Music

Music historian Annie Zaleski wrote in Cher's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction essay that she sings "nearly every style of music" effortlessly.^[5] Across her career, Cher has explored a range of genres including rock—spanning folk, punk, arena and pop subgenres—as well as soul, jazz, disco, new wave, power ballads, hip hop and electronic dance music,^[5][6] an eclecticism she framed as an attempt to "remain relevant and do work that strikes a chord".^[7]

Before her Sonny & Cher partnership, Cher sang backup vocals under Phil Spector, appearing on canonical Wall of Sound recordings including the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" (1963) and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1964).^[8] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis described Cher's early work with Sonny Bono as "the sound of the growing 60s counterculture",^[9] while author Joseph Murrells called the duo "leading exponents of the rock-folk-message type of song", blending rock instrumentation, folk themes and protest lyrics.^[10]

Goldmine's Phill Marder credited Cher's musical success to her "nearly flawless" song selection, noting that while Sonny contributed to early hits, most of her solo successes came from independent songwriters she chose.^[11] Cher's songbook has centered on heartbreak, independence and women's empowerment, positioning her, in the words of Out's Judy Wieder, as a "brokenhearted symbol of a strong but decidedly single woman".^[12]

Cher's contralto voice has been praised for its distinctiveness.^[13] Ann Powers of The New York Times described her voice as "a quintessential rock voice: impure, quirky [and] a fine vehicle for projecting personality."^[14] Her low timbre drew notice from the earliest stage of her career: many radio programmers rejected her 1964 debut single "Ringo, I Love You", mistaking her deep voice for a male vocal and assuming it was a gay man singing to the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.^[15] On her first charting solo single "All I Really Want to Do", Cher's voice dips so low on alternating lines that Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun became convinced Sonny was singing alongside her, which would have constituted a breach of contract.^[16]

Cher's debut album, All I Really Want to Do (1965), was praised by AllMusic's Tim Sendra as "one of the stronger folk-pop records of the era".^[17] Upon its release, the Byrds withdrew their competing version of the Bob Dylan-written title song; Roger McGuinn recalled, "We loved the Cher version ... We didn't want to hassle. So we just turned our record over."^[18] AllMusic's Mark Deming later judged 3614 Jackson Highway (1969) "the finest album of her career" and "still a revelation four decades after it was released".^[19]

Writing about Cher's musical output during the 1960s, Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times stated that "rock was subsequently blessed with the staggering blues exclamations of Janis Joplin in the late '60s and the raw poetic force of Patti Smith in the mid-'70s. Yet no one matched the pure, seductive wallop of Cher".^[20] By contrast, her 1970s vocals were described by Eder as "dramatic, highly intense ... [and] almost as much 'acted' as sung".^[21]

Some of Cher's early solo songs address subjects rarely explored in American popular music, such as divorce, prostitution, unplanned and underaged pregnancy, and racism.^[11] Ryan Murphy of the Miami Herald described the thematic arc of those recordings as "awash with longing and themes of insecurity", arguing that "Half-Breed" and "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "as campy as they are, speak of a woman in search not of an identity—she has always had that—but acceptance".^[1]

According to AllMusic's Joe Viglione, Cher's 1972 single "The Way of Love" reads "either about a woman expressing her love for another woman or a woman saying au revoir to a gay male she loved",^[22] and her ability to carry both male and female ranges allowed her to sing solo in androgynous and gender-neutral songs.^[22] Hilburn added, "There were a lot of great records by female singers in the early days of rock ... None, however, reflected the authority and command that we associate with rock 'n' roll today as much as [Cher's] key early hits".^[20]

Cher's 1975 album Stars, recorded during her push to establish herself as a rock artist, drew praise from Richard Seeley of the Daily Breeze as "an important link between the rock and roll subculture and the mass popular music audience", with Seeley noting that Cher showed "real talent" by choosing lesser-known rock songwriters over "surefire hit makers like John [Lennon] and [Paul] McCartney".^[23] First heard on the 1980 record Black Rose,^[24] her sharper, more aggressive vocals on hard rock-oriented albums established her sexually confident image. The album, recorded with a short-lived band she formed with guitarist Les Dudek, received poor reviews; she told Rolling Stone that critics "didn't attack the record, they attacked me. It was like, 'How dare Cher sing rock & roll?'"^[25][26] AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco praised her 1981 duet with Meat Loaf, "Dead Ringer for Love", as "one of the more inspired rock duets of the 1980s".^[27]

Murphy read Cher's late-1980s recordings as evidence of a shift in sensibility, writing that "We All Sleep Alone" "reverberates with the struggle to deal with success and its isolating effects" and that "I Found Someone" "is not about a stiletto-grinding female out to burn an ex as much as it is about sheer resilience. This music, like the new, improved Cher, is about maturity of spirit."^[1] Reviewing her 1991 album Love Hurts in Entertainment Weekly, Jim Farber praised Cher's "sexually autonomous persona" as "one of the surest of any pop female", noting how she turned heartbreak lyrics into expressions of revenge rather than victimhood.^[26] For 1995's It's a Man's World, by contrast, she restrained her vocals, singing in higher registers and without vibrato;^[28] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that "From an artistic standpoint, this soulful collection of grown-up pop songs ... is the high point of her recording career."^[29]

"Believe" (1998)

"Believe" pioneered the use of Auto-Tune to intentionally distort vocals—a technique later known as the "Cher effect".

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"Believe" without Auto-Tune

For comparison, Auto-Tune is not applied in this section.

