Cher - Legacy

Legacy

Cher's enduring success in various areas of entertainment earned her the nickname "Goddess of Pop". Phill Marder from Goldmine called her " superstar of the highest order" who "has been and remains today one of the Rock Era's most dominant figures". He also stated that "no female has represented Rock & Roll with her music, appearance and attitude more than Cher." She was credited by Chicago Tribune as "the person who paved the way for Madonna, Lady Gaga and many more." Biographer Mark Bego wrote, "No one in the history of show business has had a career of the magnitude and scope of Cher's. She has been a teenage pop star, a television hostess, a fashion magazine model, a rock star, a pop singer, a Broadway actress, an Academy Award-winning movie star, a disco sensation, and the subject of a mountain of press coverage." Cher was crowned the "World's Number One Pop Icon" by AEG Live. In a 2001 poll, A&E's Biography magazine ranked her as the third favorite leading actress of all time behind Audrey Hepburn and Katharine Hepburn. In 2010, she ranked 44th on the "75 Greatest Women of All Time" list compiled by Esquire magazine. She was also featured on the "100 Greatest Movie Stars of our Time" list compiled by People. She was honored with special awards from World Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards for her "lifelong contribution to the music industry" and for having "helped redefine popular music through success on the Billboard charts", respectively. Although Cher's regular exposure on television in the 1970s allowed people to see and hear her without having to buy her records, she has sold over 100 million solo albums worldwide. She is the only person in history to receive an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Throughout her career Cher has repeatedly reinvented herself through a series of "whole new" personas, for which she was called "the ultimate pop chameleon" by professor Richard Aquila from Ball State University. According to author Lucy O'Brien, "Cher adheres to the American Dream of reinvention of self: 'Getting old does not have to mean getting obsolete.'" Marder wrote that "rom top to bottom, Cher was the prototype of the female rock star, setting the standard for appearance, from her early hippie days to her later outlandish outfits, and her attitude—the perfect female punk long before punk even was a rock term." He agreed that, with her "schticky as near dominatrix" over partner Sonny Bono and her stage costumes, she led the way to advance feminine rebellion in the rock world, with contemporaries Marianne Faithfull and Nancy Sinatra being her followers. O'Brien, in her book She Bop II: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul, discussed Cher's late-1980s rock persona: "The Queen of 1980s Rock Chicks had to be Cher ... With her cascading hair, rear-end tattoo, fish-net stockings, black leather jackets and well-publicized romances with young heavy metal heroes ... it was as if she was playing the role of rock star." Author Craig Crawford called Cher "a model of flexible career management" and claimed that her "many and varied career victories" were based on constantly reshaping her image according to the evolving demands of cultural marketplace. According to him, she billed "each dramatic turnaround of style as another example of rebellion—an image that allowed her to make calculated changes while appearing to be consistent." Cher herself has stated, "This is my life—and I get to do everything I want to do. I don't really care what anybody thinks."

Cher's use of shocking imagery has extended her legacy to fashion. In May 1999, after she was honored by the Council of Fashion Designers of America with a special award for her influence in fashion, Robin Givhan of Los Angeles Times called her a "fashion visionary" for "striking just the right note of contemporary wretched excess". Givhan cited Tom Ford, Anna Sui and Dolce & Gabbana as "nfluential designers have evoked her name as a source of inspiration and guidance." She concluded that "Cher's Native American showgirl sexpot persona now seems to epitomize the fashion industry's rush to celebrate ethnicity, adornment and sex appeal." Los Angeles Times fashion critic Booth Moore wrote that "they don't make style icons like Cher anymore. From the beginning of her career ... she understood that cultivating a look was as important as cultivating a sound ... She was the world's Barbie doll, a living fashion fantasy week after week on TV, who landed simultaneously on best—and worst—dressed lists. Love her or hate her, she always keeps us guessing." Cher's 1988 Oscar win, according to biographer Connie Berman, signaled an important change in Hollywood. He wrote, "Not only did Cher appear in a negligeelike outfit, but she also danced onstage—and was applauded for her daring." As Douglas Brode wrote in his book The Films of the Eighties, "In the early eighties, her personal style and off-camera antics may have been too much to accept ... But by decade's end, the old guard had passed and the hip new Hollywood perceived in Cher—see-through, bare-nearly-all outfits, frizzed hair, frankly stated and unbleeped opinions—a person quite appropriate to them."

"eople don't simply 'like' Cher. More than 40 years of show business success make crystal clear that she is, and has always been, much more than merely 'liked.' Cher is that rare entertainment industry icon that defies classification. Continually referenced, adored, and examined, she belongs in the exclusive pantheon of performers who have not only outdistanced all of their contemporaries, but have, decade in and decade out, stubbornly navigated the transient whims of public taste and carved a permanent place for themselves in the hearts and minds of cinema, television, music and pop culture enthusiasts everywhere."

Cher's career longevity has been long the subject of analysis by critics. Record producer David Geffen declared Cher "the proverbial cat with nine lives" and stated that she remains "as relevant today as she was ... in the sixties." Bego called her "an acknowledged pillar of self-determination" who, despite being not the "most talented actress" nor "the most gifted vocalist", has builded a career of strength, longevity and "true 'superstar' status" based "as much on her unpredictability as upon her talents". According to author Nicholas E. Tawa, "Cher was determined to be a number-one singer and actress, and she achieved both ... Hers was a huge, if neon-lit personality that filled every stage she sang upon. Her followers were legion." Berman wrote that "Cher's life has been one of drama and inspiration as she rose from an often impoverished and disrupted childhood to stardom. No film Cher might ever star in could possibly be as fascinating as her own life story" Ms. magazine called her "an authentic feminist hero" and The New York Times proclaimed her the "Queen of the Comeback". Her "integrity" and "perseverance" were highlighted in the Reaching Your Goals book series of illustrated inspirational readers for children, in which her life was detailed emphasizing the importance of self-actualization: "For years, Cher worked hard to become a successful singer. Then she worked hard to become an actress. Even when she needed money, she turned down movie roles that weren't right for her. Her goal has always been to be a good actress, not just a rich and famous one." Cher's 1998 dance music comeback inspired veteran recording artists such as Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and Tina Turner, who tried to emulate her new sound and replicate its success. For her part, Cher has stated, "I feel like a bumper car. If I hit a wall, I'm backing up and going in another direction. And I've hit plenty of fucking walls in my career. But I'm not stopping. I think maybe that's my best quality: I just don't stop."