Category: Cher

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Bob Mackie Cher Documentaries Fashion

Bob Mackie calls his Cher ‘Turn Back Time’ outfit vulgar, embarrassing

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Not only have we been gifted with tales from the life of Cher to enjoy this holiday season from her memoir, but in a bit of fortuitous timing, there’s also a new documentary on her longtime fashion collaborator Bob Mackie! Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion is playing in select theaters and will hopefully be available to stream soon, because two hours of sequins and beading and feathers is exactly what the doctor ordered. Costume designer Mackie dreamt up iconic looks for Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, and many more, including relative youngins Pink and Miley Cyrus. If he could turn back time, though, Mackie would firmly say no to Cher’s request for a V-printed sheer bodystocking to wear for her 1989 music video for “If I Could Turn Back Time.” As opposed to what he actually did, which was sheepishly make what he called a “vulgar” outfit, and politely ask Cher never to tell anyone that it was one of his creations.

In the new documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion, Mackie reflected on designing Cher’s controversial look for her 1989 “If I Could Turn Back Time” video. In the film, out now, Mackie called the “seat belt” outfit — which was a sheer bodystocking other than two fabric strips forming a V on the front and a small back strip over her tattooed buttocks — “vulgar.”

“We put a lot of wild, sexy clothes on her at different times,” Mackie told Yahoo Entertainment. “Sometimes I’d say, ‘Well, you can’t wear that for this,” … an award show or whatever, and she would [disappointingly reply], ‘OK.’ But she wanted to wear that. Bicycle pants were in, but see-through bicycle pants are really scary.”

Mackie, who had outfitted the singer for more than a decade at that point, including for the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and the Cher show, said he agreed to design it — with Cher’s agreed-upon silence.

“I said, ‘Please don’t tell anyone that I designed this,’” he said with a laugh. “‘Don’t let anyone know this. I’m embarrassed,’ and she was fine about it. Now she admits that, no, it wasn’t so good.”

…While the “naked dress” has had a huge resurgence in Hollywood over the last several years, Cher wearing a feathered and sequined naked illusion dress, created by Mackie and Ray Aghayan, on the cover of Time magazine in 1975 also caused a kerfuffle.

Cher first wore the dress — made of souffle, a sheer fabric that is no longer in use because it is highly flammable — for a Vogue photo shoot with Richard Avedon and to her first Met Gala in late 1974.

“It was a fabric that actually was against the law in this country, but Marlene Dietrich had brought it in for her gowns and we had the same dress people working for us as Dietrich,” Mackie explained.

As for his creation for Cher, “It’s just one of those crazy, crazy things, but it got a lot of attention.”

In 1975, one of Avedon’s photos was used for a Time cover — “Cher Glad Rags to Riches” — and it received even more attention.

“It was banned in the South,” Mackie said of the cover. “Some people thought [the dress] was just shocking. You couldn’t see anything, but you thought you could. You make them think they’re seeing everything, but they don’t see anything.”

[From Yahoo! Entertainment]

I would just like to have a moment of appreciation for the statement, “Bicycle pants were in, but see-through bicycle pants are really scary.” Those words have and will continue to stand the test of time. Because Mackie was absolutely right in 1989 — it was a vulgar, embarrassing outfit! Only I think the embarrassment is Cher’s, for a) wanting to wear that, and b) not trusting her friend when he clearly thought it was a bad idea. I mean, once someone says, “I’ll do this, but don’t tell anyone, ever, that it was me,” isn’t that a big clue? On the other hand, Cher sticking to her vision and then laughing about it years later also checks out. Clearly their relationship has endured, and they are better friends for it.

As I said earlier, I am so ready for this documentary! A lot of good friends, including Cher and Carol Burnett, showed up for Mackie by appearing in it. I’m glad he’s being honored this way, because my gosh what a sparkling body of work he has! (Pun intended.) Plus I’m hoping for more anecdotes like “Marlene Dietrich smuggled an illegal, highly-flammable fabric into the US just because she liked it.” In the meantime, you can ogle a collection of his pieces that are up for auction at Julien’s. I’m salivating over the sketches alone.

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Photos of Cher and Bob Mackie are from December, 2018 and credit: Joseph Marzullo/Wenn/Avalon and Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon. Turn Back Time photos are from 1989 and credit Getty. Recent photos of Cher with A.E. Edwards are from October and credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon. Here’s a link to the Cher Glad Rags to Riches Time Magazine cover!

