Living Proof is the twenty-fifth album by American singer-actress Cher, released in November 2001 in Europe and February 2002 in the United States by Warner Bros. Records and WEA Records. It debuted at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with sales of 114,000 copies in its first week.

Album information

The lead single in Europe and Australia was "The Music's No Good Without You", while the United States received "Song for the Lonely". "The Music's No Good Without You" received major success in the UK, becoming a top ten hit. "Song for the Lonely" peaked at number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart (one of four songs from the album to top the U.S. dance chart). "Alive Again" and "A Different Kind of Love Song" were follow-up singles. "A Different Kind of Love Song topped the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play and chart on the Hot 100 at #105. Despite not being released as a single "When the Money's Gone" charted on the Hot 100 at #112.

The third American single was "When the Money's Gone"/"Love One Another", earning Cher a Grammy nomination for "Love One Another." She lost the award to Kylie Minogue's song "Come into My World".

Cher won many awards including a World Music Award for Dance/Club Play Artist of the Year and Lifelong Contribution Award shortly after the release of the album. It became her eighth consecutive album to be certified at least Gold in the United Kingdom.

In Australia, prior to the release of the album, earlier unedited versions of "Alive Again", "Rain Rain" and "Love So High" were released on CD as a sampler for promotional use only. These versions have been positively received by Cher fans, and have spread through forums and file sharing networks. The scarce sampler CD also included "The Music's No Good Without You" and "A Different Kind of Love Song".

The tracklist varied in certain parts of the world. "You Take It All", "The Look" and "When You Walk Away" were available on the European, Japanese and American versions respectively.

The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

Credits

Personnel

*Cher - main vocals

*Tracie Ackerman - Backing vocalist

*Clark Anderson - Backing vocalist

*Sue Ann Carwell - Backing vocalist

Production

*Rob Dickins - producer

*Chapman - producer

*Stargate - producer

*Eric Thorenburg - engineer

*Randy Wine - engineer

*Björn Engelmann Cutting Room Studios - mixing

*Nick Bracegirdle - engineer, producer

Design

*Jeri Heiden - art direction

*Barrie Goshko - art direction

*Michael Lavine - photography

*Kevyn Aucoin - Make-Up

*Serena Radaeli - Hair

Certifications, peaks and sales

Release history

All editions released by WEA and Warner Bros. Records.

References

Artist/Band Information

Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is a long-time American #1 Billboard Hot 100 and Grammy Award winning recording artist, Emmy Award winning television personality, multiple Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Cannes Film Festival award winning actress, director, record producer and dedicated philanthropist. With a career spanning over six decades and referred to as the Goddess of Pop,

she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in film, music and television. She is the only person in history to have received all of these awards. Cher began her career as a backup singer and later came to prominence as one half of the pop rock duo Sonny & Cher with the success of their song "I Got You Babe" in 1965. She subsequently established herself as a solo recording artist, and became a television star in 1971 with The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, a variety show for which she won a Golden Globe. A well received performance in the film Silkwood earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1984. In the following years, Cher starred in a string of hit films including Mask, The Witches of Eastwick, and Moonstruck, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1988.

Cher, throughout her long career, has broken many records. She is the only artist to reach the number one on the Billboard charts in each of the previous six decades, and also holds this record for four and five decades.http Her hit dance single "Believe" is her biggest-selling recording and was the best-selling single of 1999, Billboard. Retrieved March 23, 2009. having sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Undercover.com.au. September 9, 2003. Archived from the original November 12, 2005. She holds the Hot 100 record for the longest hit-making career span, with 33 years between the release of her first and most recent Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles, in 1965 and 1999 and 45 years between her first and most recent #1 ranking on any Billboard chart Cher ended her 3-year-long "Farewell Tour" in 2005 as the most successful tour by a female solo artist of all time. Biography Channel. Retrieved March 23, 2009. With a career lasting over 45 years, Cher has sold over 100 million records worldwide. After a three-year hiatus and retirement from touring, Cher returned to the stage in February 2008 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where she performed her show Cher at the Colosseum until February 2011. Cher has a deep contralto vocal range.

Early life

Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian

in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946, at 7:25 a.m. Her father, John Paul Sarkisian, was Armenian American and worked as a truck driver. Her mother, Georgia Holt (born Jackie Jean Crouch. in Sharp County, Arkansas on June 9, 1927), an aspiring actress and occasional model, is of Melungeon, Cherokee, English, and French descent. Cher's half sister is actress Georganne LaPiere. Cher's parents divorced and she was raised primarily by her mother, who at one time was married to Gilbert LaPiere, a banker who adopted Cher. Due to financial problems, Cher's mother temporarily placed her in foster care. Later, her mother provided money for acting lessons to help further her career. Due to severe, undiagnosed dyslexia, she left Fresno High School at age 16. In those years, Cher had a brief relationship with actor Warren Beatty.

Career

1962–1964: Early career

Sonny Bono, 11 years her senior, was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Sonny and Cher became inseparable friends, eventual lovers, and later married. Through Sonny, Cher started as a session singer in 1963, and sang backup on several of Spector’s classic recordings, including The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", Darlene Love's "A Fine, Fine Boy," The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and The Ronettes’ "Be My Baby". In the composition by Darlene Love, the listener can clearly hear Cher and Sonny close to the microphone (along with Love, who recorded her own backing vocals). Her first solo recording was the unsuccessful single "Ringo, I Love You", released under the pseudonym of Bonnie Jo Mason and produced by Phil Spector. Her second attempt was "Dream Baby," released under the name "Cherilyn" and written and produced by Sonny Bono. Both were released in 1964. With Sonny continuing to write, arrange and produce the songs, Sonny and Cher’s first incarnation was as the duo "Caesar and Cleo." They received little attention, despite releasing the single "The Letter" in late 1964 which featured the B-side "Baby Don't Go".

1965–1969: Career development

Sonny-and-Cher.jpgthumb221pxleftCher with Sonny in 1966.

Before being known as Sonny and Cher, the duo released an album under the name of "Caesar and Cleo." The first "Sonny and Cher" album, Look At Us, was released in the summer of 1965. This album contained the overnight smash single "I Got You Babe" which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1965.. Billboard.com. Cher was 19 years old, Sonny 30. A re-released "Baby Don't Go" peaked at #8.. Billboard.com. Several more mid-level hits followed, notably "Just You," "But You're Mine", "What Now My Love" and "Little Man", before "The Beat Goes On" returned the duo to the Top 10. Sonny and Cher charted eleven Billboard Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1972, including six Top 10 hits.

The duo became a sensation, traveling and performing around the world. Following an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the fall of 1965 in which Sullivan had infamously mispronounced her name 'Chur' during their introduction, the singer began spelling her name with an acute accent mark: Chér—a typographical feature she maintained through 1974. The couple soon appeared on other hit television shows of the era including American Bandstand, Top of the Pops, Hollywood A Go-Go, Podunk, Hollywood Palace, Hullabaloo, Beat Club, Ready Steady Go! and Shindig