These two books are a good example of that.<\/p>\n
By the way, Annie Zaleski also did the Cher chapter in the Hall of Fame program from 2024.<\/p>\n This slick-designed book of photographs and mini essays is a great overview of the Cher-universe for those who don\u2019t have the patience to read her bios or memoirs. There\u2019s a fun intro by Cher-friend Cyndi Lauper who talks about how professional, disciplined and encouraging Cher is, how basically pleasant she is and yet \u201cif there was a problem, you\u2019d hear about it,\u201d how talking to her doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re talking to a famous person \u201ceven though she is one of the most famous people in the world.\u201d Lauper calls Cher \u201csweet, kind and wise\u2026and admirable.”<\/p>\n Zaleski has a good way of chunking the Cher story: breaking it up into digestible pop culture categories. She notes the multiple generations that have grown up with her and how: boomers (IGUB), Gen X (Variety shows, specials and movies, the rock diva), Millennials (Believe), Gen Z (tweets, RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race, DJ Play a Song). Zaleski calls herself a longtime fan and music journalist. She calls Cher resilient, funny, brilliant and inspiring. The book is full of new quotes from Zaleski’s interviews with Cher and some new-old photos.<\/p>\n The book is color-coded by alternating chapters on Cher themes: personal life stories (much of Cher\u2019s biography), Music, Television, Movies, Stage, Business (fitness, perfume), Fashion, Culture (being a gay and drag icon, the stuff<\/em> like the dolls), Charity and Politics, and Cher stats.<\/p>\n Biography<\/strong>: Zaleski captures the core themes, that as a child \u201cno one looked like me\u201d and how Cher struggled for role models. There’s a great Cher\u2019s quote about Sonny talking her “scattered energy” and \u201che focused the energy.\u201d \u201cI had such hero worship of Sonny, long after we were together\u2026I just thought he was great.\u201d Cher notes how they started out performing as the “100th on a bill.” Zaleski captures Cher and Tina Turner\u2019s first impressions of each other and Zaleski notes that they \u201cbrought out the best in each other\u2019s voices and stage presence.\u201d She explains how David Geffen helped Cher “pivot.” \u201cI was really, really lost,\u201d she has Cher saying.<\/p>\n Zaleski has a knack for showing the iconic photographs and picking the best highlights of the Cher story.<\/p>\n Gregg Allman could be a \u201creal louse\u201d or he could build Chastity a tree house, Cher says. (There\u2019s a Dr. Seuss poem in there with they rhyming louse\/house.) \u201cHe split 9 days into the marriage.\u201d Cher\u2019s memoir makes it seem like the day after. Cher on Georganne: \u201cMy sister is the scholar in our family\u201d Discussing Robert Camiletti (18 yr. difference) and Alexander Edwards (40 year difference), Cher says of younger men that they are \u201cmore supportive, less demanding\u201d and give you more of their time.<\/p>\n Music<\/strong>: The book covers Cher’s Christmas album and major achievements. \u00a0Zaleski covers some of the early songs with her adjective-laden succinctness.<\/p>\n She calls the music of Sonny & Cher \u201clow-key\u2026hewing toward kaleidoscopic \u201860s pop. She calls them \u201cstubborn individualists\u201d and notes one chaotic and \u201cfrenzied\u201d concert where they had to escape by sitting in the middle of a river on a motorboat.\u201d She quotes a journalist to say \u201cGypsys, Tramps and Thieves\u201d was \u201cone of the greatest pop songs of the last century.\u201d And Cher\u2019s retort: \u201cNo.\u201d (I would argue it\u2019s literature to boot.) Cher says it was the A&R men who brought the songs, not necessarily Snuff Garrett or Sonny.<\/p>\n Some songs Zaleski thinks didn\u2019t flatter Cher like:<\/p>\n But she liked Cher\u2019s \u201cquiet confidence\u201d in Dylan\u2019s \u201cThe Times They Are a Changin\u2019\u201d and her \u201csoulful performance over\u00a0 scratchy electric guitars\u201d in \u201cHey Joe.\u201d She also loves the \u201chorn-driven R&B\u201d of the Jackson Highway album, including the \u201cgorgeous vocals\u201d on \u201cSittin\u2019 On the Dock of the Bay\u201d and \u201cFor What It\u2019s Worth.