56 - - - - - - - - - -
1967 "It's the Little Things" Good Times [Soundtrack] 50 - - - - - - - - - -
1971 "All I Ever Need Is You" All I Ever Need Is You 7 10 8 - - - 12 20 - - 2.25m
1972 "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" All I Ever Need Is You 8 4 - 48 - - - - - - 2.00m
1972 "When You Say Love" All I Ever Need Is You 32 - - - - - - - - - 0.30m
1974 "Mama Was a Rock & Roll Singer" Mama Was a Rock & Roll Singer 77 - - - - - - - - - -
1993 "I Got You Babe" Look At Us - - 66 - - - - - - - 0.10m

[edit] Albums

Year Album Peak
U.S.
1965 Baby Don't Go 69
1965 Look At Us 2
1966 The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher 34
1967 In Case You're In Love 45
1967 Good Times Soundtrack 73
1971 Sonny & Cher Live 35
1972 All I Ever Need Is You 14
1973 The Two of Us 122
1973 Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer 132

[edit] Compilations

Year Album Peak
U.S.
1967 The Best of Sonny & Cher 23
1974 Sonny & Cher's Greatest Hits 146

[edit] See also

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