Happy 80th Birthday, Cher!

Seven decades of extra + a wild card

Hello, Gorgeous!

Today is Cherilyn Sarkisian’s 80th birthday. Notable since we’ve all grown up with the larger-than-life presence known as Cher. I’m pretty sure that any woman over 40 had a moment when we realized that she didn’t look like anyone else, sound like anyone else, dress like anyone else or give a flying f*ck about anyone else.

Cher started as a backup singer and ended up changing music forever. In honor of her maximalist self, let’s celebrate her seven decades of reinvention, plus one wildcard, because Cher.

1. Cher sang on some of the greatest records ever made — and nobody knew it.

Before Cher was Cher, she was a teenager singing backup for producer Phil Spector. You’ve heard her voice on The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”, The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”, and Darlene Love’s “A Fine, Fine Boy.” I know. I had no idea, either!

2. She broke free — and immediately had three #1 hits.

After a very public divorce from Sonny and breaking out of an exploitative contract that controlled her career, Cher didn’t skip a beat. “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” “Half-Breed,” and “Dark Lady” hit #1 back to back. Turns out she was just fine on her own.

“I don’t think that this means that I am somebody, but I guess I’m on my way.”

~Cher

3. The industry laughed at her. Then she won an Oscar.

Hollywood didn’t take Cher seriously as an actress. So two years before her win, she showed up to the Oscars in that showstopping Bob Mackie outfit, which in theory was a lot like the dark warrior version of Cher’s original (and later deemed offensive) feathered headdresses worn when singing “Half Breed” (which she publicly committed to retiring from her set list in 2017). She was basically a one-woman warrior accented with sparkles. In 1988, Cher won Best Actress for Moonstruck, and closed her speech with: “I don’t think that this means that I am somebody, but I guess I’m on my way.”

4. At 52, she didn’t just make a comeback. She changed music forever.

When “Believe” dropped in 1998, it hit #1 in 23 countries. It also introduced the world to a deliberate use of Auto-Tune as a creative tool — a technique now so ubiquitous it has its own name: the Cher Effect. At 52, when the industry pretty much deemed her a has-been. Again. I’m no fan of auto-tune, but I love the implications of a woman in her 50s owning her sexy self while changing music forever.

5. She said goodbye for three years straight.

The Farewell Tour launched in 2002, ran 326 shows across multiple continents, grossed over $200 million, and set the Guinness World Record for highest-grossing tour by a female artist at the time. She kept adding dates because audiences kept showing up. Some farewells are just too good to end.

6. Broadway. Kennedy Center. ABBA. All in the same year.

In 2018, The Cher Show opened on Broadway while she was being celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors — and her Dancing Queen ABBA covers album became the year’s highest-selling album by a female artist. Just a casual year.

7. She made history in her 70s. Then did it again.

In 2023, “DJ Play a Christmas Song” made her the only solo artist in history to have a Billboard #1 in seven consecutive decades. In 2024, Cher was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and cracked: “It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”

Wildcard: She’s been a Barbie since 1976.

Twiggy (classic blonde beauty for the wild Carnaby Street ‘60s) was the first celebrity Barbie in 1967. Cher got hers in 1976 — and has had multiple versions since, including one in the iconic Bob Mackie “If I Could Turn Back Time” look: see-through catsuit, leather jacket, cascade of curly hair. Even in plastic, she’s unmistakable.

Here’s the thing, there is so much more about Cher that changed the pop culture landscape forever beyond her movies and music. But of everything I love about Cher, it’s her ability to love out loud that impresses me most. Her husbands, her lovers, her kids. Cher didn’t need anyone to define her, but she chose her true loves to enhance the Cher experience.

Did you have a Cher Barbie or any other wacky Cher-inspired items? Let’s meet in the comments to discuss!

Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋

I cannot tell a lie. I reallllly wanted this one: