Cher’s rise to stardom and rocky romance with Sonny Bono come into focus in new memoir

The young woman in the black-and-white photograph peers at the camera intently, exuding a confidence beyond her years. Her long, dark hair and bangs frame a striking face: porcelain skin, soft lips, a strong nose and soulful eyes accentuated by thick lashes and mascara, eyes that are simultaneously vulnerable and fierce, welcoming and mysterious.

She is the one and only Cher, an American icon who has long dazzled audiences around the world with her extraordinary singing, acting and comedic chops. She has won an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy and was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The personification of female empowerment, Cher has done it her way, whether dating men half her age, topping the Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades, setting fashion trends or wowing TV viewers with her then-husband, Sonny Bono, on “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.”

Now, she has written the long-awaited “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” the first of two installments. Turns out that the alluring woman gracing the book’s cover is the same one who appears in these pages: intelligent, sensitive and engaging.

In a conversational tone, she details her rough childhood, the fade-outs, the comebacks and the romances — with music mogul David Geffen; after her divorce from Bono, a subsequent marriage to the troubled Gregg Allman, the late singer and keyboardist of the Allman Brothers Band; and her happy times with blood-spitting Kiss frontman Gene Simmons, a.k.a. “The Demon.”

The book covers roughly the period from her birth to 1980, when Cher, a twice-divorced single mother with two children, found herself at a professional crossroads, figuring out what to do with the rest of her life.

At the center of the memoir is Cher’s life-changing, tortured, supportive, destructive and co-dependent relationship with Sonny. Without his prodding, vision and drive, Cherilyn LaPierre Sarkisian would likely have never become the fabulous Cher. And without her talent and love, Bono would have likely remained a bit player on the fringes of the entertainment industry.

Cher’s early years weren’t so fabulous. She was born in 1946 to Johnnie Sarkisian, a ne’er-do-well who soon abandoned his family, and his 20-year-old wife, Jackie Jean (who later went by the name Georgia), and her childhood was marked by instability, turmoil and chaos. She was even briefly placed in a home for children and unwed mothers.

Cher’s mother, a beautiful model and actor who had bit roles on “Gunsmoke” and “I Love Lucy,” had an unusual hobby: collecting and discarding men, having “seven or eight” husbands in the end, according to Cher.

Sometimes, Cher, her younger sister, Georganne, and her mother lived well. Other times, Jackie Jean struggled to feed them. They moved constantly, mostly in Southern California. Through it all, Cher — who left her mother’s house when she was 16 — developed grit and resilience.

But her youth wasn’t just doom and gloom.

In 1956, Cher’s mother took her to see Elvis Presley in concert at the old Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles. “It was the most exciting experience I’d ever had because I knew that I wanted to be on that stage in the spotlight one day.”

Another time, according to the memoir, 15-year-old Cher made out with 25-year-old Warren Beatty until the wee hours of the morning in his swimming pool. Cher wore the bathing suit of Natalie Wood, Beatty’s paramour and co-star in “Splendor in the Grass.”

When Bono enters Cher’s life, everything turns into Technicolor.

“Cher: The Memoir, Part One” book cover.

(HarperCollins)

In a scene out of a Hollywood movie, Cher first saw him in late 1962 at Aldo’s coffee shop in Los Angeles. An “intriguing stranger” with a Caesar-style haircut, a mustard shirt and Beatles boots, Bono, then 27, had been a songwriter since his teens. He reminded Cher of her mother’s fascinating friends. It definitely wasn’t love at first sight for either of them.

Cher soon moved in with Bono as a friend who cooked and cleaned for him. In time, their relationship bloomed, as did Bono’s career. He landed a gig as an assistant to Phillip Spector, an eccentric music producer and architect of the “Wall of Sound.” With Bono’s encouragement, Spector enlisted Cher to sing backup vocals on songs by Darlene Love, the Crystals and the Righteous Brothers’ classic, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.”’

