Dubbed the " Goddess of Pop ", she is known for her androgynous contralto voice, multifaceted career and bold visual presentation, while cultivating a screen persona that mirrors her public image by often portraying strong-willed, independent and outspoken women. Her adaptability has fueled multiple comebacks , cementing her status as a cultural icon. She is the only solo artist with Billboard number-one singles in seven consecutive decades, from the s to the s.
Cher is one of the best-selling music artists of all time , with estimated sales of over million records worldwide. Cher reached a commercial peak with the dance-pop album Believe , which introduced the "Cher effect", an extreme, stylistic use of Auto-Tune to distort vocals.
The title track became 's number-one song in the US and the UK's best-selling single by a female artist. Here We Go Again Her life and career inspired the jukebox musical The Cher Show. Her father, John Sarkisian, an Armenian-American truck driver with drug and gambling problems, was rarely present during her early life. Cher later described Southall as her "real father", calling him a "good-natured man who turned belligerent when he drank too much". Holt remarried and divorced several times, frequently moving the family across states, including New York, Texas and California.
By fifth grade, Cher organized a class performance of the musical Oklahoma! Even at age nine, her voice was unusually low. I just thought, 'I'll be famous'. That was my goal. Coming from a modest background, Cher faced challenges in the upper-class environment, where, as biographer Connie Berman wrote, her "striking appearance" and "outgoing personality" set her apart.
She was so special She said she was going to be a movie star and we knew she would. Her unconventional behavior also stood out: she performed songs for students during lunch and surprised peers when she wore a midriff -baring top. I was always thinking about when I was grown up and famous. At 16, Cher left school and moved out of her mother's house to live with a friend. She took acting classes and supported herself by dancing in nightclubs along Hollywood's Sunset Strip , where she introduced herself to performers, managers and agents.