\u201d\u00a0And these songs, Zaleski says,\u00a0\u201claid the foundation for her vibrant career.\u201d<\/p>\n Zaleski assembles a haphazard list of her musical successes in the charts. She talks about her \u201crock star phase\u201d starting with Black Rose (and the book includes that unfortunate shirtless promo pic), opening for Hall & Oates, where Cher \u201cheld her own\u201d with \u201cno-frills hard rock with a dash of glam, power-pop and new wave.\u201d (Oy, that’s some mash-up.) Theatrical howls and biting shrieks in \u201cNever Should\u2019ve Started,\u201d a song which continues with \u201cferocious growls\u201d. Zaleski creates her own 50-song best-of list and lists all the people Cher has collaborated with (not including studio musicians).<\/p>\n She does a segment on Cher’s live shows and residencies which she calls \u201cuplifting\u201d and notes revenues and tickets sold. There\u2019s a separate section on soundtrack music and her guest appearances.<\/p>\n \u201cHer legacy and impact are still felt today,” Zaleski says.<\/p>\n Television<\/strong>: The Television segments put Cher\u2019s shows in context of Fred Silverman\u2019s lineup of Mary Tyler Moore<\/em>, Bob Newhart<\/em> and All in the Family<\/em> and him saying in 1971, \u201cThey\u2019re the kind of young new talent we must have.\u201d\u00a0 Zaleski\u00a0 talks about Sonny & Cher’s deadpan, edgy insults. She quotes Meryl Streep as saying Cher on TV was a \u201cnatural talent as an actress\u2026she made everybody else on TV look like they were trying too hard.\u201d (And she did.) Streep also called Cher’s acting \u201cimmediate\u2026canny\u2026skilled, but it was invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n Zaleski also rounds up the awards and ratings and notes \u201cThe Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour <\/i>would “become known as the Gold Standards by which all musical variety shows were measured.\u201d (No one talks about that very much now but it\u2019s true.)<\/p>\n Zaleski gets the name of Sonny\u2019s solo show wrong but reviews both Sonny and Cher solo shows and has ABC president remarking that maybe it was \u201ctoo soon\u201d for Sonny\u2019s show. And there are pictures from the first show attributed to the later day show. (Deep breath.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a segment on the TV specials at the end of the decade and how tabloid problems with Gregg Allman meant that \u201cmothers wouldn’t let kids watch.\u201d (There was very little my mother wouldn\u2019t let me watch: the movie Grease<\/em> and the TV show Soap<\/em>.)\u00a0Zaleski calls the specials \u201cequally amazing\u201d and talks about Cher’s Letterman appearances. There\u2019s a section on the music videos (including \u201cHell on Wheels\u201d), the John Wilson cartoons and even the guest appearance on Pee-Wee\u2019s Playhouse<\/em> and Will and Grace <\/em>among other things.<\/p>\n Movies<\/strong>: This section take us from Come Back to the Five and Dime<\/em> Jimmy Dean<\/em> through the aminated movies and Mama Mia 2<\/em>. We begin with Cher\u2019s struggles to break in to acting and how Jimmy Dean<\/em> \u201cgave me professional credibility for the first time.\u201d Reviews for Silkwood<\/em> include \u201cthe script was dense and smart” and \u201cone of the most wryly clever performances on film in a good while.\u201d Zaleski notes that Cher thanked her mom, Sonny and her children for her first Golden Globes win.<\/p>\n Reviews for Mask <\/em>include \u201ca sensitive, empathetic actress\u201d and Cher saying, \u201cI go out of my way to try to do women who are heroic people that would never make the cover of any magazine,\u201d about Bagdanovich Cher saying, \u201cI never did really understand what he wanted\u201d and Bagdanovich on Cher saying, \u201cshe can\u2019t act\u201d and that she was \u201cthe most difficult actor I ever worked with,\u201d that she \u201cwon best actress because I shot her well.\u201d Zaleski\u00a0 mentions Cher’s lifelong friendship with craniofacial kids. She calls\u00a0Witches of Eastwick\u00a0<\/em>“underrated.”<\/p>\n Zaleski calls Moonstruck<\/em> a modern classic. Zaleski also mentions the movies Cher barely missed out on including King Kong<\/em>, Thelma and Louise<\/em>, War of the Roses<\/em>, The Drop Out <\/em>and Catwoman<\/em>.