From sequined spectacle to luminous Oscar-winner; TV vamp to Billboard's longest running chart-topper, Cher's success in music, movies, television, and on stage over nearly four decades qualifies her as one of the most enduring entertainers of our time. In a career defined as much by dramatic missteps as spectacular recoveries, the chief constant is her seemingly limitless determination.

Born in El Centro, Calif. on May 20, 1946, Cherilyn Sarkisian was a poor, fatherless kid whose eight-times-married actress-mother struggled by on occasional singing gigs and bit parts. At 16 Cher left high-school and home to take acting lessons in Los Angeles, a plan that quickly derailed when she met 28-year-old producer-songwriter Sonny Bono at Aldo's Coffee Shop in 1963. "It was ..[Full version]