Sonny Bono

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Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, Sonny Bono (1935-1998) made a career out of reinventing himself. He played the straight man to his then-wife Cher, on the "Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" in the 1970s and later served as mayor of Palm Springs, California. On Capitol Hill, he quickly established himself as a hard worker and a popular fundraiser for the Republican party.

Even though he was a dedicated congressman, a popular mayor, and a successful restauranteur, pop icon Sonny Bono will probably first and foremost be remembered, as the "shorter" half of "Sonny and Cher." From 1971 until mid-1974, this husband and wife team was one of the hottest acts on television. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour presented elaborate song numbers, comedy skits, and lots of banter between the two stars. Sonny usually got the short end of the deal, with Cher making comments about his height, his Italian ancestry, or his limited singing voice. Through it all, he suffered the putdowns with good-natured, bumbling grace, and the audience loved it. No matter how many barbs and off-color remarks the couple exchanged, the act always ended on a happy note as they sang their signature song, "I Got You, Babe."

Canny Showman

Salvatore Phillip Bono was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 16, 1935, to Santo and Jean Bono, poor immigrants from Sicily. The family moved to Los Angeles when he was seven years old, and his parents later divorced. Although he was dedicated to writing songs, Bono did not have the same interest in school. He dropped out and tried to sell his tunes to recording companies. He did not have much luck with that either, although his song "Koko Joe" was somewhat successful for the Righteous Brothers. Between jobs as a waiter, butcher's assistant and truck driver, Bono occasionally worked with Little Richard and Sam Cooke, then was hired by Philles Records, where he worked with Phil Spector and got a complete education in the television and music business. For a time, he sang background for groups such as the Ronettes and Crystals.

Love and a brand new career came into Bono's life when he met an exotic-looking, dark-haired teenager named Cherilyn LaPiere Sarkisian, known as Cher, in 1963. By this time, Bono was breaking up with his first wife, Donna Rankin, with whom he has a daughter, Christy. Cher, born in El Centro, California in 1946, was trying to get into show business. Bono thought that her voice and his songs could make them stars. They were married in Mexico in 1964 and had a daughter, Chastity, in 1969.

Sonny and Cher became the entertainment world's "odd couple." According to the Detroit Free Press, "Bono was well-known for his droopy moustache, bell bottoms and playing the fall guy to his much taller and sharp-tongued wife." Their public personas were those of two kooky flower children in the advanced stage of puppy love. They dressed in outlandish outfits and sang Bono's songs in a way that delighted audiences. But underneath the affable, bumbling exterior, Bono was growing an uncanny showman with drive, talent, and ambition. He knew he could make them into top stars.

In June of 1965, Sonny and Cher hit it big with the recording of "I Got You, Babe." This was followed by "Laugh at Me," "All I Really Want to Do," and then the rock classic, Bono's most recorded song, "The Beat Goes On." At one point, they had five songs in the Top 20 at the same time. The only others ever to do that were Elvis Presley and the Beatles. After a 1967 movie, Good Times, in which the couple more or less played themselves, their popularity was on the downswing. In 1969, Bono mortgaged his house to put every cent he could into a film about a runaway girl, starring Cher, called Chastity. It was a flop, but Bono promised they'd be back on top. It took three years, but he was right.

To the Top and Back to the Bottom

Bono developed a nightclub act that featured Cher as the bored, generally superior wife who always gets the best of her husband who is a clown. Throwing in old and new tunes, many of them his, they exuded a kind of charm that intrigued audiences and led them to the weekly Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour on CBS. It lasted from 1971 until mid-1974 and propelled them into the hottest couple on television. Together, they were a hit. While critics debated the merits of the show, it consistently drew high ratings.

The show was still going strong when in 1974, Cher announced she was leaving her husband. In a blaze of headlines over their divorce, they charged each other with extramarital affairs and the parting was bitter. Claiming surprise at his ex-wife's unhappiness, Bono dropped out of show business, with the exception of a few guest appearances on television shows. He also married his third wife, model Susie Coelho, in 1982. They were divorced in 1984.

Show Biz Loss, Political Gain

Never one to be idle, Bono sought a new career. In 1983, he opened a restaurant called "Bono" in West Hollywood. There he met a recent University of Southern California graduate, Mary Whitaker, about 25 years his junior. They were married in 1986 and had two children, Chesare and Chianna. After moving to Palm Springs, Bono decided to open another restaurant. According to the New York Times, when he encountered frustrating red tape over his attempt to change the sign on the building, the consummate showman decided on another new career-politics.

As unlikely as it seemed to the world outside Palm Springs, a desert resort city of about 40,000, Bono ran for and won the mayor's election. His well-known face and affable manner may have gotten him the job, but many residents began to think he was good for the town. He donated his mayor's salary one year-$15,000-to an anti-drug campaign, banned skimpy bikinis, and started an international film festival. Although his time in office was not without controversy, he helped erase the city's $2.5 million dollar deficit and successfully promoted tourism.

