The Pearls

The Pearls were an English 1970s girl vocal duo from Liverpool, England, featuring Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons (née O'Brien). They released a total of 12 singles, the most successful being "Guilty", which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974. Various Pearls singles were released around the world with different catalogue numbers and sometimes different labels . They had releases throughout Europe and in the Far East, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia .

Cornell and Simmons were originally part of The Vernons Girls, and  they formed The Pearls in 1972. Their  first records were cover versions of the 1960s songs "Third Finger, Left Hand" (a b-side from the Martha and the Vandellas hit single, "Jimmy Mack") and The Ronettes, "You Came, You Saw, You Conquered". These records were issued by Bell Records. However, the vocal on the first single issued by The Pearls was not performed by Cornell and Simmons. It was the duo Sue and Sunny - Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie - who sang on "Third Finger Left Hand" as stated on The Pearls compilation album. Sue and Sunny could not front The Pearls when the record was released, because they had previous contractual obligations. There were a total of seven singles issued on the Bell label.  

The Pearls' original songs included "Let's Make Love Again", "Doctor Love" and "Wizard of Love" among others (although these all failed to chart). They had more success with "Guilty", co-written by Ron Roker, which became a UK Top 10 success in 1974. Their previously unreleased cover of The Everly Brothers, "Bye Bye Love" appeared on their compilation album, A String of Pearls.

In 1975 The Pearls changed label to Private Stock releasing three singles over the next two years. The first release "Lead Us Not into Temptation" was an original song but the next two were covers. "The Cheater" was a popular play on the Northern soul circuit, and their last single for Private Stock was a disco version of "I'll See You in My Dreams", which was also issued in the United States as a 10" D.J. single.

Both Cornell and Simmons were also session and backing singers, as detailed in the liner notes of their compilation album. They belonged at various stages of their careers to other groups. Cornell who had been a solo singer both prior to joining The Vernons Girls and after, was also a member of The Breakaways, The Ladybirds, The Chucks, The Carefrees and The Raindrops. She also sang and toured with the James Last Orchestra during the entire time she was a member of The Pearls. Simmons, as well as her time with The Vernons Girls, was a member of The Redmond Twins, The Breakaways and The Ladybirds during her career.

Bonnie St. Claire

Bonnie St. Claire (born Bonje Cornelia Swart, 18 November 1949) is a Dutch singer and actress who has a recording history that began in the 1960s and went through to the 1990s.

St. Claire was born as Bonje Cornelia Swart in Rozenburg on 18 November 1949. She was born on a boat and is the daughter of a barge skipper. Her career began in 1966 when at a Peter Koelewijn concert, she was invited to come up on stage and sing with him.

In 1967 she released her first single Tame Me, Tiger. Numerous other records in Dutch, German and English followed. Some of the best known titles in Germany are Kai-Uwe Schmidt, Ich weiß, dass ich kein Engel bin, In der Wuppertaler Schwebebahn and Viele Köche verpoer den Breihe. In 1970 she covered with Smoking in the Forest is Forbidden a hit by Nina Lizell. In 1972 Bonnie St. Claire joined the group Unit Gloria, with whom she had some successes, including the title Clap Your Hands (and Stamp Your Feet), which reached number 3 in the Dutch charts in December 1972.

In 1979, she was part of a trio called Bonnie, Debbie & Rosy who released a single called "Oh Boy" which was written and produced by Peter Koelewijn. In addition to herself, the trio included Debbie aka Ria Schildmeyer, and Rosy Pereira. She had a string of hits in the Netherlands, including Dokter Bernhard (1976), Pierrot (1980), Bonnie kom je buiten spelen (1980) and Vlieg nooit te hoog (1981). She also scored a hit with a translation of the Bette Midler song The Rose (song), translates as De Roos (1980) . Later St. Claire would join José Hoebee as part of the duo Bonnie & José and would have a degree of success in the Netherlands. The two singers were under the same management and they soon became friends and started socializing with each other. In 1984 they enjoyed a top 40 hit with "Cassandra" which had previously been recorded by ABBA. They also recorded an album of Abba songs which was approved by Björn Ulvaeus. 

