In a long career starting its fifth decade, Cher has reinvented herself several times, from a young teen-idol and sexsymbol to a wise talented woman. She dropped out of school and left home at 16, moving to Hollywood to be an actress. In 1963 she sang in sessions for producer Phil Spector where she met Sonny Bono. Her musical and romantic partnership with Bono lasted until 1975.

After their bitter split Cher hosted her own TV variety show, which lasted one year. She had been having an affair with record producer David Geffen, but married guitarist Gregg Allman five days after her divorce from Bono. That 1975 marriage produced a son, Elijah Blue, and an album, the critically reviled Allman and Woman, but the couple divorced in 1979. Cher became famous for her relationships with younger rockers, including a late-Seventies romance with Kiss' Gene Simmons and an early-Nineties relationship with Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora.