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in “Cher: The Memoirs – Part One” (To be printed November 19 by HarperCollins), the singer and actress writes about her early years within the music enterprise, together with her partnership and marriage to Sonny Bono. The duo had eight High 20 hits within the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, and their tv collection “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” was a rankings hit.
Learn an excerpt beneath, the place she recounts that, on the age of 11, she attended an occasion that may change the route of her life: an Elvis Presley live performance.
and Do not miss Anthony Mason’s interview with Cher “CBS Sunday Morning” November 17!
“Cher: The Memoirs – Part One”
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introduction
Los Angeles, summer time 1956
Staring on the TV with my mouth open, I let the peanut butter and jelly sandwich fall onto the plate in my lap as goosebumps ran down my physique.
At house alone after college, I might sit cross-legged (my favourite place, nonetheless) on the ground in entrance of the TV and benefit from the peace and quiet and watch my favourite present. American platform. “And now, women and gents, Ray Charles,” Dick Clark introduced because the digital camera panned towards a good-looking man sporting sun shades sitting on the piano.
“Georgia, Georgia. . . “He started, and I burst into tears. I could not consider he was singing a tune about my mom. Because the tears ran down my sandwich, I had by no means felt extra related to something in my life. Ray Charles’ voice and the melody appeared to specific precisely how I felt.
It took me weeks to recover from seeing him sing, and in some methods, I by no means did, however then somebody whose songs I first heard on the radio blew a gap in my understanding of the world and I used to be by no means the identical. Whereas I used to be staring on the TV and my mother was watching The Ed Sullivan PresentA well-known younger singer named Elvis Presley crammed the display. My mom and I had been amongst sixty million Individuals who witnessed this historic efficiency in September 1956.
Though Elvis was dressed fairly historically on that Sunday night time, he regarded and moved in another way than any entertainer I would ever seen. He began singing “Do not Be Merciless,” and by the point he began “Love Me Tender,” I felt like he was singing simply to me. I wished to leap straight into TV and He’s Fb.
Once I heard a yr later that he was giving a live performance on the Pan Pacific Corridor in Los Angeles, I got here house with stars in my eleven-year-old eyes. “Mother, mother! Elvis goes to be within the Pacific! Can we go?…please?” I used to be satisfied I needed to be there. Secretly, I believed he would discover me within the crowd and choose me, though I am certain that is what each woman thinks.
Luckily for me, my 31-year-old mom was as obsessive about Elvis as I used to be, a indisputable fact that impressed my buddies as a result of their moms disapproved of his uncooked sexuality. To this present day, I do not know the place she discovered the cash, however Georgia by some means knew it. My mom and I acquired dressed and headed into city, extra like sisters than mom and daughter. We felt the stress rising as we approached the Fairfax space, and shortly discovered ourselves caught up in a crowd of 9 thousand noisy women.
A wave of pure adrenaline swept us into the corridor. Our folding chairs had been about midway by the viewers, however that was positive by me. As I regarded round in any respect the women staring expectantly on the darkened stage, I felt my coronary heart beating inside my small, flat chest—a sensation I might change into aware of later in life.
The stage was darkish, however when the lights got here on, Elvis was there and he was magical. There was a roar from the group that was in contrast to something I had ever heard earlier than. The explosion of sunshine bulbs exploded. I simply wished he may carry us a bit Kodak cake. And Elvis was standing there in his well-known gold go well with that was glowing and altering colour within the lights.
He was so good-looking with that cute smile and glossy black hair, similar to my hair colour. Everybody round us jumped to their ft and began screaming hysterically a lot in order that we may barely hear the phrase “Heartbreak Resort.” However boy, we may see his actions, the best way he moved his hips and shook his legs till they had been shaking. Not solely did the women make as a lot noise as they may, the women began leaping on their chairs to get a greater view, which meant that from then on, we may solely see Elvis’s head and shoulders.
Being in the midst of this raucous crowd was like being caught in an enormous tidal wave of hip-spinning, hysteria sweeping in direction of the stage. I had no thought why everybody was appearing so loopy. I used to be too younger to get that a part of it, truthfully (but when I had been three years older and my mom had been three years youthful, we might have swooned). It was essentially the most thrilling expertise I would ever had as a result of I knew I wished to be on that stage within the highlight someday too.
Once I checked out my mom, she was down counting. We had been each mesmerized. She regarded so lovely in such a terrific outfit that I felt assured out of all the women within the place, myself included, that Elvis was going to decide on her.
I pressed my mouth to her ear so she may hear, put my hand on high of hers and shouted, “Mother, can we stand on our seats and scream too?”
“Sure,” she replied, smiling like a youngster and kicking off her excessive heels. “Come on, let’s do it!” So we did, straining on our tiptoes to see it.
Glowing with happiness, I attempted to see if Elvis can be sufficient to marry me once I grew up, so he may sing to me day by day. I dreamed of being Mrs. Presley, and I could not cease speaking to my mom about Elvis for weeks whereas I floated on a shiny, golden cloud.
Excerpted from “Sheer: The Memoir (Half One)” by Sheer. Copyright © 2024 by Share. Reprinted with permission from HarperCollins.
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“Cher: The Memoirs – Part One”
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