Sonny and Cher met in 1962 when she was a 16-year-old high school dropout looking to launch a career in Hollywood, and he was a 27-year-old mover and shaker working for Phil Spector in a number of roles. They started dating soon after they met, and in 1963 Cher started working as a backup singer on Spector's productions - you can hear her harmonies on songs like "
Be My Baby" and "
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."
Sonny and Cher first met at Aldo's Coffee Shop in Los Angeles, a hotspot for industry types that was next to the radio station KFWB. Cher's boyfriend at the time, a record promoter named Red Baldwin, arranged the meeting, hoping Sonny could help her career. But for Cher, it was love at first sight. In her autobiography The First Time, she described that first glimpse: "Everyone else in the room disappeared, just washed away into some fuzzy soft focus, like when Maria saw Tony at the dance in West Side Story."
Sonny and Cher started living together in 1963 and had a private "wedding ceremony" in 1964, but they didn't officially wed until 1969. They separated in 1972 but didn't finalize their divorced until 1975.
They first recorded in 1964 as Caesar and Cleo, the name chosen because Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were the hot couple and starred together in the movie
Cleopatra. Those recordings went nowhere, but in 1965 they released their first album as Sonny & Cher and had a #1 hit with "
I Got You Babe."
Sonny's first hit as a songwriter was a minor one: "You Bug Me, Baby" for Larry Williams, which went to #45 in 1957. His next was "
Needles And Pins," which was a minor hit for Jackie DeShannon in 1963 but a huge worldwide hit for the Searchers the following year.
Sonny cajoled Phil Spector into recording Cher as a solo artist, resulting in the 1964 single "
Ringo I Love You," released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. It went nowhere.
Sonny Bono got a major break in 1957 when he was a delivery boy. He had just arrived at Specialty Records when owner Art Rupe fired Sam Cooke and his producer Bumps Blackwell. Bono was asked if he would like to produce records and the inexperienced Bono accepted the offer.
Cher was Sonny's second wife. When they met, he had recently separated from his first wife, Donna.
Cher had a simultaneous solo career while Sonny & Cher were active. In 1965, five Sonny & Cher songs charted alongside two from Cher. Here's the rundown:
"I Got You Babe" (#1)
"
Baby Don't Go" (#8)
"But You're Mine" (#15)
"Just You" (#20)
"The Letter" (#75)
Cher
"All I Really Want To Do" (#15, a cover of a Bob Dylan song)
"Where Do You Go" (#25)
They dressed like hippies but weren't part of that movement. "We didn't live like hippies," Cher told Q magazine in 1992. "We didn't do drugs, we didn't have a crash pad, didn't go to love-ins. We were just regular people."
In the '60s, Sonny was Cher's main collaborator on her solo material, writing and producing most of her songs. That changed in 1971 when Cher moved to MCA records and worked with producer Snuff Garrett. Her first Garrett-produced single was "
Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," a #1 hit. She and Garrett made another chart-topper in 1973 with "
Half-Breed" and again in 1974 with "
Dark Lady." These songs exhibited a darker side that Sonny didn't like.
When their records stopped selling in the late '60s, Sonny and Cher put together a nightclub routine that relied on a more adult approach to sound and style. It was so depressing, audience members started heckling them and Cher responded by heckling back. This interplay revived their act and TV executives took note. They got their own show in 1971, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and reached a whole new level of fame. The show lasted four seasons.
Sonny died in 1998, aged 62, from injuries he incurred when he hit a tree while skiing in California. At the request of his widow, Mary, Cher gave a eulogy at his funeral.
They had one child together, Chaz Bono, born in 1969. He was born Chastity Bono but changed his name to Chaz in 2010 and made the transition from female to male with full-throated support from Cher.
Sonny managed the couple's business affairs even after their divorce, and even after he married his third wife, Mary (the name "Sonny and Cher" is trademarked).
Bono was mayor of Palm Springs, California from 1988-1992. After his death, a statue of him was placed near a fountain at 155 South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs in his honor.
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
In 1994, Bono was elected to the United States Congress, representing California's 44th district, a position he served until his death. He is the only person to perform on a #1 hit ("I Got You Babe") who was later elected to congress.
