Cher: A Memoir Part One

If you are reading this, I am sitting on a chaise lounge in Cancun, getting ready to see a Phish show at Moon Palace. This is my umpteenth Phish show with Jeff. I stopped counting after I could recite the lyrics to “Bath Tub Gin,” “Farmhouse,” and “Simple.” We never intended to follow Phish to Mexico every year, but it has become a tradition because we like seeing live music together, especially at the beach. One of my first exposures to live music was watching the “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” which ran from 1971-1974. I loved that show so much. It was not just the music, guest stars and costumes, but the banter between Sonny and Cher that made the show so magical. They were sassy and irreverent, and just looked so cool together. Last week I finished all 16 hours of “Cher: The Memoir Part One” on audiobook. It was as exciting as Barbra Steisand’s memoir of 2024. Cher met Sonny when she was just a teenager. But the time she was 21 years old, she had had three miscarriages. Sonny was part husband and protector, but also part manipulator and psychological abuser. The book chronicles their early days making music that riveled the Beatles on the record charts, through their television series, and into their messy divorce. The fact she achieved her freedom from Sonny only to run into the arms of heroin addict Gregg Allman, is another sad misstep on the road to becoming Cher. But the one thing about Cher that holds true throughout the book is that she does not give up. When bad things happen, she does not wallow in them. She picks herself up, puts on her best Bob Mackie dress with sequins, and gets back on stage, as she should. Cher is a legend, and this book gives a wonderful insight into what it was like to be her during her years in television and married to Sonny. The book ends on the eve of her movie career, when she runs across old friend Francis Ford Coppola. Acting was a dream Cher had been keeping secret for a long time, and no doubt Part Two will follow her shining star onto the big screen. I can’t wait for Part Two. To buy this book on Amazon click here.