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Cher's 1998 song "Believe" was the first commercial recording to use Auto-Tune—an audio processor for correcting off-key vocals—as a stylistic effect, creating a robotic, futuristic sound.^[30][31] According to Rolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten, the producers "used the pitch correction software not as a way to fix mistakes in Cher's iconic voice, but as an aesthetic tool".^[31] Cher, who proposed the effect,^[32] faced resistance from her label but insisted it remain, saying, "You can change [the song] over my dead body".^[32] The technique came to be known as the "Cher effect",^[30] a name adopted by the manual for Auto-Tune's fifth release.^[33] Pitchfork's Simon Reynolds described it as having "revolutionized the sound of popular music" and as "the sound of the 21st century".^[34] Cher used Auto-Tune extensively on Living Proof (2001) and later albums.^[35]

AllMusic's Jose F. Promis described Cher's 2000 album Not Commercial, largely self-written during a songwriting camp in 1994, as carrying a "1970s singer-songwriter feel" that highlights her storytelling skills.^[36] She chose the title after her label's chief dismissed the project as "nice, but not commercial" and rejected it for its explicit language and bleak content, including personal trauma, homelessness, veteran neglect and the suicide of Kurt Cobain. She sold it independently on her website, an unusual move for an artist under contract with a major label. One of its songs, "Sisters of Mercy", described the nuns who prevented her mother from retrieving her from a Catholic orphanage as "daughters of hell", drawing condemnation from the Catholic Church.^[37][a]

Stage and television

Cher's stage work has spanned prime-time television and live concerts: on her solo variety show Cher with Elton John, Bette Midler, Bob Mackie and Flip Wilson (1975, left) and on the Dressed to Kill Tour (2014, right)

Cher's live performances, prime-time television work and music videos have frequently reflected her public image, addressing themes such as self-construction, female sexuality and the pursuit of perfection.^[47] Commenting on the scale of her shows, Tony Spilde of The Bismarck Tribune wrote that Cher's "lavish concerts have become bigger than the music they're meant to promote",^[48] while James Sullivan of the San Francisco Chronicle credited her with influencing the development of stadium-scale concerts, stating, "She's comfortable enough to see such imitation as flattery, not theft."^[49] Murphy called her concerts "a testimony to brilliant survival", observing that most of her audience—"men and women"—attend "to pay homage. And, perhaps, to absorb a little bit of her magic."^[1]

Cher's concerts often include biographical montages and self-referential visuals. University College Dublin professor Diane Negra described them as multimedia retrospectives that merge different phases of her career into a cohesive stage narrative and frame performance as a form of autobiography.^[50] The New York Times' Jon Pareles observed that Cher's onstage appearances alongside projected images of her younger selves function to reaffirm and reclaim earlier identities, crediting her ability to "triumph over restraint, aging and gravity" and calling her "a hit machine immune to sagging flesh".^[51] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times described her shows as rooted in "her larger-than-life story [and] mythology of self-reinvention".^[52]

In her 1991 Cher... at the Mirage concert video, she subverts the typical staging of female pop performances at the time by replacing female backup dancers with a male dancer impersonating her. Dressed in a replica of her 1986 Academy Awards outfit, the impersonator initially appears to be Cher; Cher then emerges in a different costume and begins performing, while the impersonator interacts with oversized props symbolizing fame and media attention.^[47] Negra interpreted this segment as Cher casting herself as the narrator of her own life story, using the impersonator to emphasize her status as a "fictionalized production" shaped by media and performance—a dynamic she described as offering audiences a "pleasurable plurality".^[50]

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971–1974) was praised for its comedic timing, as a deadpan Cher mocked Sonny about his looks and short stature. According to biographer Connie Berman, they "exuded an aura of warmth, playfulness and caring that only enhanced their appeal. Viewers were further enchanted when a young [Chaz] appeared on the show. They seemed like a perfect family."^[53] Cher honed her acting skills through comedy sketches,^[54] including her original character Laverne LaShinsky, a brash and over-the-top housewife.^[55] Her solo follow-up Cher (1975–1976) was described by Billboard as having brought rock music into mainstream prime-time programming,^[3] and director George Schlatter praised Cher as the first woman to anchor a variety show on the same terms as her male counterparts.^[56]

Cher's 1980 video for "Hell on Wheels" employed cinematic techniques,^[57] and film historian Lawrence J. Quirk described it as one of the earliest examples of a modern music video.^[58] Her 1989 music video for "If I Could Turn Back Time" became the first to be banned by MTV,^[47] amid controversy over her performance aboard the battleship USS Missouri, where she straddled a cannon in a leather thong that revealed her tattooed buttocks,^[59] accompanied by homoerotic imagery featuring sailors.^[60] Billboard's Rob Tannenbaum later characterized the era as Cher's "MILF of hair metal" incarnation.^[61] VH1 ranked Cher 17th on its 2003 list of the "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era".^[62]

Film

Maclean's magazine's Barbara Wickens described Cher as "probably the most fascinating movie star of her generation", highlighting her "magnetic" screen presence and her ability to be both "boldly shocking" and "ultimately enigmatic".^[63] New York Post critic David Edelstein attributed Cher's "top-ranking star quality" to her capacity for projecting "honesty, rawness and emotionality", adding that she "wears her vulnerability on her sleeve".^[63] Film Comment wrote, "For Cher is a star. That is, she manages the movie star trick of being at once a character and at the same time never allowing you to forget: that's Cher."^[64]

Cue magazine wrote of Chastity (1969) that "Cher has a marvelous quality that often makes you forget the lines you are hearing",^[65] while Frank Rich of The New York Times, reviewing the 1982 Broadway production Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, praised her "cheery, ingratiating nonperformance" as a refreshing contrast in the ensemble.^[66] Professor Yvonne Tasker noted that Cher's film roles mirror her public image as a rebellious, sexually autonomous and self-made woman.^[67] She often portrays women who help marginalized male characters navigate mainstream society—including Eric Stoltz's character with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia in Mask (1985), Liam Neeson's mute homeless veteran in Suspect (1987), and Nicolas Cage's socially isolated baker with a wooden hand in Moonstruck (1987).^[68]

