Review of "Cher: The Memoir, Part One" by Cher

Cher (b. 1946) is an award-winning American singer, actress, and television personality, renowned for her long and multifaceted career. This is Part One of Cher's memoir, which takes us from Cher's childhood to the cusp of her movie career.


Cher

Cher came from humble roots, noting, "Often when I think of my family history it sounds like the opening of a Dickens novel. Ours was a sad strange story of Southern folk coming from nothing. Every day was a fight for survival for most of my family going back generations." Cher's family came from Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, and their lives were rife with poverty, domestic abuse, and teenage pregnancies.

Cher's mother Jackie Jean Crouch (aka Georgia Holt) was "a pretty child with a singing voice so powerful it could have been that of a grown woman." When Jackie Jean was 5-years-old, her father Roy started taking her everywhere, including speakeasies, to sing while he drank. Roy then passed the hat for nickels, and declared Jackie Jean the breadwinner.

Jackie Jean grew up to be a beautiful stylish woman, even though she had to shop in thrift stores. Jackie Jean pursued a show business career, and for professional reasons, changed her name to Georgia. I'll call Cher's mother Georgia from this point on.


Cher's mother Georgia

When Georgia was 18, she met a smooth-talking Armenian man called Johnnie Sarkisian, and they married a year later. Unfortunately, Johnnie became "a heroin addict with a penchant for larceny and a shaky relationship to employment."


Cher's parents Georgia and Johnnie Sarkisian

Georgia and Johnnie struggled financially during their on/off relationship, and Cher's birth strained their resources to the breaking point. Johnnie put baby Cher in an orphanage before abandoning the family, and it took months for Georgia to gather enough money to get Cher out. Cher believes this led to a lifelong fear of abandonment.


Baby Cher with her mother

Cher shares many stories about her hectic, peripatetic life with Georgia, and it's clear they had a loving - if fractious - relationship. All along, Georgia pursued a Hollywood career, and she married and divorced one man after another - including Johnnie Sarkisian for a second time. Cher describes her ancestry, family life, and Georgia's marriages in detail, and it's a fascinating tale.


Cher's mother Georgia had a bit part in 'I Love Lucy'

Cher's sister Georganne LaPiere (Gee) was born in 1951, and Cher helped take care of Gee at home while Georgia went to auditions, and got small parts in movies and TV shows.


Cher (right) and Gee

Cher is dyslexic and had difficulty in school, though she loved drawing, sports, and history. Young Cher was often embarrassed by her family's poverty, and recalls, "There was a time [in grade school] when we were so broke that my saddle shoes were literally falling apart and had to be padded with cardboard and wrapped with rubber bands to keep the soles from falling apart." In better times, when Georgia had a bit of extra cash, she took her daughters to department stores, favorite restaurants, and movies.

As Cher got older she became something of a 'wild child', and at age thirteen Cher would take her mother's car to drive five miles to Hollywood, sometimes taking Gee along to get hot dogs on Hollywood Boulevard. Cher also writes about her hijinks with boys and the family's brief relocation to NYC when Georgia married a New York man.


Cher (right) and Gee

Back in Los Angeles again, teenage Cher - who'd quit school by now - went to acting school and had some fun times with Warren Beatty. At the age of sixteen, Cher met 27-year-old Sonny Bono - a singer-songwriter with ambitions to become a music mogul. Cher and Sonny lived together as friends (allegedly) until Cher was 18, when they became an official couple. From that point on, Sonny - with help from music producer Phillip Spector - became instrumental in forging Cher's career, and the couple eventually married.


Sonny and Cher


Sonny and Cher with Phillip Spector (left) and music producer Ahmet Ertegun

Cher's professional ascension is a long and complex story that you can read about in the book, but briefly: Cher became a singer and 'Sonny and Cher' made novelty movies and played in clubs and venues across the country - their act being a combination of joking around and singing. In time the twosome starred in the weekly 'Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour' on television, which always ended with their signature song 'I Got You Babe'. Cher writes a good bit about the TV show, the guest stars, and the gowns and costumes designed by Bob Mackie, which were a highlight of the show.


