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In December, 2023 Cher told Kelly Clarkson that she wouldn’t be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame “if they gave me a million dollars,” and added “I’m never going to change my mind.” And the rest is history. Over the weekend Cher was officially inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio. While I had been hoping for Cher to don her once-signature Bob Mackie couture, she left it to presenter Zendaya to show up in a perfectly executed tribute (even down to the hair!). So what did Cher wear? As best I can tell, a leather mini skirt with leather chaps over it, which I have to say is an excellent way to ensure your look won’t resemble anyone else’s. And I guess it was comfortable enough to perform in, since she wore it while opening the show singing “Believe” with Dua Lipa and then “If I Could Turn Back Time” solo, before giving her acceptance speech. And as promised, Cher had “some words to say” in that speech:
“It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” she immediately quipped as she got to the mic.
The singer went on to thank her longtime “guardian,” producer David Geffen, and credited her mother with teaching her that she was special and to “never give up.”
“She said, ‘You know, if you’re down and you’re out, you get up again.’ And in my life, I’ve been so down,” Cher said. “As my mother would say, ‘lower than a snake’s belly.’ That’s how down I’ve been. People have told me that I was finished, that I was through, that I have 10 minutes. The one thing that I think I got from my mom is I never gave up.”
She then retraced the ups and downs of her career — from her Sonny & Cher days to becoming an actress to pursuing her solo career. “Honestly, I believe what my mom said, but I’m lucky,” the Grammy winner admitted. “I’ve had really bad things happen. I was dropped by four labels. When it was completely over, I did ‘Believe,’ and it was like, ‘Yes!’ I’ve just been really lucky, and I have had number ones for seven decades, which surprises me, because I’m a good singer.”
“You know, I’m a good singer,” she continued before adding, “I’m not a great singer,” which elicited a wave of laughter and disagreement from the audience.
Cher laughed. “You know what? I’ll take it,” she said. “And also, I changed the sound of music forever, alright? And ‘Believe’ really changed the sound of music.”
She concluded her remarks by talking directly to the women of the world. “You guys are on your own,” she said. “We’ve been down and out, and we keep striving, and we keep going, and we keep building, and we are somebody. We are special. As my mom would say, ‘We’re special.’”
A few things I learned from watching a video of the speech in full: it actually wasn’t Cher throwing down the gauntlet on TV that kicked the Hall into motion. Instead, according to Cher, David Geffen saw that appearance, said to his longtime friend “I got you, babe,” and then wrote the Hall a letter. Still, I believe in Cher when she says the whole rigmarole was harder than getting divorced. Twice. The next anecdote I adored: Cher described one of her down and out, post-divorce moments where she went to Las Vegas to scrape together some work — she said Vegas at that time was “an elephant’s graveyard.” Who comes to see her perform? None other than Francis Ford Coppola, who sought her out after her show and said she should be an actress. (Francis was making good movies then.) So she went to New York and got cast in a play, which then led to her landing a part “in a Meryl Streep movie” (1983’s Silkwood, for which Cher won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress). But the through line of the whole speech was clearly Cher paying tribute to her mother for instilling in her the mantra of never giving up, which Cher in turn wanted to impart to all the women watching. If Cher could turn back time… I think she’d do it all the same!
PS — Yes, it still cracks me up that Cher boasts about changing the sound of music forever… with autotune.
I like Cher, she is talented and has lived an interesting life.
Moonstruck still a favorite movie.
Rock N Roll HoF is an absolute joke!
So many pop music folks in RNR, so many real rockers are not.
Same as the Baseball HoF.
A big successful money earning career for decades = yes. Rock? No.
I have half a century as a music lover under my belt, and I got no idea who is and isn’t in the R & R HoF. I just don’t care, but if a talented musician wants it, then I hope they get it.
I still chuckled at the comment. Divorce was actually much harder to achieve back in her divorcing days, so the comment has some weight.
She didn’t lie, though. Believe was the first mainstream single to use what we think of as auto tune (it’s actually a distortion by turning the dials way up, every song uses auto tune to fix issues). They lied and claimed she used a vocoder.
Iirc, T-pain liked the sound, did research to figure out how she did it, and made it his signature sound…and then it blew up.
I love Cher in almost all her eras. She’s a queen!
I didn’t know that, but dayum if I didn’t love that CD. It got me through grad school and some really dark times. Before that, I wasn’t a fan of her music, but Mask will always be an all time favorite movie for me.
Saw her in concert years ago, and let me tell you, her voice was magnificent. It goes right through you. Rare talent. Didn’t know til recent years her mom can sing too. There are a few clips out there if you search.
Is it OK if I say that learning that Cher had a romance with Tom Cruise (pre CoS) and a romance with Val Kilmer at the height of their Top Gun good looks makes me a little jealous?
IIRC, she also offered Val Kilmer to live in her guest house when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Good friend right there, loyal and kind.
She talks about her past romances herself so I’m not being rude.
I still think Greg Allman was her big love.
Then Rob C., they were together a few years.
And, her quote “Mom, I AM a rich man!” so iconic and true.
Cher is a one of a kind. 👍
CB, you could do a posting of some of Chers Bob Mackie gowns that could go on for days.
Icon!
Btw, Zendays looks fabulous in her (Chers) gown.
At the height of my youth I could never wear anything like it in public, but I wish I could have, that takes confidence.
Dua could have used some of that autotune for that duet…..