Film critic Kathleen Rowe wrote of Moonstruck (1987) that the depiction of Cher's character as "a 'woman on top' [is] enhanced by the unruly star persona Cher brings to the part".^[69] The New York Times' Janet Maslin wrote that Moonstruck "offers further proof that Cher has evolved into the kind of larger-than-life movie star who's worth watching whatever she does".^[70] In a mixed New York Times review of Faithful (1996), Maslin wrote that Cher "does her game best to find comic potential in a victim's role."^[71]

Provocation and controversy

Cher's public image—marked by defiance, flamboyance and an unwavering sense of self—has itself become a subject of cultural study and popular fascination.^[72][73] The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert described Cher as "a walking, singing eye roll [who] has never met an obstacle without theatrically raising a middle finger."^[74] Writing for the Miami Herald in 1990, Ryan Murphy called her a "multigenerational touchstone" and a "barometer of our times"—a polarizing figure about whom indifference is impossible.^[1] While validating accusations of "commercial exploitation" and "premeditated controversy", he argued that "it was Cher who made 'shocking' chic and palatable [and] turned transformation into an art form".^[1]

In a 1996 profile for Esquire, playwright Paul Rudnick characterized Cher as "our nation at its most exuberant and least pretentious", citing her "common-touch suburban citizenship" and her refusal to obey "tastefully rigid career navigation".^[75] That same year, Rolling Stone's Jancee Dunn called Cher "the coolest woman who ever stood in shoes", attributing the status to her refusal to conform:

Her motto is, 'I don't give a shit what you think, I'm going to wear this multicolored wig.' There are folks all over America who would, in their heart of hearts, love to date people half their age, get multiple tattoos and wear feathered headdresses. Cher does it for us.^[76]

Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times called Cher a "mainstream translator" of 1960s counterculture, casting her as a bridge between teenage rebellion and marketability.^[52] Writer Cintra Wilson recounted that during Sonny & Cher's late-1960s lounge act, which eventually led to their television variety show, "their lounge act was so depressing, people started heckling them. Then Cher started heckling back."^[77] Cher later attributed her sharper retorts to a temperament Sonny had suppressed since the start of their partnership, noting that he had "hated" what he called her "smart mouth" and that she had "kept it dormant" for him.^[78]

Cher's 1979 album Prisoner, whose cover shows her naked and draped in chains, was intended to symbolize her struggle as a "prisoner of the press" amid intense tabloid scrutiny; feminist groups criticized the imagery for its perceived depiction of a sex slave.^[79] Billboard's Brooke Mazurek wrote that Cher "revolutionized the idea of what a pop star could visually accomplish, the way they could create multiple personas that live on and off-stage"; as the red carpet emerged as a "cultural fixture" in the 1980s, "Cher became one of its leaders".^[80] Years earlier, at the 1974 Met Gala, a man had asked Cher "in a very rude, dismissive way" how it felt to be naked; she replied, "It feels great."^[81]

At the 58th Academy Awards in 1986, after being left off the Oscar nomination list for her lead role in Mask, Cher wore a dramatic, tarantula-like Mackie outfit that Vanity Fair's Esther Zuckerman later dubbed Cher's "Oscar revenge dress".^[82] Presenting the Best Supporting Actor nominees, Cher quipped, "As you can see, I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress".^[83] The incident garnered her much publicity.^[84] Mackie recalled that critics were equally dismissive when Cher dressed conservatively, finding it "boring".^[85]

In May 1986, Cher appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and called David Letterman "an asshole", generating extensive media coverage; Letterman later said, "It did hurt my feelings. Cher was one of the few people I've really wanted to have on the show."^[86] Reflecting on Cher's November 1987 return to the show—where she reunited with Sonny for a final on-air performance of "I Got You Babe"—Rolling Stone's Andy Greene wrote, "They weren't exactly the best of friends at this point, but both of them knew it would make for unforgettable television. Had YouTube existed back then, this would have gone insanely viral the next morning."^[87]

During the early 1990s, Cher appeared in infomercials for health, beauty and diet products.^[88][89] Critics saw it as a sellout and speculated her film career was over,^[89][90] with Entertainment Weekly stating she had eroded her "hard-won A-list actress status".^[91] Cher herself conceded, "I had really fucked up".^[78] She later reflected, "Suddenly I became the Infomercial Queen ... people stripped me of all my other things."^[88] Rudnick rejected this dismissal, arguing that the same activities critics treated as undignified were what kept Cher's appeal instinctive rather than calculated and made her "gloriously human".^[75]

Reinvention

Cher's career has been marked by continual reinvention;^[92] professor Richard Aquila described her as "the ultimate pop chameleon",^[93] while The New York Times dubbed her the "Queen of the Comeback".^[29] Gilbert commented, "Decades before Madonna had reinventions and Taylor Swift had eras, Cher had comebacks—triumphs over decline in which she'd reemerge stronger, shinier, and more resolute than ever."^[74] Entertainment Weekly described her album Believe (1998) as "the most dramatic comeback Hollywood has seen",^[94] while Pitchfork wrote that "coming from Cher—a confident, charismatic, and massively talented woman who'd been subjected to frequent public ridicule over her personal life", the era gained "an extra survivalist edge".^[95]

Author Craig Crawford described Cher as "a model of flexible career management", highlighting how she adapted her image to align with cultural trends while maintaining a rebellious persona that made her transformations both strategic and authentic.^[96] Murphy called Cher's "gumption, her refusal to kowtow to expectations and her genius at image make-over" the hallmarks "not only of her talent, but also of her phenomenon".^[1] The Boston Globe credited her with driving her own evolution, calling her a forerunner of transformation in pop music who turned reinvention into a deliberate strategy rather than a survival instinct.^[97]

Conversely, anthropologist Grant McCracken wrote that while reinvention is a common frame for celebrity careers, Cher's case is distinct: she "is inclined to lock on to each new fashion wave [and] is swept violently down the diffusion stream and out of fashion. Only substantial re-creation permits her to return to stardom".^[98] Murphy wrote that Cher "has been kept down, then unleashed and remade through her own determination so many times that it defies logic".^[1] Cher remarked, "It's a thousand times harder to come back than to become. Becoming famous is hard, but making a comeback is almost impossible."^[99] She also compared her career to a bumper car: "When I hit a wall I just backed up and turned around. ... I couldn't let it matter what people thought."^[100]

Feminism and gender

Cher's career has drawn sustained attention from critics and scholars as a case study in gender roles and feminism in the entertainment industry.^[101][102] Billboard described her as a "pioneer of female autonomy" who "paved a way in a sexist industry" during a "male-driven" era.^[103] Goldmine's Phill Marder said Cher advanced "feminine rebellion" in 1960s rock, describing her as "the prototype of the female rock star" who set "the standard for appearance, from her early hippie days to her later outlandish outfits and her attitude—the perfect female punk long before punk even was a rock term".^[11][104] Billboard credited Cher with establishing an "androgynous musical identity" that predated and influenced artists such as David Bowie and Patti Smith.^[2]

Marder attributed Cher's rebellious image in part to her commanding, "near dominatrix" stage persona alongside Sonny and her rise to greater prominence as a solo act.^[11] AllMusic noted that during her popular 1970s TV shows with Sonny, "he was a diminutive foil to Cher's sexually provocative comedienne", reversing traditional gender dynamics and positioning her as the comedic lead.^[105] Writing for Time, Ginia Bellafante described The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour as having brought "a jokey, mass-market, safe feminism to TV as Sonny played emasculated buffoon to Cher's smart aleck".^[106] Director George Schlatter credited Cher with redefining women's roles in TV comedy, stating, "Until Cher, women have been the joke, not done the joke ... She's the first female star to carry a show in the same way that men have".^[56] After her divorce from Sonny, Cher found network censors "more watchful" of her solo variety show than they had been of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour: "When I was married ... I could get away with all kinds of double entendre stuff, and nobody took it seriously. But after my divorce, all that changed".^[78]

Early in her career, Cher's critics often framed her output as an extension of male collaborators,^[107] a view Cher addressed directly: "It was a time when girl singers were patted on the head for being good and told not to think".^[29] Over time, her image evolved, reflecting what professor Yvonne Tasker described as her ambition to build an acting career "on her own terms" by rejecting both "dependence on a man [and] the conventional role assigned to women [over 40] in an industry that fetishises youth".^[4] Author Lucy O'Brien saw her as embodying the American Dream of self-reinvention by challenging assumptions around aging in the entertainment industry: "Getting old does not have to mean getting obsolete."^[108]

At the 1985 Cannes Film Festival, where Mask competed in the official selection, Cher publicly broke with the film's director Peter Bogdanovich over Universal Pictures' cuts to the film; she told reporters, "From working with Peter, it's no surprise to me that he would serve his own interests before those of the film."^[109] In the weeks before Cher's Academy Award win in 1988, The New York Times' Stephanie Brush compared her impact on women to Jack Nicholson's cultural appeal among men, stating that she embodied women's "revenge fantasies" by confronting those who underestimated her: "You need to be more than beautiful to get away with this. You need to have been Cher for 40 years."^[110] Following the win, Ms. magazine praised her as an "authentic feminist hero" and "the quintessential woman of the '80s", citing her flamboyant self-presentation, her public confrontation with Letterman, her marriage to a "known heroin addict", her single motherhood and her candor about cosmetic surgery, and concluded that she had "finally landed in an era that's not afraid to applaud real women".^[111]

Columnist Kathleen Parker dissented from the Ms. characterization in the Orlando Sentinel, contending that Cher was being celebrated "for doing all the things most of us try so hard not to do" and that feminism should be about "learning to keep your mouth shut ... and mastering the arts of discretion and modesty".^[111] Murphy argued that Cher's feminism was self-evident rather than ideological, writing that "she packs as much of a blow for feminism in one concert as any issue of Ms. magazine ever did".^[1] In a 1996 New York Times profile, feminist critic Camille Paglia attributed Cher's resonance with women to her working-class background, writing that "a mass audience of women have a deep empathy with her emotional life".^[29]

Fashion

Cher in 1972 (left) and 1978 (right); Time described her as a "cultural phenomenon" who "changed the way we see celebrity fashion"

Time described Cher as a "cultural phenomenon [who] has forever changed the way we see celebrity fashion".^[118] She emerged as a fashion trendsetter in the 1960s, popularizing "hippie fashion with bell-bottoms, bandanas and Cherokee-inspired tunics".^[119] After "I Got You Babe" displaced the Beatles at the top of the UK charts in 1965, English teenagers began emulating Sonny & Cher's look—bell-bottoms, striped pants and fur vests.^[120] On the duo's subsequent US tour, their concerts drew numerous Cher look-alikes, with girls straightening and dyeing their hair black and adopting her signature vests and bell-bottoms.^[121] Writer Cintra Wilson recalled that after Sonny & Cher were thrown out of the London Hilton over their outfits in 1965, "London went gaga for the heretofore-unseen S&C look, which was neither mod nor rocker".^[77] In 1967, she caught the attention of then-Vogue editor Diana Vreeland at a party for Jacqueline Kennedy and began modeling for photographer Richard Avedon.^[119] She appeared five times as the cover model for US Vogue.^[122]

