Cher... Special

Cher (born May 20, 1946) is an American entertainer who has influenced popular culture across music, film, television, fashion and activism throughout a career spanning more than six decades. She first reached global audiences as one half of the folk rock duo Sonny & Cher, whose 1965 single "I Got You Babe" became an emblem of the 1960s counterculture. She is the only solo artist to top the US Billboard singles charts in seven consecutive decades and the only performer to hold both an Academy Award for acting and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Widely referred to as the "Goddess of Pop", Cher has been credited by critics with establishing a template of theatrical, provocative, genre-fluid female pop performance, and her elaborate concert productions have influenced stadium-scale pop touring. Ryan Murphy said "it was Cher who turned transformation into an art form", adding that without her, "there might be no Madonna as we know her, no Prince, either". Cher's early solo songs address subjects then largely absent from American popular music, including divorce, prostitution and racism; Billboard has credited her with developing an androgynous musical identity that predated and informed the work of David Bowie and Patti Smith. Cher has achieved successive returns to commercial prominence through repeated reinvention. Her music video for the 1980 disco single "Hell on Wheels" has been cited as a precursor to the modern music video, and her music video for the 1989 hair metal single "If I Could Turn Back Time"—filmed aboard the battleship USS Missouri—was the first music video banned by MTV. Her 1998 dance album Believe and its title track introduced the stylized use of Auto-Tune, later known as the "Cher effect" and adopted across pop, hip hop and electronic music. Contemporary artists who have cited Cher as an influence include Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Kanye West. In television, Cher became a fixture of the variety show format: The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971–1974) drew more than 30 million weekly viewers, with her playing the deadpan comedic lead to Sonny Bono's foil, a role reversal critics have credited with shifting how women were positioned in television comedy; her solo follow-up Cher (1975–1976) hosted David Bowie's American television debut, and Billboard credited Cher with bringing "a rock sensibility to prime-time television". She transitioned to film in the 1980s, winning the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Mask (1985) and the Academy Award for Best Actress for Moonstruck (1987); her roles, often portraying independent, self-made women, mirror her public image. Professor Yvonne Tasker has cited her leading-actress career past age 40 as challenging industry norms privileging female youth. Following Cher's Academy Award win in 1988, Ms. magazine named her a defining feminist figure of the decade, and her 1996 retort "Mom, I am a rich man" endures as a feminist statement. Cher is a fashion icon whos