However, there were many raised eyebrows when Bono decided to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1992. He lost the Republican primary, and the seat was eventually won by Democrat Dianne Feinstein. But in 1994, swept in on a Republican tide, Bono won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He beat his Democratic opponent by winning 56 percent of the vote. According to the New York Times, Bono arrived in Washington D.C. "with the image of a well-heeled but lightweight show-business celebrity. He quickly proved engaging and shrewd, a fairly dutiful legislator and an engaging speaker."

Bono had always taken pride in never having been taken too seriously, and according to the New York Times, he was almost proud of his lack of qualifications. He settled down to work, showed interest in protecting the environment and was according to the New York Times, "the second most popular fundraiser behind House Speaker Newt Gingrich." He was well-liked by his colleagues as a member of the Judiciary and National Security committees. He was re-elected in 1996.

The Accident

Life was looking good for Congressman Bono, now age 62. He had a happy marriage, a job he liked, and the respect of his colleagues. His relationship with ex-wife, Cher had become friendlier, and he was closer to their daughter, Chastity, a gay rights activist, than he had ever been. He was happy with what he had.

Bono, his wife, and their two children, ages nine and seven, went to South Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada line. In the early afternoon of January 5, 1998, Bono left them to ski alone. When he failed to appear after several hours, his wife called the ski patrol. He was found later that evening, having been killed in a skiing accident. He was mourned by political colleagues, family and fans. A few months after his death, Mary Bono won his congressional seat in a special election. In May of 1998, "Sonny & Cher" received a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. CBS also aired a special presentation hosted by Cher entitled "Sonny & Me-Cher Remembers," which provided a nostalgic look at Bono's career.

Shortly after he was elected to Congress in 1994, Bono was asked how he'd like to be remembered. The New York Times shared that Bono, although a little overwhelmed that he was actually there in Washington, D.C., replied, "As someone who is his own man, a maverick and really a person of substance like other people. Not necessarily the brilliant person, but recognize that there is substance there."

Further Reading

Bono, Sonny, And the Beat Goes On, Pocket Books, 1992.

Chicago Tribune, January 7, 1998.

Detroit Free Press, January 6, 1998; January 7, 1998.

New York Times, December 14, 1988; January 7, 1998.

New York Times Magazine, March 29, 1989.

People, March 21, 1988; October 2, 1989; January 19, 1998; May 11, 1998.

Rolling Stone, February 19, 1998.

Time, January 19, 1998.

U.S. News & World Report, December 12, 1994.

"Sonny Bono-Pop Song & Politics," A & E Biography Television Network, 1998. (Rebroadcast, May 22, 1998).

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Biography

Sonny Bono found success in wildly different venues. From the late '60s through the early '70s, he was best known as the driving force in the pop duo Sonny and Cher. He was also an actor, the owner of a small restaurant chain, the longtime mayor of Palm Springs, CA, and a United States Congressman representing California's 44th Congressional District. A first-generation Sicilian-American from Detroit, Bono (born Salvatore Bono) was raised in Los Angeles since early childhood. Though his parents wanted him to be a doctor, Bono had his eye on becoming a performer. In the late '50s, he was hired as a songwriter and singer for Dig Records and had his first hit with "Needles and Pins." When he first teamed up with willowy and exotic-looking teenager Cherilyn Sarkisian, they billed themselves as Caesar and Cleo; later they married and became Sonny and Cher. They had their first successful single with "Baby Don't Go." The two went on to have more major chart success with songs such as "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On." Sonny and Cher also recorded separately and Bono had success with "Laugh at Me." At the peak of their popularity as singers, the duo appeared as themselves in a couple of films with their largest role in Good Times (1967). In 1969, Bono wrote the screenplay and music and produced a vehicle for Cher, Chastity. In the late '60s, Bono saw that the popularity of Sonny and Cher was in decline -- in part because they took a public stand against drugs at a time when illegal drugs were hip -- and reworked their act and began getting nightclub bookings. The new Sonny and Cher act relied heavily on their comical patter in which the diminutive Sonny played the clueless straight man to the tall, cool, hip, and tart-tongued Cher. The act was popular and the two were given a summer variety show on CBS in 1971 that featured much of the writing staff from the recently canceled and controversial Smothers Brothers program. The show became a hit and ran through 1974. By that time the couple had divorced and went on to make unsuccessful bids at solo series before reuniting again with a new version of their show in 1977. Unfortunately, they were unable to capture the magic of their first show and the new show was canceled. In 1975, Bono made his solo debut as an actor in the made-for-TV movie Murder on Flight 502. He subsequently continued the occasional film appearance as an actor through the '80s, and in 1994 made a cameo appearance in the comedy First Kid. In 1982, he opened a restaurant, BONO, in West Hollywood and after it became a hot spot, he opened another in Houston. It too was a success, but he eventually sold them both to open another BONO restaurant in Palm Springs that specialized in authentic Sicilian cuisine based on old family recipes.

