Cher 'do revue

What a stylish ride it's been

By GEMMA TARLACH, of the Journal Sentinel staff

Cher, if You Go I Got Mousse, Babe

When the pop world - and Sonny Bono - met her, Cherilyn Sarkisian still had a girlish innocence with wispy bangs. Very quickly, we fell in love with her as he did.

Sonny and Cher struck gold in 1972 with the debut of their TV show, which imprinted in our minds forever the quintessential Cher 'do.

Cher found solo success brazenly showcasing her physical attributes in 1979's disco-driven "Take Me Home."

Musical flops in the '80s couldn't keep the pop diva down. She came back, with curls, and won us over again - this time in movies. In 1987, she snagged a best actress Oscar for "Moonstruck," also starring Nicolas Cage.

As time has passed, Cher has gone to greater extremes with her hair, sporting a red "creation" on her "Believe" tour.

With the digitized "Believe," Cher went back to black, but this time the demure bangs of her youth were gone and her features a little touched up.

Cher sported long platinum extensions with her latest, "Living Proof."

Dark 'n long. Spiked. Curly. Now, on her farewell tour, a sleek, platinum 'do - all to turn back

Which Cher was your favorite?

Was it the flower child ingenue during the "Sonny & Cher" show era? The moments of Bob Mackie beaded and fringed excess? Or the ethereal redheaded techno-sprite that gave us a whole new reason to "Believe" in the dulcet-toned diva who knew the value of reinventing herself long before Madonna picked up her first bottle of peroxide?

If her hype is to be believed, Cher's performance Saturday at the Bradley Center will be her last Milwaukee concert. Billing her current swing around the States as her final tour, Cher, 56, will then hang up her stiletto boots and join the ranks of other retired rock stars, such as The Who and The Eagles . . . uhm, wait a minute. Nevermind.

If Cher does hop on a tour bus again in five or 10 years, to fund another round of her famous facial, er, finessing, we'll welcome her back with open arms that don't have nearly the same great taut muscle tone as hers.

After all, Cher is not some grandma with a microphone. Wait, she is. Okay, but she's so much more. Oscar-winning actress. Grammy-winning, multi-platinum-selling pop, rock and techno remix queen. TV star then and now. And, perhaps most importantly, a one-name wonder whose fashion sense, as unique as her singing voice, has made her a style icon for far longer than Britney Spears has been alive.

Cher's hairstyles alone have made powerful statements about her life, her direction and even the times we live in. Whether billowing '80s excess curls as in "Moonstruck" or sleek and platinum to reflect our new millennium obsession with all things bright and shiny, Cher's coif could be considered spokeshair for us all:

Her hair was still innocent, school-girl straight with wispy, demure bangs when Cherilyn Sarkisian got her start in the music biz back in the early '60s, singing bouncy pop tunes such as her first, "Ringo I Love You."

Just as our nation moved from the Summer of Love and flower child idealism to the gritty reality of recession and anti-war protests, Cher left behind her gleeful girl group sound and style for darker territories, expressed here by using her hair as a veil for the cover of her 1971 classic " Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves."

After a bumpy road in the late '60s that saw Cher and husband/partner Sonny Bono go from the heady heights of "I Got You Babe" fame to owing $200,000 in back taxes and working club gigs, the duo struck gold in 1972 with the debut of their TV show, which imprinted in our minds forever the quintessential Cher 'do.

As the realms of fantasy - whether "Star Wars" or Dungeons & Dragons - seeped into the pop culture landscape, Cher was there, fearlessly embracing the trends no matter how potentially giggle-inducing they might be in the long run. Her 1979 album "Take Me Home" prefigured her racy attire in "If I Could Turn Back Time" - the first video to be banned by MTV - by a decade.

When Cher took on the important supporting role of Dolly Pelliker in the 1983 film "Silkwood," she wasn't afraid to abandon her glam sense of style altogether, opting for a frizzy, poorly conditioned mullet that reflected the character's no-frills, no-nonsense working class background.

In 1987, the excess of the decade was at its peak - and so was Cher's hair and acting career. She took home an Oscar for her performance in the romance "Moonstruck." Had her massive mane been eligible, perhaps it too should have been awarded for expressing both strength and femininity.

For "Frozen," Madonna's first video from her 1998 techno-tinged comeback album "Ray of Light," and subsequent appearances on awards shows, the Material Mom sported her natural dark hair in a sleek style. For much of the press surrounding her 1998 techno-tinged comeback album "Believe," Cher also went dark and straight. Both women went on to win Grammys for their musical efforts. Coincidence? Or perhaps great minds thinking alike.

Black and sleek is fine for album covers and Barbara Walters interviews - as well as for her somber eulogy at ex-husband Bono's funeral in 1998 - but for live shows, such as her 1999 Bradley Center performance, Cher knows the importance of reaching folks even in the cheap seats with volume, volume, volume. And we don't mean sound.

In J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical, mystical "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the wizard Gandalf the Grey returns from apparent death as Gandalf the White, wiser and more powerful than before. For her latest look, Cher has also changed colors, going from dark to a near-white platinum. She returns to the essence of Cher hair - long and sleek - but the new brighter, lighter color suggests that she has attained a higher sense of knowledge that can come only with experience, determination and prevailing through hardship. Let's all go platinum.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 12, 2002.