Cheryl Sarkisian LaPiere ( Cher) was born on May
20, 1946, and Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was born on
February 16, 1935, and died of injuries after striking a tree while
skiing on the Nevada side of the Heavenly Ski Resort that was near South
Lake Tahoe, California, on January 5, 1998. Sonny and Cher first met in
a coffee shop in LA while Sonny was working with the ledgendary Phil
Spector. Cher eventually got to sing back-up on several of Spectors
classic recordings, including the monumental "Be My Baby" by
the Ronettes. Sonny and Chers first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar
and Cleo". They received little attention. They later re-emerged as
"Sonny and Cher", and released "I Got You Babe" in
1965. In their career (1964-1975) Sonny & Cher had sold 80 million
records worldwide. Sonny was laid to rest at Desert Memorial Park in
nearby Cathedral City, California. The epitaph on Bono's headstone
reads: "And The Beat Goes On."
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