Cher
The Memoir, Part One
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £14.99
Publisher Description
The Collector’s Edition: The first hardback print run will feature an exclusive foiled board design. Order now to avoid missing out!
‘A rock ‘n’ roll memoir like no other’ Daily Mail
‘A gutsy account of tenacity and perseverance…Cher’s voice reverberates with the grit and depth that made her famous.’ The New York Times
THERE IS ONLY ONE CHER …
… and for seven decades she has been showing us why. Cher holds the attention of the world with her voice, her acting, her style, her wit and her unstoppable spirit. Now, for the first time, she tells her story in her own voice – as honest as it is hilarious, as powerful as it is perceptive.
Cher’s childhood was anything but normal. As her mother Georgia – blessed with movie-star looks and a knockout voice – moved them around the country over and again in the hope of finding fame, her school life wasn’t straightforward. But she always knew she was going to be somebody when she grew up.
Cher’s powerful instinct to keep moving eventually landed her in the arms of Sonny Bono. 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. But as time passed, fame changed the dynamic of their relationship and Cher evolved from a wide-eyed teenager into a woman. She started fighting for herself, breaking away from Sonny’s control – and realising that things were not as they seemed.
Taking risks, making headlines, falling in love, Cher struggled and stumbled while trying to become her own woman. Cher: The Memoir, Part One brings us to the brink of her next chapter, as she begins to chart her own path, finally claiming her rightful place in the world and becoming CHER.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The only way to hear the incredible life story of a pop culture phenomenon like Cher is straight from the icon herself. In this captivating first instalment to her two-part memoir, the singer and actor born Cherilyn Sarkisian offers up a bold, honest and reflective look at her life. She does that by first devoting a large portion of the book to her mother, Jackie Jean, whose own struggles with abandonment, abuse and generational poverty (not to mention her ambitions as a singer and actor) offer eye-opening context about the world Cher was born into. She dives deeply into her own childhood, too, discussing her struggling family’s frequent moves, her mother and stepfather’s turbulent relationship, and how all of it felt to her both then and now. By the time we got to the book’s end—with her pivotal relationship with Sonny Bono first blooming—we had a detailed psychological understanding of the woman who would become a legend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The glitzy and forthright first installment of Cher's two-part autobiography finds the Grammy- and Oscar-winning performer pulling out more than a few secrets from her Bob Mackie–designed sleeves. The narrative begins with a detailed account of Cher's rocky 1950s Southern California childhood before covering her struggles with dyslexia, the early radio hits she cut in Los Angeles, her marriages to Sonny Bono and Greg Allman, and the many famous faces she mingled with in the 1960s and '70s. It ends with Francis Ford Coppola asking Cher why she isn't acting, setting the stage for a part two that includes peeks at her film work in Moonstruck and Mermaids. Throughout, Cher is a recognizably frank, occasionally profane narrator (the text contains 42 f-bombs), but it's her tenderness that shines brightest—especially moving is her determination to remain friends with Allman even after the end of their tumultuous, addiction-blighted marriage. She's also a gleeful dispenser of top-shelf gossip, with juicy nuggets on everyone from Mick Jagger to Carol Burnett to Salvador Dalí (Cher attended a memorable dinner at the surrealist's house, alongside a "bra-less chick" who "came out wearing a see-through blouse that might as well have been Saran Wrap"). Even casual Cher fans will be entertained.
