Cher was among the inductees at last night’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, with Dua Lipa joining her for the occasion. Together they performed “Believe” joined by the Roots, along with Cher’s induction speech—introduced by Zendaya—and performance of “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
“Where do I even begin?” Zendaya opened her speech. “There is not one person in this room, in this country and pretty much in the whole world who doesn’t know who I’m here to honor tonight. So iconic, she only needs one name… She does it all and, may I add, really fucking well.”
Cher made light of the prolonged wait for her induction during her speech, having previously declared she would turn down the honor if it had been offered to her. She joked, “It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” she quipped. “I want to thank my guardian David Geffen, because yeah, he wrote a letter and sent it to the directors and so… ha ha, here I am.” Following that, she stated, “The one thing I have never done, is I never give up,” she said. “And I am talking to the women, okay… we have been down and out, but we keep striving and we keep going and we are somebody. We are special.”
Cher rose to fame in 1965 as one half of the folk-rock duo Sonny and Cher, alongside then-husband Sonny Bono. She soon released solo singles such as “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and “You Better Sit Down Kids.” The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which aired for three seasons from 1971 to 1974, also helped establish Cher as a television personality.
Cher achieved three Billboard Hot 100 number one hits: “Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves,” “Half-Breed,” and “Dark Lady,” making her the female solo artist with the most U.S. No. 1 singles in the 1970s. She transitioned to disco with 1979’s Take Me Home and later pursued acting, winning an Academy Award for her lead role in Moonstruck opposite Nicholas Cage in the 1980s.
Cher is currently the only solo artist to have Billboard No. 1 singles in seven consecutive decades, spanning from the 1960s to the 2020s. Her 1998 hit “Believe” became the best-selling single by a female artist in UK history, helping to popularize AutoTune. Cher has stayed in the public eye, starring in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again in 2018 and performing at this year’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show.
Watch Dua Lipa and Cher perform “Believe.”
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