Cher performing at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Dolby Theatre
(Image: Billboard via Getty Images)
Cher has revealed in her new memoir that she didn’t rate I Got You Babe when her then husband, Sonny Bono, woke her up in the middle of the night to share his new song. “On first hearing, I wasn’t impressed. ‘I don’t like it,’ I declared, yawning. ‘I don’t think it’s a hit’,” she writes in Cher: The Memoir, Part One, which has just been published.
Luckily for her, Bono had another go and a few months later in the summer of 1965, the song became their first No.1 and catapulted the pair to stardom. Her life would never be the same again but, six decades on, the quality of her output remains sky-high.
To date, she’s released 27 studio albums, 11 compilation albums, two soundtrack albums, and three live albums. So here’s a top-nine countdown from the official fan club if you’re looking for her best tracks.
9. Dark Lady (1974)
Dark Lady, the eponymous title track from her 11th album, was Cher’s third US number one hit after going solo from former husband, Sonny Bono. And it would be another 25 years before she would hit the No.1 slot again with a solo song. The song tells of a lady who goes to see a fortune-teller who warns her to leave the relationship with her unfaithful partner. But she realises it’s the fortune teller who has been sleeping with her partner. A sinister, husky vocal performance reflects the song’s dark ending… as the singer shoots the fortune teller and her lover to death!
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8. A Woman’s Story (1974)
This standalone single produced by Phil Spector, who would die in prison for shooting a Hollywood starlet, is a “depressing tune”, according to Cher’s official fanclub. But her sighing voice contrasts with the upbeat lyrics, making it interesting. Years before Spector shot Lana Clarkson at his mansion in 2003, he pulled a gun on Cher when she confronted him for releasing music without her permission. “He knew ‘he couldn’t pull that s*** with me’,” she said of the 1974 incident.
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7. Just Like Jesse James (1989)
This classic rock ballad – referring to the notorious Wild West outlaw – was another top-ten hit for the star. Cher, however, never especially liked the song, which turns the tails on a bad boy lover, because as a dyslexic person, she found it difficult to remember the lyrics.
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6. I Found Someone (1987)
Originally written by Michael Bolton for artist Laura Branigan, Cher’s version of I Found Someone was its biggest success, reaching No.5 in the UK singles chart. Part of its success was, undoubtedly, down to its slightly steamy video, featuring Cher’s then boyfriend, Rob Camilletti, who was 18 years her junior. The big-budget production enjoyed heavy rotation on MTV and helped the song become her first top-ten hit in a decade. She split with bagel baker and wannabe actor Camilletti two years later.
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