From the back of the book..."...takes us from Sonny's days as a meat delivery boy pitching songs door-to-door on Hollywood's Sunset Strip to his shocking first date with Cher...from their first nightclub act as "Caesar and Cleo" to their overnight success with "I Got You Babe." It's all here in this no-holds-barred memoir that reveals Sonny and Cher's roller coaster ride to superstardom, their fast-track years in the limelight, the dark downturn into divorce and the eventual upswing that culminated in Sonny's triumphant Palm Springs mayoral campaign."

My thoughts... I remember watching their TV show and listening to their music. It was interesting to read about their struggles to gain stardom and what was going on behind the scenes. Their public image wasn't the same as their private lives.

Reserving for the General Literature VBB.

Chosen from the General Literature VBB. Sent to BooksandMusic in WA.

Couldn't resist the Sonny side of the Sonny and Cher duo. Remember Cher on top of the piano? This show was a constant of my childhood. Anyway, let's see what Sonny has to say. Thanks for offering it.

Slated to be read July/August 2017

Sonny Bono, well I was surprised.
I used to watch the Sonny and Cher show when I was young, I never gave them much thought beyond thinking Cher was beautiful. My most vivid images of that show are Cher on top of the piano, vamp, and Sonny and Cher holding their little girl's hands at the end of the show.
Reading this book was kind of a shock. I had no idea that Sonny was married and a father of a child he never took care of, when he started his relationship with sixteen year old Cher. Sonny was twenty-seven and was regularly cheating on his wife, Cher was someone he fell in love with, more serious than his other dalliances or the relationship he had with his wife and first child. But she was sixteen!
Different times. Sonny writes songs, Cher sings. She has trouble singing before an audience so she sings to Sonny. "I Got You Babe" comes out and they hit the big time.
Because he starts the book recalling singing I Got You Babe on Late Night with David Letterman with Cher in 1987, I watched it. More than ten years since their divorce and the chemistry was still there. Cher's voice just blew me away. Awesome, completely awesome. Sonny looked uncomfortable singing to Cher and she looked like she was looking for approval from him. As soon as he took her hand and kissed it she moved in closer and looked both grateful and happier. She can say that he was a terrible husband but watch the body language and see what you think.
They each have their reasons for doing what they do but in the end Cher forces the break up. I don't know how much happiness Cher finds afterward. Sonny finally finds happiness again with his fourth wife and the two children he has with her, and in his political career as Mayor of Palm Springs and later as a Congressman.
Some random thoughts:
I recall seeing an anti-marijuana film in the early 1970's that Sonny Bono was in. In my recall he was wearing a robe but when I watched the film (it was even stupider than I remembered) he was wearing some sort of satin pajamas.
I liked his nose better before his nose job.
He was a Scientologist? He mentions learning, from Dianetics, that he shouldn't go out with a girl who was involved with someone else. Wasn't obvious to him...
Anyway, I actually enjoyed reading the book; some nostalgia, some celebrity gossip, some watching old Sonny and Cher performances, loving the clothes, missing the 60's.

Reserved for Non-Fic VBB

Going to release into LFL

Wedgwood neighborhood of Seattle