May 16, 2001. Copyright, 2001, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Hollywood dance diva turns 55
By Mark Samms

LONDON, May 16, Graphic News:  TRYING to define Cher is like trying to bottle a rainbow. She is the beautiful chameleon of 20th-century showbusiness; the great survivor who enjoys nothing more than bouncing back just when she appears to be out for the count.

It is remarkable that a woman who began as the definitive hippy princess of the sixties, should be approaching her 55th birthday with her pop music career stronger than ever and her talent as an actress gaining more illustrious admirers with each passing movie.

Diva, icon and sex symbol she may be, but Cher's appeal goes much deeper. She has personal strengths and professional skills that make her a formidable presence in the notoriously capricious world of music and film.

There is an honesty about Cher, even when she is at her most outrageous. With some performers, what you see is what you get. With Cher, what you get is what you get. She is way past the stage of having to compromise her principles, and woe betide those who think differently.

She retains her following, because fans know that whatever she does next -- and it's always far from certain -- she will do it with all the value-for-money professionalism and flair that has marked every stage of her remarkable career.

And Another Thing: Wary of the financial disaster that befell her and Sonny in the late sixties, Cher now employs 23 tax specialists to look after her affairs.
/ENDS

Sources: Encyclopaedia Brittanica, www.askmen.com; www.cher.com; www.justplaincher.com