CHER: The Memoir Part One

Born to 20 year old Jackie Jean, a singer from rural Arkansas working for tips as a waitress in an all-night diner, Cher's father had placed her in a Catholic children's home in Pennsylvania before he took off on his latest money making scam. 'I still can't believe he left her in Scranton with a baby, no money, and few skills, never to return.' The nuns took in 'infants rescued from evil surroundings' and charged her mother $4.50 a week. 'Ours was a sad, strange story of Southern folk coming from nothing and carving out a life after the Great Depression.' There is only one Cher, and for seven decades she has been showing us why. Her voice, acting, style, wit and unstoppable spirit shines through in her story told in her own voice, as honest as it is hilarious, as powerful as it is perceptive. Changing her name to Georgia, and blessed with movie-star looks and a knockout voice, her mother moved them around the country over and again in the hope of finding fame. Cher's school life was anything but straightforward, but she always knew she was going to be somebody when she grew up. She landed up in the arms of Sonny Bono, and the duo became famous beyond their wildest dreams, from humble beginnings singing backup in Phil Spector's studio through to pop stardom as Sonny and Cher, and then on to the television show that made them household names. Fame changed the dynamic of their relationship and Cher broke away from Sonny's control. Taking risks, making headlines, falling in love, she struggled and stumbled, brought two children into the world, and charted her own path. It is a gutsy a tale of high-octane showbiz survival, from struggling with her own dyslexia, to addiction running in her family, the book takes us up to the 1980s. The book is fraught with drama, danger and reverses and fortunes, that it unfolds like an American picaresque. Apologies for sticker. 413pp, many photos including colour.