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Cher Parties Salvador Dali

Cher has a crazy story about going to Salvador Dalí’s place

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Cher undoubtedly has lived a life worth documenting, and luckily she’s done that for us. In two parts. Cher: The Memoir, Part One was released last week, and the stories recounted in that volume have been every bit as juicy as we’ve wished for and more. Perhaps craziest of them all is the time Cher, Sonny Bono, and Francis Ford Coppola walked into a bar. Only it wasn’t a bar, it was the St. Regis Hotel in NYC, and the trio accidentally ended up at a soiree hosted by Salvador Dalí. Dalí invited them to dinner at his studio the next night, only when they got there, Cher sussed out pretty quickly that they were walking into the tail end of an orgy. I’ll let Cher take it from here, in her own inimitable, vivid voice:

When staying at the St. Regis Hotel in N.Y. while visiting a friend, Cher and Bono ran into Francis Ford Coppola who was filming a movie. They also bumped into the prolific surrealist artist, who invited them to a party that evening he was hosting with his wife, Gala.

Cher said that everyone in their suite “was either beautiful or bizarre and all of them looked as if they were high,” calling the experience “like stepping into a bad Fellini movie.”

Despite detecting her discomfort, Dalí invited Cher and Bono back for dinner the following evening. Upon arriving at Dalí’s studio, Cher realized that an orgy had just taken place. She recalled a “large room where people were naked or in various states of undress.”

“One bra-less chick came out wearing a see-through blouse” that she likened to cellophane wrap. The “Believe” hitmaker attempted to look unbothered while Bono and Coppola, 85, were “sissies,” huddled together on the other side of the room.

Cher then realized she had sat on something, and pulled out a “gorgeous painted rubber fish” from beneath her that had a moving tail. She assumed it was a child’s toy but Dalí told her it was actually a vibrating sex toy.

She immediately dropped the fish and Bono and Coppola doubled over laughing. She kept her composure, but “inside, however, I was — how can I put this? — screaming.”

The group, including the “bizarre orgy people” and Cher, Bono and Coppola, went out to dinner. Several minutes into the meal, Dalí said they had a “previous engagement” and relocated to a table a few feet away. Cher, Bono and Coppola were beyond relieved and couldn’t stop laughing.

“I’m sure Dalí thought we were all cretins, but by then we were beyond caring,” she concluded.

[From People]

I mean, the scene is every inch the cornucopia of disparate items crashing together that I’d expect from the gravitational impact of Cher’s life intersecting with Dalí’s. Things I’m delighting over, in no particular order: of course a bash hosted by surrealist Salvador was “like stepping into a bad Fellini movie.” I love Cher calling Sonny and Francis “sissies,” and totally believe her account of them in that situation. (Sidenote: what is it with Coppola randomly dropping into Cher’s anecdotes? First we learned he saw her in Vegas and told her to start acting, and now this revelation!) I did find it a bit rich, though, for Cher — CHER! — to seemingly deride a woman at the orgy for going braless under a see through blouse. And at this moment, may I remind us all of her iconic 1980s Bob Mackie Oscar ensembles, not to mention the “naked” dress of his that she wore to the 1974 Met Gala. So it’s a touch the pot calling the kettle scantily clad, is all I’m saying. And finally “Salvador Dalí gorgeous painted rubber fish sex toy” needs to start trending on social media after this.

Photos credit: UPPA/Photoshot/Avalon/Avalon, London Features-LFI/Avalon/Avalon, Holland/Retna Pictures/Avalon/Avalon and Getty

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Books Cher Marriage

Cher: Sonny Bono took all my money, I’d like to ask him about that

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It’s finally here! This week Cher released Cher: The Memoir, Part One (a title I still maintain is woefully boring for such a dynamic, groovy woman). Why has Cher split her memoir into two parts? Well, as she told the New York Times, because she’s had “too much life.” Also, Cher and her editor found that a natural divide happened in her story so that Part One focuses on Cher-the-singer, while Part Two begins with her relaunching herself as Cher-the-actor. So obviously, a significant portion in the newly-released Part One is about Cher’s relationship with her first husband and singing partner, Sonny Bono. While Sonny offered an escape from her unstable upbringing, as their fame exploded, the marriage became another untenable living situation for Cher. Success made Sonny controlling, to the extent where he legally set up Cher as an employee under a business entity he named “Cher Enterprises.” He also took all of her money, and if Cher could turn back time, she’d like to ask him why on earth he did that.