By the turn of the 1970s, as the duo pivoted from counterculture flag-bearers to a "new, sophisticated and mature" nightclub act, Cher adopted the "alluring, low-cut gowns that became her signature look".^[123] Avedon photographed Cher in a beaded and feathered see-through gown by Bob Mackie for the cover of Time in 1975;^[124] Billboard called it "one of the most recreated and monumental looks of all time".^[80] Cher had first worn the gown—dubbed the "naked dress"^[125]—to the 1974 Met Gala. According to André Leon Talley of Vogue, "it was really the first time a Hollywood celebrity attended and it changed everything. We are still seeing versions of that look on The Met red carpet 40 years later."^[80] Billboard wrote that Cher has "transformed fashion and [become] one of the most influential style icons in red carpet history".^[80] When she formed the rock band Black Rose in 1980, she took the opposite turn, adopting a punk-inspired look and cutting her signature long hair in an effort to blend in with the group and avoid overshadowing them with her celebrity status.^[126]

The Hamilton Spectator declared Cher "the It girl of the '70s".^[127] She became a sex symbol through her TV shows, wearing inventive and revealing Mackie-designed outfits and successfully fighting network censors to bare her navel.^[128] Because she did so by choice rather than at the direction of male producers, Cher is often credited as the first woman to expose her navel on TV.^[129][b] People dubbed Cher the "pioneer of the belly beautiful".^[131] In 1972, after she was featured on the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List, Mackie stated: "There hasn't been a girl like Cher since [Marlene] Dietrich and [Greta] Garbo. She's a high-fashion star who appeals to people of all ages."^[132] According to her grandson J. David Riva, Marlene Dietrich—herself a Mackie fan—commented on nearly every Cher outfit and took pride in having helped pave Cher's path as a performer.^[133]

In 1999, after the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) honored Cher with its Influence on Fashion Award, Robin Givhan of the Los Angeles Times called her a "fashion visionary" for "striking just the right note of contemporary wretched excess".^[134] Givhan noted that designers such as Tom Ford, Anna Sui and Dolce & Gabbana have cited Cher as "source of inspiration and guidance".^[134] She added that "Cher's Native American showgirl sexpot persona now seems to epitomize the fashion industry's rush to celebrate ethnicity, adornment and sex appeal."^[134] Vogue proclaimed Cher their "favorite fashion trendsetter", calling her "eternally relevant [and] the ruler of outré reinvention".^[135] The Independent's Alexander Fury traced her influence on celebrities including Beyoncé, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian, stating, "They all graduated from the Cher school of never sharing the stage with anyone."^[136]

Physical appearance

Cher's signature "Cher hair" (left, 1977), a teased look (center, 1985) and a blonde wig (right, 2019)

Cher has attracted media attention for her physical appearance, including her hairstyles, distinctive facial features, perceived agelessness and tattoos. Her signature hairstyle, known as "the Cher hair"—long, straight, jet-black hair parted in the center—was a 1970s fashion trend that saw multiple revivals in later decades.^{[134][137][138]} In the 1970s, she started wearing wigs on her TV shows to play various characters in the same episode.^[139] By the 1990s, wigs became a staple of her public appearances, enabling her to experiment with colors and lengths.^[140] She has stated that wigs help her "stay current" while protecting her natural hair.^[140] Professor Katrin Horn from University of Greifswald wrote that Cher's use of wigs has surpassed typical celebrity fashion, elevating her into "the realms of feminine drag".^[60]

New York magazine's David Denby described Cher's look as "odd, a bit oriental and snaky" and suggested that it aligned with "the traditional definition of a Hollywood star—that you always want to see more".^[63] Paddy Calistro of the Los Angeles Times wrote that during Cher's rise as a movie star in the 1980s, her "highly articulated bone structure captured audience attention", which led to an increased number of medical requests for "surgically inserted 'cheekbones'".^[141] In Ageless Intensity: High-Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process (2022), Pete McCall credited Cher and Madonna as being among the first female celebrities to hire personal trainers—a shift he said changed "the image of femininity" and inspired women to exercise in pursuit of "the lean and fit bodies of the stars".^[142]

In 1988, Cher was voted the sexiest woman in Us magazine's annual readers' poll.^[143] In 1992, Madame Tussauds wax museum honored Cher as one of the five "most beautiful women of history" by creating a life-size statue.^[144] In 2002, VH1 ranked her 26th on its "100 Sexiest Artists" list.^[145]

Journalists have often called Cher the "poster girl" of plastic surgery.^[98] McCracken, in his book Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture, connected her surgeries to her career reinventions, describing the procedures as "hyperbolic, extreme, over the top ... a transformational technology that is dramatic and irreversible".^[98] Author Caroline Ramazanoglu wrote that Cher's appearance has evolved from "a strong, decidedly 'ethnic' look [to] a more symmetrical, delicate ... and ever-youthful version of female beauty". She argued that Cher's idealized beauty "now acts as a standard against which other women will measure, judge, discipline and 'correct' themselves".^[146] Cher has admitted to plastic surgery but criticized media speculation, denying most rumored procedures. She stated she does not need to justify her choices, saying in 2002, "If I want to put my tits on my back, it's nobody's business but my own."^[147]

By the early 1990s, Cher had six tattoos, including what she called "a garden on my butt".^[148] The Baltimore Sun called her the "Ms. Original Rose Tattoo".^[148] She got her first tattoo in 1972.^[148] According to Sonny, "Calling her butterfly tattoos nothing was like ignoring a sandstorm in the Mojave. That was exactly the effect Cher wanted to create. She liked to do things for the shock they created."^[149] She began having laser treatments to remove her tattoos in the late 1990s.^[150] She commented, "When I got tattooed, only bad girls did it: me and Janis Joplin and biker chicks. Now it doesn't mean anything. No one's surprised."^[151]

