"Cher: The Memoir"

The beat goes on for the indomitable Cher in her new release, “Cher: The Memoir,” published in two parts, the next book hitting bookstores in 2025.

In Part One of her memoir, Cher, now 78, begins with her childhood, which can be described as dysfunctional with a capital “D.” Her grandmother gave birth to Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt, when she was 12 or 13. Her grandfather, an alcoholic and skirt chaser, later realized Georgia had a talent for singing and could support the family belting out old favorites in bars in the Midwest while he downed drinks. “Addiction didn’t run in our family, it galloped,” Cher writes, her familial history rife with stories she treats with offhanded humor and acceptance.

At 19, Georgia rushed into a marriage with Cher’s father, a handsome Armenian, addicted to heroin. Soon after the ceremony, Georgia left him, seeking support from her mother, who immediately asked if she was pregnant. She was. At her mother’s urging, a back alley doctor was found, but at the last minute Georgia fled the abortion. What followed was a sporadic romance with Johnny, and a number of other men Georgia dated and married.

To support herself, Georgia moved to California to take gigs singing and acting, thus introducing Cher to the who’s who of 1950s Hollywood. Despite the excitement and romance of this era, times for Cher and her mother were rough, wholly dependent on jobs Georgia could snag, or what man she could hook up with— “It’s as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is a poor man,” Georgia told Cher.

One of Georgia’s husbands, Gilbert, agreed to move to New York City with Georgia and Cher, but the city wasn’t for Georgia after all, and they returned to Los Angeles, where Cher was suspended from school for refusing to take off her sunglasses and promptly dropped out. Cher promised Georgia she wouldn’t just sit around loafing, she’d take acting classes. Those lessons were with the tough, but “legendary” coach, Jeff Corey, who recognized the promise in Cher. He had “taught Oscar-winning actors including Anthony Perkins, James Dean, Anthony Quinn, Jane Fonda, and Rita Morena,” and Cher, who later received an Oscar for “Moonstruck.”

While taking acting lessons, Cher continued to have issues with her mom, who would often remind Cher about how rough she’d had it as a girl. Cher didn’t know what kind of mother she’d have from day to day, her behavior inconsistent and unpredictable. Unable to stand it any longer, Cher moved in with a friend. At this low point in her life, in November 1962, she met a Sicilian everyone seemed to like when he came into a coffee shop.

Salvatore Phillip Bono “was one of the most interesting men (Cher) had ever seen…It wasn’t love at first sight. I just thought this guy was special,” Cher writes. At the time she was 16 and Sonny was 28, though Cher lied to Sonny about her age.

The two got to know one another and quickly hit it off. Sonny offered Cher a place to live, in exchange for her being his housekeeper and general assistant. “Before too long,” she writes, “I thought the sun rose and set on his Sicilian ass, even though I knew I wasn’t his type.” It was Sonny who discovered Cher’s potential as a vocalist when he heard her singing in the apartment. Gigs as backup singers followed, stints that gradually led to hit records and the incredibly successful “The Sonny and Cher Show,” which aired on prime time television. Along the way, there were financial hardships for the couple—money made, lost and regained.

“Cher: the Memoir” is engrossing and delivered in typical Cher style, upbeat, smart-alecky, as she makes light of times in her life that were tough, never dipping a toe into the maudlin. Cher weathered years with Sonny, who was a womanizer, jealous and restrictive, determining what Cher should wear, how she should spend her time, and what company she should keep. Yet even after the couple split, reunited and split again, they remained friends. Readers also get to know Cher as the mother of two and the wife of Gregg Allman, before the memoir concludes as Cher begins her journey as an actor.

This highly entertaining memoir is certain to illicit nostalgia in the hearts of Baby Boomers and capture the interest of younger readers intent on learning more about this famously talented woman, a super star and indelible survivor.

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