Bono and Cher went out on their own and struck it big with the 1965 release of their signature song, “I Got You Babe.” The track zoomed up the charts to No. 1. By early 1966, Sonny and Cher headlined a sold-out Hollywood Bowl.

However, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, the times they were a-changin.’ Artists like the Doors, Cream and the Jefferson Airplane had come on the scene celebrating sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Suddenly, Sonny and Cher suddenly seemed passé.

Cher in the Rudi Gernreich outfit a saleswoman told her she couldn’t afford. She bought it in three colors.

( From Cher)

Bad investments, overspending and dwindling interest took their toll. In 1969, just weeks after Cher gave birth to their daughter, Chastity (now a man named Chaz), Bono told Cher that they were broke and that they owed the IRS $270,000. He asked her to give him two years, promising he would make them bigger than ever. Their arduous climb back makes for some of the book’s most gripping reading.

Without a hit record or movie, Sonny and Cher played dinner theaters to 100 people or less. One night, Cher responded cheekily to a heckler, and the crowd laughed. Then, Bono joined in, and the couple started having fun between them. Over time, they developed a new act based around their quips, barbs and songs. People began turning out again.

That became the basis for “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour,” which debuted on CBS in 1971 and ran for three seasons. Viewers turned in to see Cher’s over-the-top skits and outfits, the era’s biggest stars and the couple’s edgy banter and unbridled joy.

The couple fit well together. Sonny liked Cher’s quirky sense of humor, and she liked being taken care of. Sharing a stage with Sonny and looking into his eyes while singing gave Cher confidence and a sense of calm.

But Sonny had a dark side, according to Cher. He cut her off from her friends and wouldn’t let her go anywhere without him except shopping. Sonny even incinerated her tennis clothes when he learned that she had talked to some men after a private lesson. He also cheated on her incessantly.

Eventually, Cher had enough, telling a distant Bono that she wanted to sleep with their band’s guitarist, which she did. They agreed to keep their split out of the tabloids and continued to do their show together as though nothing had happened. “The rapport we had onstage wasn’t a lie,” Cher writes. “We were always Sonny & Cher even when we weren’t Sonny and Cher.”

Then another bombshell. Cher discovered that her contract made her the employee of Bono and their lawyer. She couldn’t even sign a check or withdraw money without their approval. Devastated, Cher lobbied CBS not to pick up the popular show for Season 4. Somehow, the suits granted her wish. Cher soon filed for divorce.

The beat went on. “The Sonny Comedy Revue” debuted in October 1974 and soon got canceled. In early 1975, “Cher” premiered and did much better in the ratings. Instead of feeling vindicated, though, Cher felt overwhelmed by doing the show alone.

Cher with Greg Allman and their day-old son Elijah.

( From Cher)

Married by now to the drug-addled Allman and increasingly unhappy with him, a pregnant Cher reached out to Sonny for support, asking if he’d like to revive their show. So strong was their bond that Cher wanted to reunite with her first husband while carrying the baby of her second husband.

The new “Sonny & Cher Show” ran from 1976 to 1977, with two crossed fingers in place of the ampersand. Despite the affairs, the hurt and the accumulated bitterness over the years, the pair continued to make people laugh — and laugh at each other. They even went on a reunion tour.

If the memoir soars when Cher writes about Bono, it flags a bit when she discusses other relationships. She says, for instance, that Geffen was an incredible boyfriend. What she doesn’t say is that he was gay. Did she know that then? How did that affect their relationship, if at all? Why the silence?

Similarly, her reflections about Allman lack depth. Why did the mostly abstemious Cher pursue a relationship with a known junkie? What did she see in him beyond his golden good looks, artistry and generic sweetness?

These are minor quibbles. “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” is a fun read, a candid and well-written book that will justifiably make her legion of fans excited for the release of the second volume. Like Barbra Streisand, who recently penned a 970-page memoir, Cher is one of the handful of artists whose extraordinary life merits the extra ink.

Ballon, a former Times, Forbes and Inc. Magazine reporter, teaches an advanced writing class at USC. He lives in Fullerton.