In 2010, St. Claire and Gerard Joling had a hit in the Netherlands with "Morgen Wordt Alles Anders" as Bonnie & Gerard. The song peaked at no. 2 and spent nine weeks in the charts.

Lou Olangua

Lourdes Olangua, better known as Lou, (Zarautz 15 December 1960 - 12 January 2013) was a rock singer, one of the first to emerge from the Basque rock scene. She formed part of the groups Los Humedecidos (1982-1985), OK Korral (1985-1989) and Las Lagartas. She also released a single with the band Lusty Men called "Lusty Men & Lou" and was a backing singer for The Covers.

OK Korral was formed in the 1980s in Zarautz. The band mixed rock-and-roll, rockabilly, folk and country influences and released two albums: O.K. Korral (Elkar, 1986) eta Beti gogor beti mozkor (Elkar, 1989). It was the first group of the sound labeled as Euskalbilly to sing in Basque.

The album was quite well received thanks to songs like "Baserriko neskatilak", "Mendi gainean" and "Bule, bule", they also made covers of Link Wray ("Komantxe"), Wilko Johnson ("Paradisua"), Glenn Moore & Milton Subotsky ("Tren bakartia") and Chuck Berry ("Tximu gorri").

As soon as the album was released, Eba left the band and Alberto took his place. Later Iñaki Brakamonte was replaced by Fermin Iraola. This quartet recorded the second album Beti gogor beti mozkor in 1989. They made three covers "Rumble" (Link Wray), "Jo Mari, jo" (The Stranglers) and "Txanogorritxu" (Ronald Blackwell). The lyrics made reference to sex, alcohol, rock'n'roll and cinema.



They didn't play many shows to present the album, and after some internal problems the band broke up. Lou stayed out and the rest formed a band called Labanak. On May 20th 2005 the band got together again for a benefit concert for the Arraio radio station at the gaztetxe Putzuzulo in Zarautz.




Lou Olangua also sang, among other projects, with the Lagartas with Arturo Ibáñez (guitar), Fede (bass) and Beloki (drums) with whom they recorded a demo.

Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, The B-52's

The B-52s are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards), Cindy Wilson (vocals, percussion), Ricky Wilson (guitar), and Keith Strickland (drums, guitar, keyboards).

The B-52's were formed in 1976 when vocalist Cindy Wilson, guitarist Ricky Wilson (her elder brother), keyboardist and vocalist Kate Pierson, drummer and percussionist Keith Strickland, and cowbell player, poet and lead vocalist Fred Schneider held an impromptu jam session after sharing a flaming volcano drink at a Chinese restaurant in Athens, Georgia. When they first jammed, Strickland played guitar and Ricky Wilson played congas. They later played their first concert (with Wilson playing guitar) in 1977 at a Valentine's Day party for their friends. The band's quirky take on the new wave sound of their era was a combination of dance and surf music set apart from their contemporaries by the unusual guitar tunings used by Ricky Wilson and thrift-store chic.

Their first single, "Rock Lobster", recorded for DB Records in 1978, was an underground success, selling over 2,000 copies in total, that led to the B-52's performing at CBGB and Max's Kansas City in New York City. Both this version of "Rock Lobster" and its B-side "52 Girls" are different recordings from those on their first album, and the early version of "52 Girls" is in a different key. The re-recorded version of "Rock Lobster" was released as a single. In the UK and Germany it was backed with an instrumental version of "Running Around", a non-album track. (A vocal re-recording of this would appear on their second album, Wild Planet.) The buzz created by the record in the UK meant their first show in London at the Electric Ballroom was packed, and attended by UK pop stars including Sandie Shaw, Green Gartside from Scritti Politti, and Joe Jackson. In Canada, released on the Warner Bros. label, the single went from cult hit to reach the No. 1 position in the RPM-compiled national chart on May 24, 1980. Released on July 6, 1979, their debut Lp, The B-52's contained re-recorded versions of "Rock Lobster" and "52 Girls", six originals recorded solely for the album, and a cover of the Petula Clark single "Downtown". The album was a major success, especially in Australia, where it reached number three on the charts alongside its three singles "Planet Claire", "Rock Lobster", and "Dance This Mess Around". In the US, the single "Rock Lobster" reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the album itself was certified platinum by the RIAA. In 1980, John Lennon called the B-52's his favorite band, and specifically cited "Rock Lobster" as an inspiration for his comeback with Double Fantasy.

In April 1980, The B-52's returned to Compass Point Studios to record their follow-up album. Several of the songs for the new album had been concert staples since 1978; the band consciously did not record them for their first album since they already had too many tracks and they wanted a strong second album, knowing that their live performances would make fans look forward to it. Rhett Davies co-produced the album, with more emphasis put on slick production; the album has a slightly more psychedelic and even paranoid sound than that of their debut. Released on August 27, 1980, Wild Planet was well received by critics, most of whom regarded it as a strong second album following the success of their first; many fans consider it their best album. The album reached number eighteen on the Billboard 200 chart in 1980 and was certified gold; "Private Idaho" became their second Hot 100 entry. On January 26, 1980, The B-52's performed on Saturday Night Live; they also performed at the Heatwave festival (which was promoted as the "New Wave Woodstock") in Toronto, Canada in August 1980, and appeared in the Paul Simon film One Trick Pony. In July 1981, Party Mix! was released, a six-song collection containing songs from their first two albums remixed and sequenced to form two long tracks, one on each side. 

In December 1982, the band began recording their third album, Whammy!. According to Pierson, Strickland no longer wanted to play the drums, so the band switched to drum machines for this album, with Strickland and Ricky Wilson playing all the music on that album, and the rest of the band providing vocals only. Having originally played guitars, organ, bass guitar and synthesizers, Pierson switched to a mainly vocal role in the studio, but remained behind the keyboards on tour. The band also began experimenting heavily with synthesizers during this period. Released on April 27, 1983, Whammy! reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. "Legal Tender" reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Singles chart alongside "Whammy Kiss" and "Song for a Future Generation". For the Whammy! tour, some tracks featured Strickland on the drums while others used a backing track so that Strickland could come forward and play other parts. This also freed up the vocalists (now sometimes not playing instruments) to perform some simple choreography. Copyright issues with Yoko Ono led to the cover song "Don't Worry" being replaced by "Moon 83" - a rearranged version of "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)" from their debut album - on future pressings of Whammy!. Ricky Wilson died from AIDS-related illness in 1985. Cindy Wilson was devastated by her brother's death, and her bandmates were depressed about Ricky's passing. The band went into seclusion and did not tour to promote their album. This was the beginning of an extended hiatus from their musical careers.

A fourth single, "Deadbeat Club", which reminisced about the band's early days in Athens and whose video was shot on location and featured a cameo by fellow Athens artist R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, reached No. 30. Cosmic Thing climbed into the U.S. top five and earned multi-platinum certification. it also had huge international success reaching No. 1 in both Australia and New Zealand and No. 8 in the UK. The group had a hugely successful world tour to support the record, and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in March 1990. In 1990, the B-52's were nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year. They won two awards, Best Group Video and Best Art Direction.

Pierson sang on Iggy Pop's song "Candy", which gave him a top 40 hit. In 1991, Schneider's solo record was repackaged and re-released, resulting in his first Hot 100 single when "Monster" climbed to No. 85, and Pierson again guest-starred on a popular track, R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People", which reached No. 10 in September 1991. Pierson also appeared on two other songs from R.E.M.'s chart-topping album Out of Time, "Near Wild Heaven", and "Me in Honey", as well as the outtake "Fretless".

In late 1990 Cindy Wilson took time off from the band, with Julee Cruise filling in for her on tour. The B-52's released Good Stuff in 1992 as a trio – the only release on which Cindy Wilson was not present – and the title track reached No. 28 in August of that year. The album made it to No. 16 in the U.S. It is also the group's most overtly political album, though they had been activists and fundraisers for environmental, AIDS and animal rights causes for many years.




