Sonny & Cher

During the mid-1960s, Sonny & Cher surfaced as an enchanting musical pairing and later ranked among the stronger rock-infused middle-of-the-road acts of the early 1970s, their sharp-tongued banter balancing a string of tender chart-topping duets. Salvatore “Sonny” Bono, born February 16, 1935, began at the Los Angeles-based Specialty Records as a songwriter in the late 1950s, penning “Koko Joe” for Don & Dewey and “She Said Yeah” for Larry Williams, later interpreted by the Rolling Stones and the Righteous Brothers. Bono served as a protégé to Phil Spector and composed several notable tracks, most prominently “Needles and Pins,” created with his own protégé Jack Nitzsche; the song succeeded for Jackie DeShannon and scored an enormous international hit for the Searchers. In 1964, during sessions with Phil Spector, he encountered an 18-year-old aspiring vocalist named Cherilyn Lapierre, born May 20, 1946, and the pair later married. They launched a professional duo, first recording as Caesar & Cleo for Vault Records and subsequently Reprise, yet only after signing with Atlantic Records under the name Sonny & Cher did commercial breakthrough arrive. The couple pursued parallel solo paths, with Cher later joining Liberty/Imperial Records.

Their vocal blend proved unusual because neither possessed exceptional range, and their timbres were so alike that Atlantic president Ahmet Ertegun suspected Sonny had breached contract terms by appearing on her solo hit “All I Really Want to Do” and additional Imperial successes. That same release underscored their knack for identifying strong material: after hearing the Byrds perform the Bob Dylan composition at a Los Angeles club, they rushed Cher’s version into stores ahead of the Byrds’ own pressing, outpacing the folk-rock band in popularizing Dylan songs. Cher next reached the charts with “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” while Sonny scored with “Laugh at Me” on Atco, though their greatest achievements came as a duo on Atco via “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.”

Between 1965 and 1967 they stood as rock & roll’s most celebrated couple, viewed in certain conservative circles as nearly morally subversive; parents even confined children indoors during local concert stops. Their popularity led the Rolling Stones to impersonate them on the British television program Ready Steady Go, lip-syncing “I Got You Babe” with Brian Jones standing in for Sonny.

Success abruptly ceased. The hits vanished, and the pair attempted ambitious yet commercially unsuccessful ventures, including the film Good Times, William Friedkin’s directorial debut, which, like the Monkees’ Head, arrived too early for widespread critical or audience appreciation. A second movie, Chastity, sharing its title with their daughter, also flopped. A sudden $200,000 tax liability compelled continued performances, while contractual disputes with Atlantic over the handling of Cher’s solo output prevented further recordings.

They were appearing in supper clubs and Las Vegas venues, supporting acts such as Pat Boone, when their friend Johnny Musso departed an Atlantic executive role to helm Decca Records’ Kapp subsidiary and signed the duo. Around the same period, their stage routine, which had developed into a topical domestic comedy act nearly as prominent as the music, drew the attention of CBS programming head Fred Silverman, who noted the tall, acerbic Cher ribbing the seemingly slow-witted Sonny. The network offered a summer replacement series that performed strongly enough to secure a regular CBS slot beginning January 1972.

A live album recorded in a single night in Las Vegas revived their recording career, presenting updated renditions of early hits alongside current material and eventually achieving gold status. Initial solo and duo singles faltered until producer Snuff Garrett, previously at Liberty during Cher’s tenure but never before paired with her, was enlisted, yielding the number-one career-reviving smash “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.” Subsequent releases including “The Way of Love,” “All I Ever Need Is You,” the television theme, “A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done,” “Half Breed,” and “Dark Lady” placed either Cher or the duo inside the Top Ten through 1974. By then the marriage had dissolved, ending the television program’s run.

Their stature as pop-culture icons persisted regardless. Bono later became the target of jokes once Cher’s film performances in Silkwood and Mask overshadowed him. He entered the restaurant trade before outrage over Palm Springs bureaucracy prompted a mayoral bid; after winning, he secured a congressional seat in the 1994 Republican House sweep. He continued safeguarding his ex-wife’s professional interests despite his remarriage—the Sonny & Cher trademark remaining in force—and was establishing himself as a conservative California representative when a 1998 skiing accident claimed his life. His second wife, Mary, won the same House seat in the ensuing special election and the 1998 general election.