cher

CHER - BIOGRAPHYCher is a singer, actress and director who was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California. As a teenager she met Sonny Bono and one day tagged along with Sonny to Phil Spector's Gold Star Studios and filled in for a singer who did not show up. From there, she started as a back-up singer for Phil Spector and recorded some duets with Sonny. Following a modest start as "Caesar and Cleo" the duo finally clicked as Sonny and Cher, turning out the first of several hit records in 1965 including their first chart-topping million seller, I Got You Babe. The growing popularity of Sonny and Cher prompted their own TV variety show.Their daughter Chastity was born in 1969 who was named after their film Chastity and was a regular guest on their show. The exotically attired Cher continued for a season with her own variety show, Cher and re-teamed with her former husband in The Sonny and Cher Show from 1976-77. A son from her second marriage to rock star Gregg Allman was born in 1976.On her own Cher starred in opulent TV specials. She was already famous for her outrageous costumes. She soon tired of Hollywood glitz, and traveled to New York and auditioned for the director Robert Altman, who cast her in the play, then in 1982 in the film version of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. In this and in subsequent films she proved herself a capable actress.She was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Silkwood for director Mike Nichols and won a Golden Globe for her performance in 1983. She received the Best Actress Award at Cannes for Mask in 1985. In 1987 Cher starred in The Witches of Eastwick, Suspect and Moonstruck, for which she won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award as Best Actress. Also in 1987, she returned to her singing roots and released the chart-topping song, I Found Someone.In 1992 Cher was seen in The Player and in 1994 Pret-a-Porter for Robert Altman. She was inactive on screen for several years, focusing instead on hugely success exercise videos and informercials. In 1996 she made her directorial debut with If Walls Could Talk. As well as Tea with Mussolini, in 1998 she will star in a film Breakers.With the release of Tea With Mussolini, a new album entitled Believe, and her book The First Times, Cher demonstrates she is truly an artist of many media.