In February 2015, Pierson released her first solo album, Guitars and Microphones, featuring material co-written by Sia Furler. She later released the non-album single "Better Not Sting the Bee," and on April 15, 2016, she released a cover of "Venus" as a single. 

Wilson rejoined the B-52's in 1994. In 1998, she took part in recordings for two new songs to be included with the band's hit singles on the album Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation. Wilson then took maternity leave in 1999 (being replaced on tour by Gail Ann Dorsey), later rejoining the band in 2001 for regular touring of their greatest hits.

 

Flora Molton

Flora Molton (née Rollins; March 12, 1908 – May 31, 1990) was an American gospel music street singer. Born partially blind due to cataracts, Molton was the daughter of a minister. She sang and played slide guitar on the streets of Washington, D.C., and did not perform in formal venues until late in life. Molton toured in Europe in the 1980s and continued to perform as a street singer until a few months before her death.

Molton was born in 1908 in Louisa County, Virginia. She was born partially blind, and though she thought that she would be able to read large print, her schoolteachers taught her from memory. At the age of eight, Molton underwent surgery for cataracts, and her vision improved slightly. Though she was still discouraged from reading, by her teens she was comfortable reading large print. Molton's father was a minister who preached at several West Virginia churches. Molton was baptized at age seven and she began preaching at the age of 17. A few years later, Molton became a member of the Holiness Church and started a ministry out of her home. Supporting two children, she found that there was no money in her preaching. In 1937, Molton moved to Washington, D.C., and began to sing on the streets in the 1940s.

Playing a guitar, singing and tapping a tambourine with her foot, Molton occupied the corner of 7th Street NW and F Street NW. She attached a plastic pail to her guitar where passersby left money. Later, Molton moved to the corner of 11th Street NW and F Street NW. Though Molton tried to find other employment and completed a job training program with LightHouse for the Blind, her visual impairment complicated her search for a job and she found herself going back to street singing. Molton listened to blues singers like Blind Lemon Jefferson as a child. She said that she sang the blues in her early years on the streets, but her song lyrics became less secular in later years. Molton described her music as having a "country" sound, and her songs generally reflected her religious faith.

She wrote at least one anti-war song, Sun Gonna Shine in Vietnam One Day. Among the last well-known Washington street singers, Molton played slide guitar in open D tuning. Her guitar technique is also described as "bottleneck", owing to the fact that she slid a broken bottleneck along the strings to make chord changes. Molton did not record her music or make scheduled performances until fairly late in life; a 1963 performance in a coffee shop was her first scheduled event. Subsequently, she gave concerts and performed at music festivals. Phil Wiggins, a blues singer later known as part of Cephas & Wiggins, said that he developed his style during the years he spent accompanying Molton. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities presented her with four awards, and she went on a 1987 tour of Europe. The commission gave her a grant to record an album, I Want to Be Ready to Hear God When He Calls. A short documentary film about Molton, Spirit and Truth Music, was made by Edward Tim Lewis of Howard University. 

She died at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington on May 31, 1990, after suffering from liver problems. Though she was in her eighties, Molton had continued to sing on the streets until she got sick about six months before her death. 

Tarantula Ghoul

Suzanne Waldron (July 23, 1931 - June 1982), better known by her alias "Tarantula Ghoul", was an American actress, television hostess, and musician. Her studies at the New Mexico Highlands University in the early 1950s first excited her interests in stage acting and radio commentary. 

By 1952, Waldron began performing at the Portland Civic Auditorium and earning voice roles in radio commercials; a year later, Waldron joined the Magic Ring Repertory Company, receiving local acclaim for her roles in comedy and drama. Between 1957 and 1959, she hosted the cult favorite program House of Horror on the Portland-based television station KPTV. 