Social media

Cher's social media presence has been noted for its unconventional and candid style. Time named Cher "Twitter's most outspoken (and beloved) commentator",^[118] while The New York Times' J Wortham highlighted her authenticity, contrasting it with the heavily curated online personas typical of celebrity accounts. Wortham described Cher as "an outlier, perhaps the last unreconstructed high-profile Twitter user", whose posts combine "nakedness and honesty" that is "rarely celebrated" in mainstream culture.^[153] Similarly, The Guardian's Monica Heisey described Cher's Twitter account as "a jewel in the bizarro crown of the internet", noting, "While many celebrities use Twitter for carefully crafted self-promotion, Cher just lets it all hang out."^[154] Journalists have also remarked on her frequent use of emojis, which Cher has linked to her dyslexia, describing them as intuitive tools for visualizing emotions.^[155]

In November 2022, after criticism of her relationship with music executive Alexander Edwards, 40 years her junior, Cher replied on Twitter, "Love doesn't know math."^[156] In July 2023, after a fan-made music video featuring an AI-generated version of Cher's voice covering Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" circulated online,^[157] Cher expressed concerns about the use of AI to replicate her voice and likeness: "I've spent my entire life trying to be myself and now ... they'll do my acting and they'll do my singing?"^[158]

Activism

Cher's advocacy and philanthropic work, undertaken across five decades, have centered on LGBTQ rights and HIV/AIDS relief, with further involvement in recognition of the Armenian genocide, veterans' welfare, progressive political advocacy, disaster relief, elder rights and animal welfare, channeled primarily through the Cher Charitable Foundation and partnerships with organizations such as the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).^[159]

Cher's support for her son Chaz Bono, who came out as a lesbian at age 17 and later transitioned as a transgender man, shaped the trajectory of her LGBTQ advocacy. After initially grappling with "guilt, fear and pain", she concluded that LGBTQ people "didn't have the same rights as everyone else, [and she] thought that was unfair".^[160] In 1997, Cher delivered the keynote at the national Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) convention,^[160] and in 1998 received the GLAAD Vanguard Award for having "made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for lesbians and gay men".^[161] In September 2013, Cher declined an invitation to perform at the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Russia, citing the country's anti-LGBTQ legislation.^[162]

Cher is a donor, fundraiser and international spokesperson for Keep a Child Alive, which seeks to combat AIDS, including providing antiretroviral medicine to children and their families.^[163] In 1996, she hosted the amfAR Benefit alongside Elizabeth Taylor at the Cannes Film Festival.^[164] In 2015, she received the amfAR Award of Inspiration for "her willingness and ability to use her fame for the greater good" and for being "one of the great champions in the fight against AIDS".^[165]

In 1993, Cher joined a humanitarian mission to Armenia, delivering food and medical supplies to the war-torn region.^[166] She has since advocated for recognition of the Armenian genocide; at the 2016 premiere of The Promise, a war film depicting the genocide, she criticized Turkey's denial and cited Hitler's Obersalzberg Speech—"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"—while recalling her grandparents' survival of the genocide.^[167]

Cher has been a vocal advocate for American soldiers and returning veterans. In October 2003, she anonymously called a C-SPAN phone-in program to recount a visit to wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and criticized the lack of media coverage and government attention given to injured servicemen.^[168] In a 2006 Stars and Stripes interview, she described her position as "against the war in Iraq but for the troops".^[169] She has supported Operation Helmet, which provides free helmet upgrade kits to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and contributed to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which aids military personnel severely injured in war-related operations.^[163]

Cher's progressive political views have drawn media attention, and she has been an outspoken critic of the conservative movement.^[170] She has said she did not understand why anyone would be a Republican because eight years under the administration of George W. Bush "almost killed [her]".^[171] During the 2000 United States presidential election, ABC News wrote that she was determined to do "whatever possible to keep [Bush] out of office";^[172] she said, "If you're black ... a woman [or] any minority in this country at all, what could possibly possess you to vote Republican? ... You won't have one fucking right left."^[172]

During the 2012 United States presidential election, Cher and comedian Kathy Griffin released a public service announcement, "Don't Let Mitt Turn Back Time on Women's Rights", criticizing Republican nominee Mitt Romney for supporting Richard Mourdock, who had called pregnancies resulting from rape "part of God's plan".^[173]

Cher serves as the Honorary National Chair of Habitat for Humanity's "Raise the Roof" initiative for affordable housing, and since 2007 has been the primary supporter of the Peace Village School in Ukunda, Kenya.^[163] In 2016, after the discovery of lead contamination in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan, Cher donated more than 180,000 bottles of water to the city.^[174] In 2017, she executive-produced Edith+Eddie, a documentary about a nonagenarian interracial couple, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.^[175] In 2020, she traveled to Pakistan to help secure the transfer of Kaavan, an elephant confined to a zoo for 35 years, to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia;^[176] the effort was chronicled in the 2021 documentary Cher & the Loneliest Elephant, released on Paramount+.^[177]

As a gay icon

Cher is revered by the LGBTQ community, a status attributed to her unguarded defiance, outsider status, flamboyant image and longevity; Alec Mapa of The Advocate described her appeal as embodying "an unapologetic freedom and fearlessness that some of us can only aspire to".^[72] Cher has said, "Actors don't consider me an actor. Singers don't consider me a singer. And gay men consider me their best friend."^[178] She has also remarked, "I think the longer I look good, the better gay men feel."^[179] She is regarded as a gay icon and is frequently imitated by drag queens.^[180] According to Salon writer Thomas Rogers, drag queens emulate figures like Judy Garland, Dolly Parton and Cher because they "overcame insult and hardship on their path to success"—narratives that resonate with the struggles many gay men face when coming out.^[180]

