The Beat Goes On With Sonny & Cher

The musical couple was Cherilyn Sarkisian and Salvatore Bono. They met in 1962 when Cher was sixteen and Sonny was twenty-seven. At this time Bono worked for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, California. After their child Chaz was born they were wed.

Sonny and Cher became an American pop music duo who were also singers and actors in the 1960s and 1970s. Their first hit songs which quickly became popular were “Baby Don’t Go” and “I Got You Babe” in 1965. In the 1970s they also had two TV shows The Sonny and Cher Show and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. The duo broke up and divorced in 1975 having sold 40 million records worldwide and gaining numerous fans. Cher went on to a very successful solo singing and acting career. Sonny Bono was elected to Congress as a Republican U.S. Representative from California. Sonny and Cher as a duo were inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998 soon after Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident.

Sonny wrote, arranged and produced songs and when the couple began singing together they called themselves Caesar and Cleo but their early songs were mostly ignored.

Then in September 1964, they recorded the single “Baby Don’t Go” under the name Sonny and Cher and it became a hit.

Their debut album was Look At Us and produced the smash hit “I Got You Babe”. They were quickly asked to appear on different TV shows such as American Bandstand. In the movie “Wild on the Beach” they appeared as themselves and sang “It’s Gonna Rain”. This album was certified Gold. When “I Got You Babe” was released as a single it quickly rose up on the music charts and became a number one hit.

Their second album was The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher released in 1966. The first single released from the album was “But You're Mine” charting on the music charts in the US and the UK. The second single was a cover of “What Now My Love”.

In Case You're in Love was their third album with the first single released “Little Man”. This song became very popular in Europe and went to number one in five countries. The next single was “Living for You” but it was their third single that became a huge hit “The Beat Goes On”. It became their third Top Ten song in the US. The album had mostly cover songs and two songs performed by Bono “Misty Roses” and “Cheryl's Goin' Home”.

When their career seemed at a standstill in 1969 Sonny Bono got them jobs in Las Vegas mixing singing with jokes. They became popular again in 1971 when they began their own variety series on TV The Sonny and Cher Show.

In 1972 they released their fourth album All I Ever Need is You and it brought two more hits “All I Ever Need is You” and “A Cowboy’s Work is Never Done”. Then came divorce and Sonny and Cher went their separate ways. It was certified Gold.

Even though this single was not taken from this LP it became a popular song “When You Say Love”.

Their fifth and final album was Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer, Papa Used to Write All Her Songs and came out in 1973. The album contained mostly cover songs with the title track being the only song written by Bono.

When the couple divorced and went their separate ways Sonny Bono went on to an acting career and late became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Cher became a Grammy Award-winning solo singer and an Academy Award-winning actress.

They made surprise reunion performances on shows like The Mike Douglas Show in 1979 and in 1987 on Late Night with David Letterman singing “I Got You Babe” and this turned out to be the very last time they would perform together.

“And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story” came out in 1999. The film was based on Bono's autobiography and focused on the couple's relationship in the early 1960s to their divorce in the mid-1970s.

On January 5, 1998, at the age of 62, Sonny Bono died of injuries from hitting a tree while skiing at Heavenly Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe. Cher gave a tearful eulogy, not knowing the funeral was broadcast live on CNN. Attendees at the funeral sang “The Beat Goes On”. Bono was laid to rest at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California with the epitaph “And The Beat Goes On” engraved on his headstone.

That same year Sonny and Cher were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cher appeared at the event with Bono's wife Mary, accepting the award on behalf of her late husband. Cher paid tribute to Bono in the CBS special “Sonny and Me: Cher Remembers”.

Cher came out with her 22nd album Believe dedicating it to Sonny Bono.