In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher were nominated for two Grammy Awards and sold over 40 million records worldwide.

[5] Performing under her first name, Cher went on to a highly successful career as a solo singer and actress, while Sonny Bono was eventually elected to Congress as a Republican U.S. Representative from California.

Cherilyn Sarkisian first met Salvatore Bono in a Los Angeles coffee shop in November 1962,[6] when she was sixteen.

[7] Eleven years her senior,[8] Bono was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood.

[9] With Bono continuing to write, arrange and produce the songs, the couple's first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar and Cleo".

During their two weeks in Britain, Sonny & Cher primarily appeared on British television and radio, but they also performed at the 100 Club in central London on August 5.

On their first album Bono also displayed his political interest long before running for Congress in the lyrics of the song, "The Revolution Kind".

As the followup to the success of Look at Us, they released their second studio album in April 1966, The Wondrous World of Sonny & Chér, which peaked at number 34.

[citation needed] During 1965, five of their songs were in US Billboard Top 20, a record passed only by Elvis Presley and behind famous artists like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and others.

Periodic solo releases by Cher continued during this period, including major successes with "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", and Burt Bacharach & Hal David's theme from "Alfie" (as heard in the motion picture Alfie, as well as a single release), both in 1966.

[18] After Good Times flopped in 1968, Columbia Pictures immediately sold rights to their intended follow-up film Speedway to MGM.

While success was slow to come, their luck improved when network TV talent scouts attended a show, noting their potential appeal for a variety series.

[22] In 1970, Sonny and Cher starred in their first television special, The Nitty Gritty Hour,[23] a mixture of slapstick comedy, skits, and live music.

[24] The show received 15 Emmy Award nominations during its run, winning one for direction,[25] throughout its initial four seasons on CBS.

[26] Sonny and Cher's dialogues were patterned after the successful nightclub routines of Louis Prima and Keely Smith: the happy-go-lucky husband squelched by a tart remark from the unamused wife.

Around this time, Cher had become a major star on her own, due in part of the success of the singles "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves" and "Half-Breed", both of which reached number one on the pop charts.

Critics predicted that Bono would be the big winner with a solo comedy vehicle, and held little hope for Cher's more musical showcase.

[37] In early 1999, And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story, directed by David Burton Morris and starring Jay Underwood and Renee Faia, was broadcast on ABC.

In front of millions, Cher tearfully and effusively praised Bono, calling him "the most unforgettable character I've ever met".

"[46] The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour received numerous Emmy nominations; Director Art Fisher won for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series in 1972.

[47] Sonny and Cher received the following honors: The 2024 film Joker: Folie à Deux featured a variety show sequence that has Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga portray Joker and Harley Quinn as a homicidal version of Sonny & Cher, as a musical tribute.