Cher

Cherilyn "Cher" Sarkisian is a prolific American entertainer who has gained fame as a singer, actress, presenter and philanthropist in the course of a career spanning over fifty years.

She originally entered the spotlight in The Sixties as one half of Sonny & Cher, a Pop/Folk duo in which she performed with her then-husband Sonny Bono. They had a major hit with "I Got You Babe" and co-presented a successful television show with The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, but eventually they decided to go their separate ways both personally and professionally. In The Seventies, Cher scored solo hits and became a popular figure in the Disco genre, but when that scene collapsed, her attempts to switch to a more contemporary Arena Rock sound fell flat.

Instead, she spent The Eighties primarily establishing herself as an actress, earning an Academy Award nomination for her appearance in the film Silkwood and winning the Best Actress Oscar for Moonstruck. With her success in this field solidified, she returned to music, revisiting her earlier attempt at Arena Rock to great acclaim and achieving her greatest success as a singer in The Nineties with the number one dance hit "Believe" (credited with making Auto-Tune mainstream).

Her achievements include an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, several Golden Globes and four number one singles on the American chart. As a testament to her Long Runner status, she holds a record as the artist with the longest gap between their first and most recent number one hits.


 * Auto-Tune: Probably the first artist to use it in a successful mainstream recording ("Believe"); she wasn't going to use it, but when she heard it being applied to her recorded vocals she liked it and decided to keep it in.
 * Creator Couple: With Sonny Bono at first, and later on with Gregg Allman.
 * Mama Bear: When her child came out as a lesbian then later became a transgender man - author/actor Chaz Bono - Cher accepted her child regardless and became advocate for the LGBT community after learning they didn’t have as many legal rights as straight people.
 * Only One Name: She legally changed her name, too, unlike many other performers who go by mononyms.
 * New Sound Album: In the past, she modified her sound to accomodate changing trends (Folk in the sixties, Disco in the seventies, Rock in the eighties and Contemporary R&B/Dance in the nineties).
 * Older Than They Look: Look at her Believe video. She must've been at least over 50 at the time but can easily pass as being in her thirties.
 * Power Ballad: She has recorded many of them, especially in her late eighties Arena Rock days.