Chart entered : 12 August 1965
Chart peak : 1
Number of hits : Sonny 10, Cher 31 ( 9 together )
Like , I suspect, many Brits of my age I first came across these two as cartoon characters on Scooby Doo ( the same is true of the un-qualifying Mamas And Papas and that series was running on BBC1 when Mama Cass died in 1974 ).
Salvatore Bono was already 30 and a veteran of the music business almost from the dawn of rock and roll. He worked at Specialty Records in the late fifties with artists like Larry Williams , Wynona Carr and Don and Dewey and got a number of his songs recorded though usually on the B-sides. He used a number of pseudonyms such as Sonny or Don Christy and Ronnie Summers. In the latter guise he made his first single "Salt and Pepper" for Radio Records in 1959 , a flimsy Elvis rip-off. A few months later he tried again as Don Christy on Specialty with "One Little Answer" and then "Wearing Black" for Fidelity in 1960. After "I'll Change" in 1962 he went off to work for Phil Spector as a drummer and general studio hand. That same year he met the 16-year old Cherilyn Sarkisian who became his housekeeper and lover. He introduced her to Spector who found a use for her deep booming voice on hits like the Ronettes' Be My Baby. Sonny then scored a big hit as co-writer ( with Jack Nitzsche of Needles And Pins ) a moderate hit in the States for Jackie De Shannon and a UK number one for The Searchers.
Cher's first single was released as Bonnie Jo Mason, a Beatles tribute record "Ringo I Love You" . It's an amusing pastiche of the Beatles' early sound and its release is shrouded in mystery as it was fairly quickly withdrawn. Some sources suggest that they were messing around after hours and Spector threatened to fire them but then he's down as one of the co-writers. Their first single as a duo ( then calling themselves Caesar and Cleo ) was "The Letter" an old Don and Dewey number produced by Sonny. Perhaps conscious of his age Sonny didn't want to perform himself any more but Cher persuaded him that it would help conquer her stage fright . The single is a difficult listen ; both of them sound too close to the mike and both sax and drums are far too loud. It's a relief that it's barely two minutes long. Their version of "Do You Want To Dance" is worse; neither of them are in tune and the whole thing sounds like it was knocked up in five minutes flat.
The first single as Sonny and Cher was "Baby Don't Go" in October 1964, the same month as their not totally legit marriage. It became their second hit on re-release, possibly the first time an earlier flop was resurrected and became a hit second time round.
In December 1964 Cher ( as Cherilyn ) released her second solo single "Dream Baby" written and produced by Sonny. It's excruciating; Sonny tries to out-Spector his boss with an over the top production , Christmas bells and all , that still can't disguise his wife's wretched singing, both out of tune and out of time. The result is a discordant din that has one reaching for the paracetamols.
The last Sonny and Cher single before this one was another Sonny composition "Just You" released in April 1965. Some welcome restraint has crept into their music and Cher's vocals are tolerable although the song veers dangerously close to Baby I Love You in places.
The Popular link is here Sonny and Cher
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