Happy 77th birthday to ageless icon Cher!

MILESTONE: Let’s face it, there has never been anybody else like Cher. And there never will be.

At 77, thank God, she’s still going strong.

She is a forever star who has been a part of our lives since the 1960s when she reached the top of the pop charts with I Got You Babe, The Beat Goes On, Baby Don’t Go, All I Ever Need Is You, A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done and other hits as one-half of Sonny and Cher. She also simultaneously launched a solo recording career with the 1960s hits Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), All I Really Want To Do and You Better Sit Down Kids.

Then came television variety show stardom and a string of solo hits before splitting from Sonny that included Half Breed, The Way of Love, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves and Dark Lady.

Cher re-emerged in the early 1980s as an actress who quickly became an Oscar-winning movie star for Moonstruck. She also starred in Mask, Silkwood, Suspect, Mermaids and Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. At the same time her recording career caught fire again with such hits as Believe, I Found Someone, If I Could Turn Back Time, Just Like Jesse James, Heart of Stone, Strong Enough, Song For the Lonely, After All, We All Sleep Alone, among others.

Cher then began to disappear for stretches but she resurfaces just enough with tops hits (Woman’s World), the occasional movie (Burlesque, Mamma Mia 2) and new albums (Closer to the Truth, Dancing Queen) which both debuted at number three on the Billboard chart.

Best of all, Cher is still performing live and can still sell out the biggest arenas and stadiums, is prolific on Twitter and speaks her mind about politics, and has a boyfriend about 40 years younger than her.

It was so wonderful to see Cher receive the Kennedy Center Honors in 2018 which was so well-deserved. It is shameful – absolutely shameful – that she has not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame considering she has had a number one single in six different decades and so many classic hits. If they can find room for Dolly Parton, they can find room for Cher. It is an utter disgrace.

Long live Cher!