The concept of the Tarantula Ghoul character -- a slick raven-haired hostess that had a striking resemblance to the fictional matriarch Morticia Addams was based off Vampira, played by actress Maila Nurmi. Nurmi's series The Vampira Show, which briefly aired in 1954 and 1955, was highly successful in Los Angeles before its cancellation, encouraging television stations across the United States to recreate the show's premise as well as its ghoulish hostess. In 1958, Tarantula Ghoul and her backing band the Gravediggers recorded and released the "King Kong" single on Meadows Records with "Graveyard Rock" as its B-side. The latter track's appealing melody made it a popular song to incorporate in Halloween-themed setlists.

Despite its popularity, House of Horror was canceled in 1959. No known footage of the show currently exists. Waldron occasionally revived her Tarantula Ghoul persona in the early 1960s and was offered opportunities to host television again but she decided to focus on stage acting and voiceover work. In June 1982, she died in Omaha, Nebraska of colon cancer; Waldron was 50 years old.

Odetta

Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil and human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she influenced many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin.

Odetta was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 31, 1930. Growing up during the Great Depression, she moved from the Deep South to live with her stepfather Zadock Felious. She grew up in Los Angeles, where she attended Belmont High School. She then studied music at Los Angeles City College while employed as a domestic worker. She had operatic training from the age of 13. Her mother hoped she would follow Marian Anderson, but Odetta doubted a large black girl would ever perform at the Metropolitan Opera. Her first professional experience was in musical theater in 1944, as an ensemble member for four years with the Hollywood Turnabout Puppet Theatre, working alongside Elsa Lanchester. In 1949, she joined the national touring company of the musical Finian's Rainbow. While on tour with Finian's Rainbow, Odetta "fell in with an enthusiastic group of young balladeers in San Francisco", and after 1950 she concentrated on folksinging. She made her name playing at the Blue Angel nightclub in New York City, and the hungry i in San Francisco. At the Tin Angel in 1954, also in San Francisco, Odetta recorded Odetta and Larry with Larry Mohr for Fantasy Records. A solo career followed, with Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1956) and At the Gate of Horn (1957). Odetta Sings Folk Songs was one of the best-selling folk albums of 1963. 

In 1959 she appeared on Tonight with Belafonte, a nationally televised special. She sang "Water Boy" and a duet with Belafonte, "There's a Hole in My Bucket". In 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. called her "The Queen of American Folk Music". Also in 1961 the duo Harry Belafonte and Odetta made number 32 in the UK Singles Chart with the song "There's a Hole in the Bucket". She is remembered for her performance at March on Washington, the 1963 civil rights demonstration, at which she sang "Oh Freedom". She described her role in the civil rights movement as "one of the privates in a very big army." Broadening her musical scope, Odetta used band arrangements on several albums rather than playing alone. She released music of a more "jazz" style on albums like Odetta and the Blues (1962) and Odetta (1967). She gave a remarkable performance in 1968 at the Woody Guthrie memorial concert.  

Odetta released two albums in the 20-year period from 1977 to 1997: Movin' It On, in 1987 and a new version of Christmas Spirituals, produced by Rachel Faro, in 1988. Beginning in 1998, she returned to recording and touring. The new CD To Ella (recorded live and dedicated to her friend Ella Fitzgerald upon hearing of her death before walking on stage), was released in 1998 on Silverwolf Records, followed by three releases on M.C. Records in partnership with pianist/arranger/producer Seth Farber and record producer Mark Carpentieri. These included Blues Everywhere I Go, a 2000 Grammy-nominated blues/jazz band tribute album to the great lady blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s; Looking for a Home, a 2002 W.C. Handy Award-nominated band tribute to Lead Belly; and the 2007 Grammy-nominated Gonna Let It Shine, a live album of gospel and spiritual songs supported by Seth Farber and The Holmes Brothers. These recordings and active touring led to guest appearance on fourteen new albums by other artists between 1999 and 2006 and the re-release of 45 old Odetta albums and compilation appearances. 

In November 2008, Odetta's health began to decline and she began receiving treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. She had hoped to perform at Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009, but she died of heart disease on December 2, 2008, in New York City.

Nico

Christa Päffgen (16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988), known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, musician, model, and actress.