<\/p>\n She separates Cher’s main movies from her cameos and movie segments like If These Walls Could Talk.\u00a0<\/em>She has Cher saying she has “a narrow range. My characters, they\u2019re me.\u201d\u00a0 (I would say this is only consistently true of the latter-day movies.)<\/p>\n We learn that Cher picked Andy Garcia as her mate for singing “Fernando” in Mama Mia 2<\/em>.<\/p>\n Zaleski includes all the animations on one page (TV, video and movies, except the John Wilson ones which appear with the TV videos): her appearance with Beavis & Butthead, Zookeeper <\/em>(which wasn’t animated though but does classify as voice work), Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh<\/em>, Bobble Heads<\/em>, and both appearances on Scooby Doo<\/em>.<\/p>\n Stage Work:<\/strong> This includes the 2018 jukebox musical and a cast member saying about Cher, \u201cto be vulnerable and yet have the most power in the room, that\u2019s a really hard place to stand in.\u201d<\/p>\n There are sections about her other cultural influences including:<\/p>\n Fashion<\/strong> and her years with Bob Mackie on stage, television and on the red carpet (and with the dolls) and how Bob Mackie said he was always \u201cattempting to present to the world this\u2026creature in her own right\u201d and Cher talks about the confidence he gave her. Zaleski lists the iconic fashion moments and calls her \u201ca fashion plate for the free wheeling, forward looking 1970s\u201d and says she\u2019s been pushing the envelope since the 1960s. Another great Mackie quote is \u201cshe\u2019s a chameleon, but you can never lose her.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a whole section on Cher wigs, a whole section on the dolls. Zaleski notes that back in the 1970s they called it the Cher Barbie doll and has Cher saying \u201cthey made about 30 dolls before I was satisfied.\u201d Zaleski interviews the Mego Toy president.<\/p>\n The Social Causes<\/strong>: There\u2019s a section on her support of LGBTQ community and her status as a gay icon.\u00a0Separately Zaleski has a section on Cher\u2019s influence and importance to the art of drag, including how she incorporated drag into her late 1970s shows.<\/p>\n The Business Ventures<\/strong>: This includes the fitness commercials and videos, Lori Davis, Aquasentials (where Cher says she felt she lost her soul), the Sanctuary catalog, the two perfumes, MAC cosmetics, Cherlato and a roller rink Cher started that never opened. (I didn’t know that.)<\/p>\n The book also has a stats page that covers her auctions, awards, chartings, record sales, tour receipts, awards and honors.<\/p>\n Charitable Interests:<\/strong> This list includes AMFAR, Pediatric Aids Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, COVID Pandemic Response, a village school in Kenya, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Operation Helmet, political support to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, saving Kaavan, Free the Wild and her continued work to save Billy the elephant.<\/p>\n There are some new and rare pics, quotes and perspectives.<\/p>\n Some other great quotes from the book: \u201cCher is pop culture” and that she is \u201ca model for staying true to yourself…brash, outspoken, unapologetic. The world is finally waking up and realizing that she\u2019s one of the most influential and important artists of our time.\u201d and video director David Mallet saying \u201cshe is probably one of the most unaffected people in entertainment.\u201d (Very different from what Bagdonovich said.)<\/p>\n I\u2019m always looking for ways people talk about Cher\u2019s fashion style because, like for music, I don\u2019t feel real adept at talking about fashion. I don’t have the vocabulary. Although I do enjoy dressing up for occasions, I spend most of my time in jeans and a t-shirt. I did a lot of outrageous-wear in high school but it wasn’t modeled after Cher as much as Molly Ringwald. She wasn’t a bad guide either.<\/p>\n My only criticism of the book is that it’s so over-designed, it’s hard to tell where sections begin and end.<\/p>\n The book starts by considering Cher’s 1982 live show headdress and Hammond calls it an “extravaganza of camp” and she notes how that show’s outfit changes happened in front of an audience. She also notes the show’s “big mule sandal” and calls Cher a fashion “risk taker.”