Mamma Mia! Cher turns 80

Believe it. The beat goes on for Cher, who turned 80 on Wednesday.

The singer-actress has been an entertainment force for more than six decades. She has scored a No. 1 hit as a duo with her first husband, Sonny Bono, and topped the charts four times as a solo artist.

She also won an Academy Award, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, earned three Golden Globe awards and captured a Grammy Award.

Born Cheryl Sarkisian, Cher married Salvatore “Sonny” Bono in 1964. The couple met in 1962 at a cafe when Bono was working for music producer Phil Spector, People reported.

The duo originally performed as Caesar and Cleo and recorded “Baby Don’t Go” as Sonny and Cher in 1964, according to the magazine.

They also married that year in Tijuana, although the union wasn’t legal. They officially married after their son was born five years later.

In 1965, they released their first big hit and their only chart-topper, “I Got You Babe.” The song stayed at No. 1 for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and 14 weeks on the charts.

The couple had three other top-10 singles, according to Billboard -- “The Beat Goes On,” which peaked at No. 6 in 1967; “All I Ever Need Is You,” which rose to No. 7 in 1971; “Baby Don’t Go,” which topped out at No. 8 in 1965; and “A Cowboy’s Work is Never Done” in 1972, which also topped out at No. 8.

Cher had bigger success as a solo artist, with four No. 1 hits and 12 top-10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Believe” spent four weeks at No. 1 in early 1999 and lingered on the Hot 100 for 31 weeks. Other chart-toppers included “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” (1971), “Half-Breed” (1973) and “Dark Lady” (1974).

Along with Sonny Bono, Cher turned to television in the 1970s, hosting “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" from 1971 to 1974.

Although the couple divorced in 1975, they reunited for a second television series, “The Sonny and Cher Show,” which ran in 1976-77.

As a singer, Cher was nominated for a Grammy Award seven times, winning in 2000 for “Believe.”

Cher would expand into films and earned an Academy Award for Best Actress in “Moonstruck.”

Other notable films include “Silkwood,” “Mask,” “Mamma Mia,” “Mermaids” and “The Witches of Eastwick.”

Her Golden Globe wins were in 1974 for Best Actress-Television Series Musical (“The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour”), in 1983 for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (“Silkwood”) and in 1987 for Best Actress in a Comedy (“Moonstruck”).

Cher won her first Primetime Emmy Award in 2003 for “Cher: The Farewell Tour.”

Cher has two children: Chaz Bono, who was born in 1969; and Elijah Blue Allman, by her second husband, singer-guitarist Gregg Allman, in July 1976.

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