Nico's first performances as a singer took place in December 1963 at New York's Blue Angel nightclub, where she sang standards such as "My Funny Valentine". In 1965, Nico met the Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and recorded her first single, "I'm Not Sayin'" with the B-side "The Last Mile", produced by Jimmy Page for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label. Actor Ben Carruthers introduced her to Bob Dylan in Paris that summer. In 1967 Nico recorded his song "I'll Keep It with Mine" for her first album, Chelsea Girl. 

After being introduced by Brian Jones, she began working in New York with Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey on their experimental films, including Chelsea Girls, The Closet, Sunset and Imitation of Christ. When Warhol began managing the Velvet Underground, a New York City quartet consisting of singer/songwriter/guitarist Lou Reed, violist/keyboardist/bassist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, he proposed that the group take on Nico as a "chanteuse", an idea to which they consented, reluctantly for both personal and musical reasons. The group became the centerpiece of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a multimedia performance featuring music, lighting, film and dance. Nico sang lead vocals on three songs ("Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties", "I'll Be Your Mirror"), and backing vocal on "Sunday Morning", on the band's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). The album went on to become a classic, ranked 13th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, though it was poorly received at the time of its release.

Immediately following her musical work with the Velvet Underground, Nico began work as a solo artist, performing regularly at The Dom in New York City. At these shows, she was accompanied by a revolving cast of guitarists, including members of the Velvet Underground, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Jackson Browne. For her debut album, 1967's Chelsea Girl, she recorded songs by Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, and Jackson Browne, among others. Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison contributed to the album, with Nico, Reed and Cale co-writing one song, "It Was a Pleasure Then." Chelsea Girl is a traditional chamber-folk album, with strings and flute arrangements by producer Tom Wilson.

For The Marble Index, released in 1969, Nico wrote the lyrics and music. Nico's harmonium anchored the accompaniment, while John Cale added an array of folk and classical instruments, and arranged the album. The harmonium became her signature instrument for the rest of her career. The album has a classical-cum-European folk sound. Returning to live performance in the early 1970s, Nico (accompanying herself on harmonium) gave concerts in Amsterdam as well as London, where she and John Cale opened for Pink Floyd. 1972 saw a one-off live reunion of Nico, Cale and Lou Reed at the Bataclan in Paris. Nico released two more solo albums in the 1970s, Desertshore (1970) and The End... (1974). She wrote the music, sang, and played the harmonium. Cale produced and played most of the other instruments on both albums. The End... featured Brian Eno on synthesizer and Phil Manzanera on guitar, both from Roxy Music. She appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, in London, with Cale, Eno, and Kevin Ayers. The album June 1, 1974 was the result of this concert. Nico performed a version of the Doors' "The End", which was the catalyst for The End... later that year.

In the 1980s, she toured extensively in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan. After a concert in Berlin in June 1988, she went on holiday in Ibiza to rest and died as the result of a cycling accident. She was misdiagnosed as suffering from heat exposure and died at 8 p.m. that day. X-rays later revealed a severe cerebral hemorrhage as the cause of death. She was buried in her mother's plot in Grunewald, a forest cemetery in Berlin. 

Cher

Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Commonly referred to by the media as the Goddess of Pop, she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. Cher is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances during her six-decade-long career. 

Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song "I Got You Babe" reached number one on the American and British charts. By the end of 1967, they had sold 40 million records worldwide and had become, according to Time magazine, rock's "it" couple. She began her solo career simultaneously, releasing in 1966 her first million-seller song, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". She became a television personality in the 1970s with her shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and Cher. She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows.

While working on television, Cher established herself as a solo artist with the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady". After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975, she launched a comeback in 1979 with the disco album Take Me Home and earned $300,000 a week for her 1980–1982 concert residency in Las Vegas.  She revived her musical career in 1987 by recording the rock-inflected albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989), and Love Hurts (1991), all of which yielded successful singles such as "I Found Someone", "If I Could Turn Back Time", and "Love and Understanding". 

Having sold 100 million records to date, Cher is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her achievements include a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and awards from the Kennedy Center Honors and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. Outside of her music and acting, she is noted for her political views, social media presence, philanthropic endeavors, and social activism, including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.