[歌手简介]

　　Cher has had three careers that place her indelibly in the public consciousness, and two have been in association with her then-husband, composer/producer/singer Salvatore "Sonny" Bono (February 16, 1935-January 8, 1998). She charted major hit records in the 1960s and 1970s, working in idioms ranging from early- '60s girl group-style ballads to Jackie Deshannon folk-influenced pop, to adult contemporary pop in the manner of later Dusty Springfield. She also embarked on an acting career, initially in the late 1960s in association with her work as part of Sonny & Cher but later on her own, which led to a series of increasingly polished and compelling performances in Silkwood, Mask and Moonstruck, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

　　Cherilyn Sarkisian was born in California in 1946; she was 17 when she first met Salvatore "Sonny" Bono, a songwriter and producer. Bono brought her to Spector, who used her as a backup singer and produced one single by her, a novelty Beatles tribute record called "Ringo I Love You" issued under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. It disappeared without a trace, but the couple were undaunted -- they emerged as a duo, initially called Caesar & Cleo, later that year, and cut "The Letter," "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Love Is Strange."

　　Caesar & Cleo didn't trouble the chart compilers with any degree of success, but late in 1964, Cher (then known as Cherilyn) was signed to Liberty Records' Imperial imprint, and Bono came along as producer. A Spector-ish version of "Dream Baby" managed to get airplay in Los Angeles, becoming a local hit, and they suspected they were onto something. That same month, Sonny & Cher, as they were now known, signed to Reprise Records and released their first single, "Baby Don't Go." The song became a major local hit in Los Angeles, after which the duo jumped from Reprise to the Atco label, a division of Atlantic Records. In April 1965 their first single, "Just You" was released and rose to number 20 on the charts. The duo was on its way, and Cher also had Imperial Records after her for a second single.

　　She pursued a dual career for the next two years, cutting solo recordings under Sonny's guidance that regularly charted, and duets with her husband for Atco. A month after "All I Really Want to Do," they released "I Got You Babe," which was one of the biggest-selling and most beloved pop/rock hits of the mid-'60s, and the couple's signature tune across two eras of success. Cher's solo career ended up slightly overshadowed by her work with Sonny & Cher, but at the time she was fully competitive on her own terms -- her first LP reached the Billboard Top 20 and was on the albums charts for six months. "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" was another hit, a million-seller that made number three in America and England, and she made the Top Ten once more with her 1967 single "You Better Sit Down Kids." The latter song, written by Bono (and which was also a hit for Glen Campbell), dealt with divorce, an unusual subject for a 1960s pop record, and was one of a series of releases on which Cher's music broached difficult areas -- others were "I Feel Something's in the Air," which dealt with unwanted pregnancy, and "Mama (When My Dollies Have Babies)," both written by Bono.

　　The try-out on television was a success, as the couple proved to be as funny as they were musically diverse. It took a little longer to find a new formula for Cher's music -- her initial single on Decca's Kapp label, "Classified 1A," written by Bono, was a failure; a serious song dealing with a girl's feelings for a boyfriend killed in Vietnam; it was topical in all the wrong ways to become a pop chart success. Producer Snuff Garrett was recruited to work with her, and he found a series of songs that were perfect for Cher's maturing talent.

　　In 1974, it was revealed that the couple's marriage was coming to an end. Ironically, Cher came out of this split more secure than her husband, despite his having guided her career for a decade and having all of the real training in the entertainment business. She embarked on an acting career, even as she continued to make headlines for her romantic exploits, including an affair with (and two marriages to) Gregg Allman. She became a far better actress than she was a singer, first revealed in Mike Nichols' Silkwood (1983) and then in Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1985) and George Miller's The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Since the mid-'70s, Cher has been known more for her acting than for her music, although she has continued to record for numerous labels, including Columbia, and in 1998 scored an international chart-topping smash with the club-friendly single "Believe."

　　Cher原名Cherylin Sarkisian LaPiere，1946年5月20日出生于美国California的El Centro.幼年的Cher生活在一个贫穷的单亲家庭，靠偶尔在电影中饰演小角色和卖唱为生。而在16岁时，Cher去了洛杉矶学习表演，事实证明，这是Cher一生中最重要的转折点。在17岁那年，Cher遇到了她的第一任丈夫Salvatore "Sonny" Bono，这也是对Cher一生影响最大的一个人。Salvatore "Sonny" Bono不仅是一名歌手，而且还是一名出色的制作人。是Bono看中了Cher的才华和巨大潜力。

　　在当时一张向披头士献礼的唱片中，Cher初显身手，被列为候补歌手。随后，Cher和Salvatore "Sonny" Bono组了一个2人组，当时名叫：Caesar and Cleo，后又改名为Sonny and Cher。他们发行的第一张LP唱片曾占据Billboard专辑排行榜前二十位达六个月之久。随后另一张专辑《Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) 》在全美和英国是销量第三位的唱片，在那个属于The Beatles的时代，这样的成绩是值得骄傲的。

　　60年代末70年代初期，由于各种原因，致使唱片销量的锐减，不久合唱组宣布解散，Cher开始以独唱身份立足歌坛，但在70年代中期以后，Cher更多的精力是放在了表演事业中。随着Cher的婚变，她的歌唱事业进入了相对平淡的时期，然而她的演技越来越受到人们的肯定。由于在《Silkwood》的出色表演，Cher获得了83年第56届奥斯卡最佳女配角奖提名，并于87年凭借在《Moonstruck》令人信服的演技，获得了第60届奥斯卡最佳女主角奖！

　　进入九十年代以后， Cher的事业不但没有下滑，反而在1999年凭借《Believe》获得了第42届格莱美奖最佳舞曲专辑奖，这也是她目前为止四十余年中唯一的一次的葛莱美奖专辑。

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