Cher, singer and actor

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cher has been a global star for over six decades. Her career has spanned music, television and film and throughout that time her outfits have made flamboyant fashion statements.

She was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California and had a peripatetic childhood. Her mother married six times and with each new husband the family moved house.

In 1962, when she was 16, Cher met Sonny Bono in a coffee shop. She moved in with Sonny as his housekeeper and personal assistant and began singing backing vocals for his boss, the music producer Phil Spector. In 1965 Sonny and Cher released I Got You Babe which reached number one in the US and UK charts – knocking the Beatles off the top of the chart.

Cher is an award-winning actor who has starred in films including Silkwood, Mask and Moonstruck. In October 1998 she released her 22nd studio album Believe – the title track remains the biggest-selling number one by a solo female artist in British chart history.

DISC ONE: Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum DISC TWO: Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley DISC THREE: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Ilene Woods DISC FOUR: Evil - Stevie Wonder DISC FIVE: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - The Righteous Brothers DISC SIX: I Can’t Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt DISC SEVEN: Minute By Minute - The Doobie Brothers DISC EIGHT: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke BOOK CHOICE: The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby LUXURY ITEM: An eyelash curler CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Traitors is back and so is that mysterious cloaked figure with the familiar fringe.
0:06.7	Yeah, it's me.
0:07.9	And when you've watched Claudia in the castle, join me, Ed Gamble, for the official visualised companion podcast.
0:13.7	And remember, I'll be listening.
0:15.9	Okay?
0:16.7	No, seriously, I love it.
0:18.5	What a faithful.
0:19.7	We'll unpack betrayals and spill scandalous secrets with celeb guests, traitors' legends,
0:25.0	and murdered and banished players.
0:27.1	The Traitors Uncloaked.
0:28.4	Watch on EyePlayer, listen for more on BBC Sounds.
0:33.2	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:37.1	Hello, I'm Lauren Levern, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast.
0:40.8	Every week, I ask my guest to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:48.6	And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:53.4	I hope you enjoy listening. My castaway this week is the singer and actor Cher.
1:20.4	She's the only solo artist in history to have clocked up number ones on the Billboard chart in seven consecutive decades.
1:26.9	Her acclaimed acting career
1:28.4	in films including Silkwood, Mask and Moonstruck has earned her an Academy Award, three
1:33.6	golden globes and the Best Actress Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. She grew up in Los Angeles
1:39.4	and started out singing back up for the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers when she was just a teenager
1:44.2	before becoming one half of Sonny and Sher with her boyfriend Sonny Bono.
	...

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