Cher: The Memoir: Part One

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of addiction, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and cursing.

“Even though Elvis was dressed quite traditionally that Sunday night, he looked and moved differently than any performer I’d ever seen. He began by singing ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ and by the time he broke into ‘Love Me Tender,’ I felt as if he were singing only to me. I wanted to jump right into the screen and be Elvis.”

Cher’s early love of music was encouraged by Elvis Presley’s revolutionary performance and style, which she had the opportunity to see in concert with her mother. This quotation illustrates The Ever-Changing Landscape of Popular Culture as she discusses how audiences were hungry for new forms of musical style and expression. Her admission that she wanted to “be Elvis” foreshadows her eventual fame as a musical artist in her own right.

“The moment Roy saw that his five-year old child with the voice of a blues singer could turn him a profit, he declared her the breadwinner. On a good night, people would throw so many nickels that when she stuffed them into her pockets the weight almost pulled down her pants.”

Cher explains how her mother, Jackie Jean (Georgia), became the provider for her impoverished family at only five years old. This passage reveals how musical talent runs in Cher’s family, as her mother and grandfather Roy both had beautiful singing voices. This quotation also begins to establish her theme of Resilience in the Face of Adversity. She explains how her mother endured a difficult childhood since her father pressured her to work toward stardom and wealth.

“All she could do was go to the children’s home each week and demand to see me. The sight of my little face through the viewing window broke her heart.”

Cher reflects on how her mother had to provide for herself and beg for custody of her child after her husband Johnnie abandoned her and Cher. With baby Cher in a Catholic children’s home, Jackie Jean could only visit her occasionally, and the nuns encouraged her to give Cher up for adoption.