<\/p>\n Next she considers the 1986 Oscars dress and says Cher’s variety shows were \u201calways source of controversy for CBS” but that Cher and Bob Mackie were adept at creating “a moment.” (An unforgettable moment at that.)<\/p>\n Hammond talks about how Cher’s album cover always provided a \u201cglorious sense of escapism,” particularly Take me Home<\/em> and Prisoner<\/em>.<\/p>\n Hammond explains an episode when Cher was on a Barbara Walters special explaining what her 1988 Oscar dress would look like and it was supposed to have a motorcycle jacket instead of the wrap she eventually wore. \u201dI feel that\u2019s really me.\u201d\u00a0 (I didn’t know that.)<\/p>\n The book is broken up in to\u00a010 Cher codes along with tips as to how to use them yourself. “The average person has no Bob Mackie. So what\u2019s a girl to do?” Generally this means pushing yourself out of comfort zone but still feeling like you. The book encourages you to throw in an “occasional curve ball” into the mix. Hammond talks about the word “appropriate” and how this concept doesn’t apply to Cher. To those who judge Cher\u2019s fashion decisions, Hammond says, Cher judges you right back.<\/p>\n Cher says she didn\u2019t set out to be scandalous. She was simply trying to be herself. (That’s a complicated idea.)<\/p>\n Hammond says first you need to take stock of your wardrobe (t-shirts and jeans) and do a cleanse and list out the gaps. (Anything that isn’t t-shirts and jeans. Jk, I have some sweaters, too.)<\/p>\n If Cher has only\u00a0 one legacy, it would be the naked dress, Hammond says. Now naked dresses are standard practice on the red carpet. But in the 1970s nobody was showing that much skin. But Cher was already using “see-through fabrics, peekaboo lace and decolletage-clinging sides.” Hammond quotes Mackie about Cher’s fantastical armpits. There’s the comment about the appearance of Cher’s navel during television’s family hour.<\/p>\n Cher was accused of corrupting the morals and had to hide her navel again by 1975. Her variety shows spent $30k on the costume budget per episode. But in the process, she became a style icon in the 1970s. Not a pinup (as if to differentiate her from Farrah Fawcett). Hammond talks about the Cher silhouette,” slinky to the point of making her look statuesque”\u00a0 with the elongations, the crisscross designs and the fluid maxi skirts.<\/p>\n Hammond provides mix-and-match options charts, tells you how to shop and what to pair with what. This book has mostly illustration and very few photos of Cher, as if the book is on a budget. But there are enough. And the illustrations are helpful.<\/p>\n There’s a section on makeup and Cher’s heart-shaped face and how empowering it was also to see Cher out-and-about wearing no makeup, similar to how it is also empowering to see RuPaul and Pamela Anderson without makeup today.<\/p>\n Hammond takes us through the decades.<\/p>\n 1960s<\/strong><\/p>\n After the “staid fashions” of the 1950s, “modest was out, megawatt was in.” There’s even a color-scheme page for each decade, with the primary colors of the 60s, the paisleys, Cher’s vinyl minidress in sunflower yellow.<\/p>\n She calls Cher “queen of the crop tops” and talks about Cher’s early use of bell bottoms.<\/p>\n 1970s<\/strong><\/p>\n A glamourous approach, “gone were the garish or girlish” and how Cher wore a “lustrous spectrum that dazzled under lights.” Hammond focuses on her “jewel tones,” an example being the ruby-red Ringling Brother’s outfit.<\/p>\n Hammond talks about the artist who worked on the first variety show (or with Cher during that time):Jim Ortel (hair), Ben Nye II (makeup), Renata Leuschner (wigs), Minnie Smith (manicurist of the stars) noting how Cher started the squared-off nail trend.<\/p>\n She mentions the Beatles Tribute dresses.<\/p>\n And “the kaleidoscope effect” of Cher’s butterflies outfit.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cherscholar.com\/cherblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/babe4.png?ssl=1\")
<\/a>I Got You Babe: A Celebration of Cher by Annie Zaleski<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Style Codes: Cher: A Guide to Dressing Like a Fashion Icon by Natalie Hammond (2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n