Cher.
The sort of name that deserves its own paragraph.
The original single-name superstar, she is celebrated in The Cher Show, a glitzy Broadway production that chronicles her one-of-a-kind career. (The Cher Show will be presented in Morsani Hall, Jan. 14-19).
She’s also being celebrated – finally – by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted her on Saturday. Cher’s been eligible for induction since 1991 and had told the Hall where to stick it before relenting, saying she would attend the ceremony.
She performed “Believe” with Dua Lipa, was introduced by Zendaya, who wore a Cher-like Bob Mackie gown, and performed “If I Could Turn Back Time” solo.
Her speech was mostly cordial considering her earlier comments, other than when she declared, “It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
The bangs, bell bottoms and boots of the first Sonny & Cher era; the ever more elaborate and revealing gowns of designer Bob Mackie in the 1970s; the dressed-down, blue collar look for her roles in the films Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Silkwood and Mask; the leather jacket and fishnets of her late ‘80s MTV period.
She’s donned new musical styles almost as often as she’s changed her fashions. What’s impressive is how well she’s performed in each new setting.
In honor of this, here’s a brief look at her music career that includes the accomplishment of having a No. 1 Billboard single in each of the last seven decades. The only other act to do that is The Rolling Stones.
Her 1965 cover of Bob Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do” was so strong it drew praise from the Byrds, whose own cover of the song Cher’s bested in the charts.
Her 1969 album 3614 Jackson Highway was a commercial flop but remains a revelation with its deep grooves and simmering stew of rock and Southern soul.
In the new decade, she scored hits that played off her exotic looks and impoverished childhood, such as “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” “Half-Breed” and “Dark Lady.”
She ended the 1970s atop the disco charts with “Take Me Home,” and a few years later released a series of rock albums that returned her to the radio with hits such as “If I Could Turn Back Time.” As the 1990s gave way to the new century she was back again with the massively popular, Auto-Tune enhanced “Believe.”
Some of Cher’s other noteworthy interactions with pop music include:
Cher the critic: The Velvet Underground are one of rock’s most influential bands but they didn’t win many fans when they played Los Angeles for the first time in 1966. Cher went and left early saying the band “wouldn’t replace anything, except maybe suicide.”
Cher the lifesaver: Cher rescued Alan Gorrie, bassist for the Average White Band, after he overdosed on heroin at a 1974 party both had attended. Cher took the musician home and kept him walking and conscious until the effects of the drug wore off.
Cher the girlfriend/wife: Members of the musical fraternity with whom Cher paired include first husband Sonny Bono (songwriter, producer and music-biz hustler associated with Phil Spector), mogul David Geffen, second husband Gregg Allman, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora.
Cher the duet partner: Her impromptu 1987 performance of “I Got You Babe” with ex-husband Sonny Bono on Late Night With David Letterman was sweet and memorable. Less sweet but arguably more memorable was a medley performed with a cocaine-addled David Bowie on her mid-1970s variety series, Cher. Beginning and ending with Bowie’s “Young Americans,” the medley careens through 11 songs seemingly chosen by tossing the I Ching into traffic. It must be seen and heard to be believed:
Cher the rare: Cher’s vocals appear on Once Upon a Time in Shaolin by Wu-Tang Clan. A single copy of the album was pressed and sold at auction for $2 million.
Cher seems to follow an internal compass indecipherable to anyone else. In fact, it would probably lead to disaster for anyone else, because anyone else isn’t Cher. Or even Cher alike. One word, one Cher.