Sonny Bono

Sonny Bono (approx. 1994)

Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (born February 16, 1935 in Detroit , †  January 5, 1998 in South Lake Tahoe ) was an American singer , actor and politician .

Life

Bono began his musical career in the late 1950s when he was working as a songwriter, producer and A&R manager at Specialty Records to take care of their current star, Larry Williams . At the beginning of the 1960s he worked with producer Phil Spector .

He became commercially successful from 1965 with his then wife Cher as the duo Sonny and Cher . Bono wrote, arranged and produced a number of hits including I Got You, Babe and The Beat Goes On . Sonny and Cher had their own popular television show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour , between 1971 and 1974 . The two have a child, Chastity Sun Bono . In 1974 the two separated and engaged in a public war of divorce. On June 26, 1975, the two were finally divorced.

Sonny continued his acting career. He was married twice, first to Susie Coelho and from 1986 to Mary Whitaker , with whom he had two children, Chesare Elan Bono and Chianna Marie Bono.

After struggling with local authorities when trying to open a restaurant, Bono stepped onto the political stage. He became Mayor of Palm Springs , California. During his tenure, he founded the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, which takes place annually. As a Republican , Bono ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1992 , but won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1994 . A law he supported to extend copyright protection in the US was posthumously named after him ( Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act ).

Bono's grave in Desert Memorial Park Cemetery in Cathedral City

Sonny Bono died in 1998 as a result of a skiing accident. His widow Mary took his place in Congress and served until 2013. Bono was buried in Cathedral City , where Frank Sinatra found his final resting place a little later . Cher also gave a funeral speech there . On his gravestone you can read: "And The Beat Goes On".

According to his former wife Cher, Sonny Bono is said to have been a Scientologist .

Discography

For publications with Sonny and Cher see here .

Albums

• 1967: Inner Views
• 1969: Chastity OST

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		US
1965	Laugh At Me	US10 (10 weeks) US
	The Revolution child	US70 (4 weeks) US

More singles

• 1964: Midnight Surf
• 1965: I'll Change

literature

• Sonny Bono: And the beat goes on. Pocket Books, New York 1991, ISBN 0-671-69366-2 .

Web links

Commons : Sonny Bono  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sonny Bono in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Sonny Bono in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sonny and Cher's divorce becomes final on history.com, accessed November 23, 2013.
2. ^ Eulogy for Sonny Bono on americanrhetoric.com, accessed February 16, 2011 (English).
3. ↑ Surprising Celebrity Scientologist # 1: Sonny Bono on zimbio.com, accessed November 23, 2013.
4. ↑ Chart sources: US