Many of Cher's songs are considered gay anthems, including "If I Could Turn Back Time",^[181] "Believe",^[182] "Strong Enough"^[183] and "Song for the Lonely".^[184] Maclean's journalist Elio Iannacci stated that Cher was "one of the first to bring drag to the masses", hiring two drag queens to perform with her during her Las Vegas residency in 1979.^[185] The Advocate's Jeff Yarbrough described Cher as "one of the first superstars to 'play gay' with compassion and without a hint of stereotyping", as she portrays a lesbian in the 1983 film Silkwood.^[186] Cher's social activism has further solidified her status as a gay icon.^[187] She has headlined major LGBTQ events, including the 2013 Dance on the Pier Pride benefit in New York—the event's first sellout in five years^[179]—and the 40th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 2018, whose tickets sold out within three hours of her teasing the performance on Twitter.^[188] As the mother of a trans man, Chaz Bono, Cher has advocated for visibility and support for trans families.^[189]

Cultural stature

Cher has repeatedly reached the top of multiple entertainment fields since 1965. Billboard's Keith Caulfield wrote that "there's divas and then there's Cher".^[190] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that "there are no other careers remotely like hers in the history of pop music", calling her "the one-woman embodiment of the whole gaudy story of pop music".^[191] She has been widely referred to as the "Goddess of Pop" in publications such as The Washington Post, Time and Billboard.^[c] Music critic Jeff Miers credited Cher with setting the template for generations of female pop artists, citing her theatrical presentation, her seamless genre shifts and her knack for provoking without losing mainstream appeal.^[101] James Reed of The Boston Globe paired Cher with David Bowie as "one of the original chameleons in pop music, constantly in flux and challenging our perceptions of her".^[208]

Shon Faye of Dazed wrote that Cher's legacy underpins many modern pop stars: "If Madonna and Lady Gaga and Kylie [Minogue] and Cyndi Lauper were playing football, Cher would be the stadium they played on and the sun that shone down on them."^[209] According to The New York Times, Cher "earned her mononym" and inspired "an entire industry of imitators, both figurative and literal".^[210] The mononym was formalized in 1979, when she legally dropped her first name Cheryl along with the surnames Sarkisian (paternal), LaPiere (her stepfather's) and the married names Bono and Allman.^[211] Alexander Fury of The Independent described Cher's celebrity as "seemingly immortal" and operating at an "omnipotent, uni-monikered level".^[136] In a staged outtake from Joker (2019) aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Joaquin Phoenix reacts to a crew member teasingly calling him Cher: "It's not even an insult. Cher, really? Singer, actor, dancer, fashion icon—how's that an insult?"^[212]

Frank Bruni of The New York Times wrote that Cher personifies "a magnitude of celebrity for which the word fame is pathetically insufficient".^[213] Bego emphasized her multifaceted career: "No one in the history of show business has had a career of the magnitude and scope of Cher's. She has been a teenage pop star, a television hostess, a fashion model, a rock star, a Broadway actress, an Oscar-winning movie star, a disco diva and the subject of a mountain of press coverage."^[214] Billboard's Joe Lynch stated, "The world would certainly be different if she hadn't stayed so irrevocably Cher from the start."^[2]

In music

Cher has sold over 100 million records as a solo artist, ranking among the best-selling music artists of all time.^{[106][170][284]} Her breakthrough single "I Got You Babe" (1965) is a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee^[285] and appeared on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[286] Billboard named "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971) one of the greatest songs of the 20th century^[61] and listed "If I Could Turn Back Time" (1989) among its "500 Best Pop Songs" in 2023.^[287] "Believe" (1998), the UK's best-selling single by a female artist,^[288] was included on Rolling Stone's updated "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2021^[289] and 2024^[290] and ranked eighth in a 2003 BBC poll of the world's favorite songs—the only American entry.^[291]

Billboard placed Cher at number 49 on its 2015 list of the "Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time".^[292] With 16 Billboard number-one singles, she is the only solo artist with a number-one single on a US Billboard chart in seven consecutive decades.^[293][e] In the 1960s, she topped the Hot 100 with "I Got You Babe" (1965) as part of Sonny & Cher.^[295] She scored three solo Hot 100 number-ones in the 1970s: "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971), "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady" (both 1973), while Sonny & Cher's "All I Ever Need Is You" led Adult Contemporary in 1972.^[295]

From the 1980s, Cher's number-one singles shifted to other Billboard charts. She topped Adult Contemporary with "After All" and "If I Could Turn Back Time" (both 1989) and multiple charts with "Believe" (1998), including the Hot 100.^[295] Dance Club Songs number-ones followed: "Strong Enough" and "All or Nothing" (both 1999),^[295] "Song for the Lonely"^[296] and "A Different Kind of Love Song" (both 2002), "When the Money's Gone" (2003), "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" (2011)^[295] and "Woman's World" (2013).^[297] "DJ Play a Christmas Song" (2023) reached number one on multiple charts, including Adult Contemporary.^[298]

Cher is the only solo artist with new material in the Official UK Top 40 in seven consecutive decades (1960s–2020s),^[299] most recently with a top-ten cover of Oasis' "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" (2020),^[300] recorded with charity supergroup BBC Radio 2 Allstars in support of Children in Need;^[301] and "DJ Play a Christmas Song" (2023), which made her the oldest female artist—at 77—to enter the chart.^[299] She held the previous record^[f] for the longest span between a first and most recent number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100—33 years—from "I Got You Babe" (1965) to "Believe" (1999).^[g] At 52, she was the oldest female artist to top both the Hot 100 and the UK singles chart.^[304][h]

