CHER: If You Believe

Someone once joked that after a nuclear holocaust, the only living creatures will be cockroaches and Cher. Cherlyn Sarkisian Bono Allman (aka Cher) has certainly demonstrated her survival instincts with career successes that range from hit songs in the 1960s through her first Grammy Award in 1999. Along the way, the outrageous chameleon defied nay-sayers by moving fluidly and successfully between a recording career (she and Aretha Franklin are the only women to have a top-10 hit in each of the last four decades) and film work (winning an Oscar for 1987's Moonstruck; a Golden Globe for 1983's Silkwood; and a Cannes Film Festival Award for 1985's Mask), with brief forays on Broadway (Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) and in print (her exercise book, Forever Fit). The prolific Bego (who co-authored Dancing in the Streets with Martha Reeves and I'm a Believer with Mickey Dolenz) has assembled a fast-paced and knowledgeable tribute, which, while admiring of the diva, isn't afraid to broach such subjects as plastic surgery. Fans will find a lot more meat here than they did in the diva's own scattershot quasi-memoir, The First Time. Along with the lively writing, Bego offers fans a comprehensive Cher almanac at the back of the book—a filmography and discography; the credits for the Sonny & Cher Show; awards; memorable lines from her films; and even a "Boyfriendography" listing all the men she dated between 1962 and 1991. The Supremes' Mary Wilson provides the book's introduction. Photos. Agent, Sasha Goodman.(Sept. 15)