From the Las Vegas Sun, August 09, 2002

The many faces of Cher: Multifaceted diva says current tour is her last

By Kristen Peterson <kristen@lasvegassun.com> LAS VEGAS SUN

When Cher returned to the music charts with her 1998 hit single "Believe," one thing was clear: There is nothing fleeting about the pop diva.

In four decades Cher has moved from campy hippie singer to co-host of a television variety show to 1970s songstress to 80s pop star to Academy Award-winning actress to infomercial host to comeback artist.

Her life has seeped into almost every facet of popular culture. Those who missed Cher on the silver screen or radio airwaves have remained abreast of the star through media coverage of her outlandish outfits, tabloid-cover romances, fitness center commercials and talk-show monologues.

At 56, Cher has remained sexy in her cosmetically enhanced way. She is one of few bare-bellied pop artists today who can say that she was born when Harry Truman was president. To some, Cher is the perpetual rock star who has episodically transformed herself to stay on top.

As Michigan fan Jody Cantwell puts it, "She's transcended the times and she's her own enigma." So tonight when Cher and her cavalcade of performers take the stage at MGM Grand fans should expect nothing less than a Cher spectacle.

"Living Proof: The Farewell Tour" has been called the "Cher-est show on Earth."

The reportedly circus-inspired extravaganza begins with Cher being lowered from the ceiling on a chandelier while singing U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

Dressed in some of Bob Mackie's finest Cher outfits, Cher performs hits from the past four decades while a video scrapbook of her life plays out on a screen behind her.

There will be wigs and more wigs, dancers, and several costume changes in which Cher transforms from Mongolian princess to dominatrix to ringmaster. At one point Cher rides onto stage on a life-sized mechanical elephant. Cyndi Lauper is the opening act.

"The show is spectacular," said Cantwell, who has seen the performance three times and plans to see it again before the tour comes to an end.

To many, Cher is an artistic wonder.

Despite several musical releases that have flopped, she has managed to produce hits every decade since the 1960s. She remains on the charts today when bikini-topped teenagers are taking over the stages.

"Believe," her 1998 hit single from the album of the same name, was the top single of 1999. "A Different Kind of Love Song" from Cher's "Living Proof" CD is No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart.

Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard, said that he's not surprised by Cher's recent success.

"It would be a surprise to me if she weren't on the charts," Mayfield said. "In her case, the age thing is kind of irrelevant. She's got this larger-than-life personality.

"It's difficult to remain as relevant as she has. The charts are littered with people with a second act that just didn't fit them. You have to really be able to embrace it well. Cher has shown an ability to repackage herself... and she seems real genuine."

Also, Mayfield said, "She's really embraced by the clubs and people who like dance music."

Cher's recent (and reluctant) voyage into dance music happened after New York City DJ Junior Vasquez created a dance remix from "One By One," a song from Cher's 1996 album "It's a Man's World."

Dean Ferguson, an editor and writer at Dance Music Authority magazine, said that Warner Brothers released the remix as a single, saw there was a market for Cher in dance music and asked her to release a dance album.

By then fans were waiting for such an album.

"The remix of 'One By One' had everybody starving for a dance mix from Cher," Ferguson said.

Ferguson says Cher's longtime chart success can be traced to her ability to gauge the public's appetite. Cher has two singles on DMA's club chart.

"The bottom line of everything that she's done well is that it's been commercial and accessible," he said. "She's always managed to tap into what is trendy."

The dance community, Ferguson explained, "is a place for her to be flexible. As far as dance music goes, it's a more flexible genre, in which acts can reinvent themselves. Look at Madonna."

Music and movies

America was introduced to Cher in 1965 when "I Got You Babe," a hit she recorded with then-boyfriend Sonny Bono, went to No. 1. In 1967 the duo would again reach the charts with "The Beat Goes On."

A few hitless years later Sonny and Cher's onstage verbal jabs at each other landed them their own summer comedy show on CBS in 1971.

"The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour," which featured music, comedy sketches and playful banter between the oddly matched couple, was successful. But marital problems pulled the duo apart onstage and off, and the show was cancelled in 1974.

Both would try unsuccessful solo attempts at variety shows, then rejoin for "The Sonny & Cher Show." That show lasted two seasons.

Meanwhile Cher had produced musical pop hits during the '70s: "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves," "Half-Breed," "The Way of Love" and "Dark Lady."

Though Cher continued to record, her music would mostly fade from the charts until the late 1980s when she recorded such songs as "I Found Someone," "We All Sleep Alone," "If I Could Turn Back Time" and a duet with Peter Cetera, "After All."

By then Cher had already proved herself as an actress when she played waitress Sissy in the stage (and later screen) production of "Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean." She later received a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination for her best supporting actress role in the 1983 movie "Silkwood" starring Meryl Streep.

Her role as a biker mom of a disfigured child in the 1985 movie "Mask" was also well received. In 1987 she won an Academy Award for best actress for her role in "Moonstruck." The same year she starred with Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer in "Witches of Eastwick."

Later came "Tea With Mussolini." More recently she co-directed and starred in HBO's "If These Walls Could Talk."

When asked whether Cher will be remembered for her movies or her music, Mayfield said, "I don't think you can separate the two."

Cher is planning to continue both.

Cher fanatics

Cher's fans have remained loyal through all her incarnations.

They've collected the Cher albums and books and Cher perfume and Cher jewelry and Cher dolls.

They've congregated in her honor at Cher conventions in Chicago in 2000 and Las Vegas in July of this year. (Both events were fund-raisers for the Children's Craniofacial Association, a nonprofit organization that Cher became national spokeswoman for after starring in "Mask").

They've kept up with the assortment or romances she's had, from Sonny Bono to Greg Allman (with whom she had son Elijah Blue), Gene Simmons, David Geffen and a disc jockey nearly 20 years her junior, Rob Camilletti.

They've hung on when her music sales sagged.

"I think there have been some periods in her career where her fans have gritted their teeth and went with it and they bought the albums anyway," Cantwell, said.

Their adoration for her, he said, goes beyond her music.

"It's her," Cantwell said. "It's her personality, her attitude, the way she dresses."

Cher is an endearing icon to the gay community. Drag queens have long impersonated her. After her initial shock over daughter Chastity's outing in the tabloids, Cher publicly supported Chastity and eventually spoke out on gay issues. The events became subject matter for Chastity Bono's book "Family Outing."

Ferguson said a lot of Cher fans are drawn to the fact that Cher is "critic proof."

"Nothing seems to defeat her," Ferguson said. "She's impervious to the kind of assault that defeats other artists. She's never stopped being the creative force that she has been.

"If anyone belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's Cher," he said. "If anyone is least likely to be inducted, it's Cher."