In 1988, conservative Republican Bono was elected Mayor of Palm Springs by a landslide and played an integral role in enlarging and rejuvenating the popular desert resort community. Interestingly, up until a year before the election, Bono had never been a registered voter. The Palm Springs International Film Festival was one of many community events he helped launch. Despite his contributions to Palm Springs, critics questioned his income, which was allegedly higher after becoming the mayor than it was when he was a businessman. Bono rose above the allegations and remained popular. He made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1991. However, in 1994, he successfully ran for Congress where, in addition to his legislative duties, he was appointed by the Speaker of the House to chair the Entertainment Industry Task Force. As a conservative, Bono was known for being outspoken and even blunt in his assessment of policies and issues. That he tempered his views, which included a stand against the National Endowment for the Arts and same sex marriages (this despite the fact that his first daughter Chastity is a lesbian activist), with humor did little to soften their impact. On the other hand, as tough as he was on issues, Bono was also known for his generosity and kindness. Supporters wondered whether or not he was planning to run for the California Senate in 1998, but Bono said that he wouldn't as he wanted to spend more time with his third wife, Mary, and their two children. Sonny Bono died on January 5, 1997, during a ski outing near Lake Tahoe, NV. Though reportedly an expert downhill skier, he apparently strayed from the trail and struck a tree. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Biography

Sonny Bono ranked as one of pop-rock's most visible and famous musician/producers of the mid- to late '60s; and in the '70s, he was one of the very few successful musical-variety personalities on American television. His work and career straddled the eras of Brill Building pop, the British Invasion, and folk-rock, right through to 1970s pop. His talent and keen sense of where popular culture was heading sent him and his partner and wife Cher into the birth of the counterculture and through to a post-rock career in Las Vegas and onto television. And, in a final, ironic act of reinvention, Sonny Bono became one of the symbols of the 1994 republican revolution in Congress and an exponent of right wing politics.

Salvatore Bono was born to an impoverished family of Sicilian immigrants in Detroit. Sonny Bono, as he came to be known, was a poor student and left high school well before graduating in order to earn a living. He survived by waiting tables, working in construction and as a butcher's assistant, and driving a truck, and he eventually moved west to Los Angeles. He also began writing songs in his spare time, as he sought a way into the entertainment industry. His entrée came through Art Rupe's Specialty Records, where he was hired in the late '50s by the promotion department, and where he worked with Little Richard, Larry Williams, Don & Dewey, and, briefly, Sam Cooke, among others.

During the early '60s, he began hanging around Gold Star Studios, where wunderkind producer Phil Spector was holding forth. Bono became a protégé of Spector, learning the business of making records from the ground up, and also refining and developing his approach to songwriting. He'd initially found success with the generic "High School Dance," which was recorded by Larry Williams as the B-side to "Short Fat Fanny," and soon grabbed a chunk of the British Invasion action with "Needles and Pins," which he co-authored with fellow Spector protégé Jack Nitzsche. The latter song was first recorded in 1963 by Jackie DeShannon, whose rendition was heard by Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers, a British band that had yet to score their first hit, who added it to their stage repertory at the Star-Club in Hamburg, where it was heard by the Searchers, who were looking for a potential third single. The Searchers, in turn, completely reinvented the song from the ground up, with a version that hit number one in England and made the Top 20 in America -- in the process, they also came up with a riff and a sound that became the blueprint for the folk-rock boom initiated by the Byrds in 1965. Bono, in the meantime, had made the acquaintance of Cherilyn LaPierre, 11 years his junior, and brought her to Gold Star as a session singer. His first marriage, to Donna Rankin, ended in divorce soon after Bono's meeting LaPierre.

