The pop icon recently rocked the Billboard Music Awards with some of her greatest hits
POP legend Cher has still got it even at 71 years old.
The star wowed the audience at the Billboard Music Awards with a crowd-pleasing performance of two huge hits, Believe and If I Could Turn Back Time, looking and sounding as amazing as ever, before receiving a prestigious Icon Award, recognising her epic career.
Here’s all you need to know about the living legend.
Cher is an enormously successful recording artist and icon of 1980’s and 1990’s pop-rock music. Her songs have hit no. 1 in over 20 countries and her music is still beloved by listeners old and young.
She was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in 1946 to an Armenian-American father, John, and model and actress mum Georgia Holt.
After her parents divorced, Cher moved to California with mum Georgia, who was playing small roles in TV series. Her mother managed to land the star some small roles, but Cher never thought she would be famous. She later said: “I couldn’t think of anything that I could do … I didn’t think I’d be a singer or dancer. I just thought, well, I’ll be famous. That was my goal.”
Fortunately, Cher did have her singing talent to make her famous, and was a staple of popular music for decades, switching between genres to make her music successful with a massive audience.
As well as an iconic singer, Cher is an acclaimed actress. She was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for 1984 film Silkwood, then in 1988 won Best Actress for her main role in Moonstruck.
She has two sons: Chaz, by first husband Sonny Bono, and Elijah Blue, by Gregg Allman.
Cher has sold over 100 million records over her 53 year career, and is best known for huge hits like Believe, If I Could Turn Back Time, Gypsies Tramps & Thieves, and the Shoop Shoop Song.
1998 hit Believe was a huge club smash, and was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Dance Recording, winning the latter.
But the pop diva actually HATES a lot of her best-known music. She revealed: “I’m not a Cher fan.
“I just don’t think my aesthetic taste lies in that direction.”
She branded 1998 smash Believe — No 1 in 23 countries — "a nightmare" and said she stormed out of the recording studio.
She dismissed 1995 album It's A Man's World — which included her hit Walking In Memphis — as "crap", adding: "I didn't like any of it."
Cher said she wanted to make songs like Joni Mitchell but since the 1970s had been given ones she didn’t like.
She once fought her label’s bid to make a dance album until chief Rob Dickins told her: "I'm going to send you some songs. When you like them, tell me."
She also blasted her hits Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves, Half-Breed and Dark Lady.
But Cher reckons 1989's If I Could Turn Back Time was "OK", adding: "By that time, I figured out I wasn’t going to be the Eagles."
Cher wowed audiences with her joyful performance at the Billboard Music Awards, wearing a silver dress that featured diamante bands which barely covered her breasts and her crotch.
Underneath the raunchy gown, she wore nipple pasties and fishnet tights to preserve her modesty.
She then delighted fans when she changed into a throwback black one-piece for If I Could Turn Back Time that looked just like the one she wore when the single was first released in 1989.
He said: "At what point do Cher's outfits become inappropriate? She's 70."
Co-host Susanna Reid said: "Oh yes because you have a cut off don't you? What is it… 59?"
Piers clarified it was 56, before highlighting Cher's silver outfit, which made it look like the singer was not wearing a bra. Piers said: "That one in particular, come on Cher for goodness sake love."
But Kate Garraway, who was sitting on the other side of the 52-year-old, replied: "She's on stage! It's not like she's in the supermarket, it's different rules surely?"
Never one to back down, Piers continued: "She's a grandmother, it's like for goodness sake put it away, grow old gracefully, put them away."
Cher is worth an estimated $320 million, equivalent to just under £250 million.
She is believed to earn roughly $28 million a year, and owns a $45 million Malibu mansion as well as other properties. Her old home in Venice Beach, California, recently sold for $1.8 million.
As one of the highest selling recording artists of all time, and as Oscar winning actress, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that Cher is well-off.
Sonny and Cher were married from 1964-1975. After that marriage, Cher went on to marry Gregg Allman, a musician, but divorced him in 1979.
Sonny and Cher met in 1962, when she was 16 years old and he was 27 – 11 years her senior. Sonny was working for a record producer and brought Cher in as a backing singer before they started performing together.
Their marriage was reported in 1964, however in his biography Sonny says this was never an official legal marriage until their son Chaz was born in 1969.
After a string of hits like I Got You Babe and The Beat Goes On, they ended up doing a variety show together on US TV. However the show fell apart during their very public divorce in 1975.