Cher: Strong Enough

by Josiah Howard

Fifty years and 100 million album sales after first appearing on the music scene as one half of pop duo "Sonny and Cher," the Academy Award–winning singer and actress is an authentic American icon. Throughout Cher’s astonishing career — which has encompassed televisual triumphs, a string of international hit singles, sell-out tours, an Oscar statuette for Moonstruck, and a Las Vegas residency — her personal life has continually made front (and back) page news. In the shadow of her success, Cher has been linked with many high-profile men, married and divorced twice (the second time to rock superstar Gregg Allman), battled with depression, defied network censors, and dealt with the tragedy of Sonny Bono’s early death. Including exclusive interviews with Cher and those she has worked with on- and off-stage, Strong Enough documents the ins and outs and ups and downs of a one-name American icon — Cher — at her outrageous best.

Genres: Biography

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 2012

Reviews

[Terri Durling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed in this book about a woman I have always found to be intriguing from when she first burst on the scene as part of "Sonny and Cher", to her Oscar winning performances and surviving life in the fast lane. She was a true star of her time and made her mark on television, both on the Sunny and Cher show and then on her own show. She was a style icon with Bob Mackie designing some of the most revealing and exotic costumes of the time that suited her perfectly. Her voice and look was very unique and no one has ever been able to emulate that. She had an interesting personal life as well. The book is very detailed but mostly about the television shows she appeared in, both with husband, Sunny and on her own. It is in fact too detailed and I found myself skipping over a lot of that which even used excerpts of the script lines for her and guest stars in the television shows. It failed to give me more of who Cher really was and that was what I was looking for. If you are only interested in her television shows, you might like it but definitely was not what I had hoped for or expected.

[Demetra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 ⭐️

The majority of this book covers Cher’s life through the years 1974-5, during which her variety show “Cher” taped and aired. It covers every episode (all 29 of them!) in rather impressive detail—but not all of it was necessary. I am a woman in my 20s who was not alive when “Cher” was aired, so generally speaking, I appreciated the close examination of this piece of American television history.

I sought out to learn more about Cher because I have loved her for almost as long as I’ve been alive, but I’ve always wished that I knew much about her. This book does not lend itself naturally to giving a comprehensive look into Cher as she navigated her young womanhood and stardom. However, it offers a lot of interesting insights from herself, as well as the people in her life, at the times of narrative importance. With what information there is, the reader can put together the pieces of information and paint the picture of who she was then and is today.

This book celebrates her successes as the cultural, musical, and fashion icon and vocal powerhouse that she has been for decades. As it should! The author also describes the struggles and failures she has faced in her personal and professional lives, but in often fleeting paragraphs. This book is more of a magnified view into Cher as a budding television personality in “Cher,” which I believe should be interesting for those that wish to know more about that very specific era of her life!