The two were attracted to each other, both personally and professionally -- they both loved music end enjoyed figuring out how to make music work, technically and commercially, and they began recording together, initially as Caesar and Cleo in 1963 with "The Letter," a song that Bono had previously promoted in a recorded version by Don & Dewey. That single flopped, but they kept trying with his protégée as a solo (credited as Bonnie Jo Mason and later as Cher) with the Liberty Records' imprint Imperial Records (with Bono producing) and as a duo, Sonny & Cher. Bono struck gold as a songwriter in 1965 with "I Got You Babe," and for the next three years, he and the duo were riding high. What's more, Sonny Bono, for the first of many times, invented a public persona for himself that made him into a media star -- the diminutive composer/producer/singer, already past 30, started sporting fur vests, boots, and hair nearly down to his shoulders, transforming himself into the prototypal hippie, in media terms. That image, in turn, slotted in perfectly next to Cher, who was tall, dark, and mysterious, with hair that might've made Rapunzel give a second look. They were the quintessential young '60s couple, youthful enough (despite Bono's age) to resonate with teenagers, and they were on the cutting edge of pop/rock. The same year that Bono's own "I Got You Babe" became a 1960s theme song, he proved that he could even get ahead of the curve in the field of folk-rock as a producer -- Sonny & Cher had heard the Byrds do an electric version of Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do" at a club, and with Bono producing, had cut a version with Cher singing; her version outsold and eclipsed the Byrds' own rendition and also pushed Dylan, as a songwriter, further into the public spotlight than he already was. Over the next two-and-a-half years, the couple thrived professionally and Bono blossomed as a songwriter. Beyond pop hits like "I Got You Babe," he also generated songs on what were then considered difficult subjects, such as teenage pregnancy and divorce. Another Bono song, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," became a million-seller as well, and he seemed to have the world at his feet. By 1967, Sonny Bono was a rival to such producer/composer/musicians as John Phillips and Phil Spector -- both of whom, like Bono, had become star producers in tandem with the talents and attributes of their wives -- and was more visible than either of them. The sound on Sonny & Cher's records was distinct, with unusual (and memorable) instrumentation and timbres that made them stand out on the radio, and when the material itself clicked, it stuck. When it didn't, however, the public tended to be oblivious -- at the height of Sonny & Cher's career, for example, he cut a solo album, Inner Views, that disappeared without a trace of its passing. In 1967, however, Sonny & Cher could do little wrong, at least when the year started. The year 1967 was when things started unraveling for Sonny Bono.

The duo was popular enough to generate interest from movie studios. Bono wrote their debut feature, Good Times, a fast-paced, knowing satire that also marked the directorial debut of William Friedkin and is regarded today as a delightful, daringly ambitious piece of popular '60s cinema. During the 1960s, however, it was a box office disaster. More troubling were the events surrounding the shift of Cher's contract from Liberty to Atlantic Records late in the same year. Atlantic's management had always resented the fact that Bono had brought Cher to Liberty as a solo artist and had produced her records there; once she was on Atlantic, the latter label refused to let Sonny Bono produce her new records. At the same time, the duo's record sales had dropped considerably as psychedelia succeeded folk-rock and pop/rock as the focus of popular culture. Sonny & Cher seemed outmoded in the new, druggy musical environment, and suddenly, Sonny Bono seemed behind-the-curve for the first time in his music career. The presentation of a bill from the Internal Revenue Service for over 200,000 dollars in unpaid taxes left the duo, by now with a child and married, nearly broke as the decade closed.

Rescue of his career came when he and Cher played Las Vegas, initially as an opening act. They landed a contract with Decca Records and a chance at a variety show on CBS, and by 1972, they were back as television stars and top entertainers. For the second time, Sonny Bono reinvented himself -- now Sonny & Cher were a modern version of George Burns and Gracie Allen, with Bono as the straight man -- gone were the fur vests and boots, instead he was a diminutive foil to Cher's sexually provocative comedienne. And the music wasn't pop/rock anymore, but mainstream pop, aimed as much at parents as teenagers, and Bono wasn't writing or producing it. From 1972 onward, it was Cher's voice that was the focus of the duo's work and her solo career the main thrust of most of the recording that went on around the couple. Their on-screen chemistry hid the fact that their marriage was coming apart; by 1974, however, their split had become public knowledge and with it the end of their television show.

It was Cher who came out of the split with the entertainment career. His attempt at a television variety show was a dismal failure, and by the end of the decade, Bono had ceased working as an entertainer, and he next emerged before the public in 1988, in a totally unexpected way. Bono by then was the owner of an Italian restaurant in Palm Springs, CA, and was infuriated by the tangle of permits that he found he'd needed from the city while trying to put a new sign up on his establishment. As a result, he ran for mayor and won. He served a four-year term and then, in 1992, decided to run for the United States Senate as a Republican. Bono lost that race but two years later was swept into office as a congressman from the 44th district in California. He became part of Newt Gingrich's Republican revolution in Congress and was highly visible in espousing conservative positions on crime and environmental legislation, as well as (understandably) entertainment law.

He seemed destined for a serious career in politics when he died in a skiing accident early in 1998. During the final 15 years of his life, Bono was far removed from music, apart from handling business affairs relating to his and Cher's work in the 1960s and 1970s; this, coupled with his somewhat comically nebbish-like image during the couple's early-'70s re-emergence, combined with his newly public conservative political career, led to some derision of him among pundits and in modern entertainment circles. His death, by contrast, led to a media feeding-frenzy that was as ludicrous in its intensity as the earlier denigration of his work had been. During the year 2000, reflecting the restored interest in Bono's music career, Rhino Records released a CD of Inner Views through its esoteric Rhino-Handmade imprint. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

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