Sonny Bono Biography
Salvatore Phillip Bono, 16 February 1935, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 5 January 1998, Lake Tahoe, California, USA. Although primarily associated with the 60s folk rock boom, Bono's career began the previous decade as director of A&R at Specialty Records. He co-wrote "She Said Yeah" for Larry Williams, later covered by the Rolling Stones, and penned "KoKo Joe" for Don & Dewey. Bono also pursued an unsuccessful recording career with the first of several singles bearing numerous aliases, including Don Christy ("Wearing Black"), Sonny Christy and Ronny Sommers ("Don't Shake My Tree (Mama)"), and set-up the ill-fated Rush label. In 1963 he came under the aegis of producer Phil Spector at the Philles label, working as a PR man and studio assistant at the Goldstar Studios, but achieved greater fame when "Needles And Pins", a collaboration with Spector's engineer Jack Nitzsche, was successfully recorded by Jackie DeShannon and, in 1964, the Searchers. By this time Bono had met and become romantically attached to Cherilyn Sarkisian La Pierre, better known as Cher. Her fledgling career as a Goldstar session singer was subsequently augmented by their work as a duo, firstly as Caesar & Cleo, then Sonny And Cher. In 1965 the couple enjoyed an international smash with "I Got You Babe", written, arranged and produced by Bono, who resurrected solo ambitions in the wake of its success. Although "Laugh At Me" reached the Top 10 in the US and UK, "The Revolution Kind", Bono's disavowal of the counter-culture, failed to emulate this feat. Bono's lone album, Inner Views, was an artistic and commercial disaster and he subsequently abandoned solo recordings. A brief resurgence as MOR entertainers in the 70s brought Sonny & Cher their own television series, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. They ended their personal partnership in 1974, with Bono briefly hosting his own Sonny Comedy Revue. He later concentrated on an acting career, with regular appearances on television and in several films, notably Hairspray (1988). A registered Republican, he was voted mayor of Palm Springs, California in 1988, the day after his ex-wife won an Oscar for her role in Moonstruck. In 1991 he attempted to run for the US Senate seat in California, losing in the Republican primary, but in 1994 won the House of Representatives seat representing Palm Springs. He was re-elected in 1996, but was killed two years later in a skiing accident in South Lake Tahoe, California.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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