At the height of Sonny & Cher's 1965 breakthrough, five of their songs appeared simultaneously in the Billboard Hot 100's top 50—a feat previously achieved only by Elvis Presley and the Beatles.^[307] Their debut album, Look at Us (1965), spent eight weeks at number two on the Billboard 200, behind the Beatles' Help!.^[308] Cash Box magazine described Sonny & Cher, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as "global stars" whose success in both the US and UK showed that national origin was no longer a barrier to international stardom.^[309] Time's Ginia Bellafante described the duo as rock's "it" couple.^[106] The following year, Sonny & Cher's "Little Man" reached number one in Sweden,^[310] while Cher's solo recordings "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" and "Sunny" topped charts in Italy^[311] and Norway,^[312] respectively. "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971) became the first single by a solo artist to rank number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 at the same time as on the Canadian singles chart.^[313] When "Dark Lady" became her fourth Hot 100 number one in March 1974, she tied with Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page and Connie Francis for the most number-one singles by a female solo artist in US history at the time.^[i][316]

Cher's hair metal comeback amplified her global reach: Heart of Stone (1989) peaked at number one in Australia—her first album to top a national chart—and its second single, "If I Could Turn Back Time", spent seven weeks at number one in the country.^[317][318] In 1991, "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" topped the UK singles chart for five weeks—her first British number-one solo single and the first time she topped the chart since "I Got You Babe" in 1965.^[319] That same year, the album Love Hurts spent six weeks at number one in the UK—her first album to top the British charts.^[320] A year later, the UK-only^[321] compilation album Greatest Hits: 1965–1992 topped the UK chart for seven weeks and became the best-selling album by a female artist of 1992.^[320][322] In 1995, Cher returned to the top of the UK singles chart with the charity single "Love Can Build a Bridge", recorded alongside Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton.^[323]

The album Believe (1998) became Cher's biggest global commercial success: the album sold 11 million copies worldwide, earning quadruple platinum certification in the US and gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in 39 countries.^[324] Its title track debuted at number one in the UK, held the position for seven weeks and became the country's best-selling single by a female artist.^[288] In the US, it was named 1999's number-one song,^[325] and altogether the song reached number one in 23 countries.^[326] Entertainment Weekly emphasized the album's role in introducing her to a new generation of fans who "hadn't yet been born when 'I Got You Babe' ruled the charts in 1965".^[94]

The Greatest Hits (1999), overseen by Cher for international markets, reached number one on the European Top 100 Albums chart.^[327] Her follow-up studio album Living Proof (2001) reached number one in Greece.^[328] Closer to the Truth (2013), her first studio album in twelve years, debuted at number three on the Billboard 200—her highest solo peak on the chart.^[308] Dancing Queen (2018), her collection of ABBA covers, matched that debut, and its 153,000 first-week units marked the year's largest sales week for a pop album by a female artist.^[329]

Cher launched Living Proof: The Farewell Tour in 2002, promoted as her final concert tour. By October 2003, it had grossed $145 million from 200 shows with 2.2 million attendees, becoming the highest-grossing concert tour by a female artist at the time.^[330] Her 2003 earnings of $33.1 million made her the year's highest-paid female musician, according to Forbes.^[331] The tour concluded in April 2005 after 325 dates, with total gross exceeding $250 million^[332] and earning Cher a Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing tour by a female artist.^[333][334]

The NBC special Cher: The Farewell Tour (2003), which earned Cher the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special,^[335] drew 17 million viewers,^[336] becoming the highest-rated network concert special of the year.^[337] Her Dressed to Kill Tour (2014) grossed $54.9 million from 49 sold-out North American shows before being cut short by illness.^[338] In 2014, Billboard ranked her the 23rd highest-grossing touring act since 1990, with $351.6 million in total revenue and 4.5 million attendees across 548 shows.^[339] 12 years later, Pollstar ranked Cher seventh on their list of "The Millennium's Most Popular Women in Touring", with $525.8 million in total revenue and 5.6 million tickets sold across 716 shows.^[340]

In film and television

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971–1974) drew more than 30 million viewers weekly over its three-year run,^[25] earning Cher the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1974.^[341] Her solo CBS variety show Cher (1975–1976) hosted David Bowie's American TV debut alongside musical guests such as Ray Charles, Elton John, Bette Midler, Tina Turner and the Jackson 5; Billboard credited the show with bringing "a rock sensibility to prime-time TV".^[3] Her 1976 reunion with Sonny, The Sonny and Cher Show, was the first program ever to star a divorced couple.^[342]

In 1983, Cher received the CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Variety Program for her NBC special Cher... A Celebration at Caesars.^[343] Mask (1985), her first critical and commercial success as a leading actress, earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.^[344] In 1987, she starred in three films, with The Witches of Eastwick and Moonstruck ranking among the year's top 10 highest-grossing movies;^[345] her performance in Moonstruck earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.^[341]

By the end of the 1980s, Cher had become one of the most bankable actresses of the decade, commanding $1 million per film.^[344] Her directorial debut came with a segment of HBO's anthology film If These Walls Could Talk (1996), in which she also starred; it became HBO's highest-rated original movie to date, drawing 6.9 million viewers.^[346] In 1999, Cher performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXXIII^[347] and co-headlined the TV special VH1 Divas Live '99, which drew 19.4 million viewers and became the highest-rated program in VH1's history at the time.^[348][349]

Cher was ranked first by Billboard on its list of "The 100 Best Acting Performances by Musicians in Movies" for her role in Moonstruck, with the performance described as "the standard by which you mentally check all others".^[350] The film was named the eighth-greatest romantic comedy of all time by the American Film Institute.^[351] People included Cher among its "100 Greatest Movie Stars of our Time"^[352] and Biography ranked her the third-favorite leading actress of all time, behind Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn.^[353] Cher was featured in The New York Times Magazine's annual "Best Actors" list for 2020,^[354] becoming the first actor included without appearing in a theatrical release that year;^[355] her performance in Moonstruck (1987) was praised as "radiant" and a source of comfort during quarantine.^[354]

Citations