Cher, Sonny, and a monkey in a scene from the movie 'Good Times' (1967)


The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour


Sonny and Cher singing 'I Got You Babe'


Bob Mackie creations

Things were MUCH darker behind the scenes, where Sonny insisted on total control of Cher's life, career, and their earnings. For reasons that included overspending and not paying income taxes, the couple's finances had HUGE ups and downs, and they alternated between the high life and being broke. A bright spot was the birth of Cher and Sonny's daughter Chastity in 1969, and Cher notes, "Being with her was like having Christmas every day."


Sonny and Cher with Chastity

In time, Cher could no longer tolerate Sonny's obsessive control, insane jealousy, and constant cheating, and she left him. Cher then entered into a relationship with industry titan David Geffen, a movie producer, media proprietor, and founder of Asylum Records. Cher writes, "David was the most loving boyfriend I'd ever had, and he took great care of me."


Cher and David Geffen

Cher now learned she had NOTHING of her own because Sonny and his lawyer had finagled business contracts so Sonny owned EVERYTHING: the houses, property, cars, bank accounts, etc. Luckily, Geffen gave Cher savvy advice, as well as the name of a good lawyer and capable business manager, and Cher got back on her feet. To deal with the frequent stress in her life, Cher did needlepoint, which helped her cope.


Cher doing needlepoint

Cher and Sonny divorced in 1975, the network cancelled their show, and Cher went on to forge a successful independent career. All the strife and negotiations - and even the continuing affection - between Cher and Sonny are detailed in the book, and it's an instructional narrative.

Cher considered marrying David Geffen but felt she wasn't ready, and their romance ended. Afterwards, Cher met charismatic Greg Allman (who she calls Gregory), of the Allman brother's rock band. Cher recalls, "He was so beautiful with long blond hair to his shoulders and big blue eyes. He was completely mesmerizing." 💖


Cher and Greg Allman

Cher and Greg fell in love, but Greg was a heroin addict who - although he tried -wasn't able to get straight. Be that as it may, Cher got pregnant, she and Greg married, and they had a son named Elijah Skye Blue. However Greg's addiction doomed the relationship.


Cher, Greg Allman, Chastity, and Elijah Skye Blue


Cher with Chastity and Elijah Skye Blue

After Cher split with Greg Allman, she happened to go to a party where she met Gene Simmons, the tongue-waggling, ghoulish, bass playing 'Demon' in the band 'Kiss'.


Gene Simmons as 'The Demon'

Cher recalls, "In the real world, [Gene] looked like a pretty regular guy.....and he turned out to be very nice and surprisingly polite, albeit with a rock god ego....Best of all, he was stone-cold sober and had never had a drink in his life. By the end of the evening I was impressed."


Cher with Gene Simmons

Cher and Gene hit it off, and for Cher's birthday, Gene surprised her with 'I Love You Cher' written in the sky above the Beverly Hills Hotel, a full choir and marching band, an army tank filled with Snickers chocolate bars, and then a drive to Le Dome restaurant, where friends, family and circus acts were waiting.' Cher's children also loved having 'Genie' around, and Cher and Gene saw each other on and off. However, Cher's focus was on her career and children....and she was trying (unsuccessfully) to break into movies.

Career-wise after Cher and Sonny divorced, Cher was making records, had her own weekly television show called 'The Cher Show', briefly did another program with Sonny, had a residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and more.


Cher and Raquel Welsh on 'The Cher Show'

At the end of the book, when Cher is in her thirties, director Francis Ford Coppola visits her at Caesars Palace and asks her "Why aren't you making movies?" Cher writes, "I almost burst into tears and thought, 'How are you seeing something in me that no one else does?' And the rest is history. Cher's story continues in 'Cher Volume II'.

Since Cher was in show business, she traveled widely, met lots of celebrities and bigwigs, and even visited with the Carters at the White House. Thus many famous names crop up in the book, and it's fun to read about them.


Cher and Greg Allman visit Jimmy and Roslyn Carter at the White House

Cher also includes many anecdotes about friends, relatives, band members, babysitters, assistants, decorators, clothing designers, managers, colleagues, etc. - and lots of photos - to provide a comprehensive picture of the first 3+ decades of her life. Stay tuned for more.

I had a digital copy of the book as well as the audiobook, narrated by Cher and Stephanie J. Block, and they both do an excellent job.

Rating: 4 stars