“He took all my money,” Cher said in an interview with The New York Times, which was published on Sunday, ahead of the debut for the first volume of her two-part book, “Cher: The Memoir.” “I just thought, We’re husband and wife. Half the things are his, half the things are mine. It didn’t occur to me that there was another way.”

Cher and Bono are best known as the pop duo and television variety team Sonny & Cher. But behind closed doors, Cher says Bono was like a “parent” who at one point took advantage of her financially. The two met when Cher was 16 and Bono was 27, a relationship she wouldn’t label as a “#MeToo moment” because she “lied” to him about her age.

In an effort to avoid living with her mother at the time, she took up rooming with Bono in exchange for cleaning and cooking services. However, a couple years later, they married in 1964 and had children. And as the couple grew into their stardom, Cher says Sonny became emotionally abusive and developed a “my way or the highway” mentality, stating Bono set their business up so that Cher was his employee.

“To this day,” Cher added, “I wish to God I could just ask, ‘Son, at what point, during what day, did you go, ‘Yeah, you know what? I’m going to take her money.’”

The pair got a divorce in 1975, and Bono died in a skiing accident in 1998.

“I woke up one morning — early, like 5 — and I just thought, I’m not going to do this anymore. I’m going to leave him,” Cher explained, adding that she told Bono that she wanted to pursue an intimate relationship with the group’s guitarist, and eventually did. “I started to put into place a plan that was so dangerous that I don’t know how I had the nerve to do it.”

It wasn’t until her relationship with film producer David Geffen that she became financially literate.

“I didn’t know how to make a check out. I didn’t have a banking account,” Cher said. Nevertheless, Cher went on to become a household name separate from the one she married into, carving out her own lane in the industry.

[From The Wrap via Yahoo!]

For shame, Sonny. Seizing control of a partner’s (or anyone’s) finances so they’re completely dependent on you is classic abusive behavior. Cher is a fierce mama for finding her way out and believing in life after love. She knew that she’d get through it, cause she knew that she was strong, and she didn’t need him anymore. She didn’t need Sonny anymore. And to be fair to her about her lack of banking and check writing expertise, Cher and Sonny divorced in 1975. That was only one year after the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed that allowed women to open bank accounts on their own. 50 years later and I still think we don’t educate teens enough about basic financing, but I digress…

The NY Times article is an interesting read, with some fabulous throwaway lines, like this one about her boyfriend Alexander Edwards: “These days, Cher enjoys her time with Edwards, whom she met two years ago after she complimented his diamond-studded teeth.” It’s almost as good as the time Cher said, “I don’t know what happened, but we’re together.” Almost. Anyway, get your copy of Cher: The Memoir, Part One today. And as if that weren’t enough, Cher told Jimmy Fallon that she’s working on a new album!

Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Starstock/Photoshot Photo/Avalon, Earl Miller/Jeffery Mayer/Avalon

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Cher Dave Matthews Mary J Blige Music Ozzy Osbourne

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees include Cher, Kool & The Gang and Mary J. Blige

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Remember when Cher loudly declared on television that she wouldn’t join the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame now “if they gave me a million dollars,” and then two months later the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame announced her as a nominee? Well… guess who’s officially been named as an inductee!! And she’s in good company (whether she accepts or not); joining Cher in the Performer Category are Kool & The Gang, Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Ozzy Osbourne, and A Tribe Called Quest. Entertainment Weekly is calling this “music’s highest honor,” so naturally it was announced by Ryan Seacrest and Lionel Richie on American Idol this weekend:

Drum roll, please! This year’s inductees into music’s highest honor — the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — are officially announced.

During Sunday’s “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night” episode of American Idol, host Ryan Seacrest and judge Lionel Richie revealed that Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & The Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, and A Tribe Called Quest are being inducted under the Performer Category, which honors “artists who have created music whose originality, impact, and influence has changed the course of rock & roll,” according to a release.

To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Four out of the eight inductees in the Performer category were on the ballot for the first time, including Cher, Foreigner, Kool & the Gang, and Frampton.

Cher’s induction comes after she publicly rebuked the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year for never nominating her. “I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars,” she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in December. “I’m never gonna change my mind,” she declared. “I mean, they can just you-know-what themselves.”

The Rock Hall is also honoring the late Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick, and Norman Whitfield with the Musical Excellence Award, which is given to “artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.”

Alexis Korner, John Mayall, and Big Mama Thornton earned the Musical Influence Award, which goes to “artists whose music and performance style have directly influenced, inspired, and evolved rock & roll and music impacting youth culture.”

And Suzanne de Passe is being honored with the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which goes to a “non-performing industry professional who’s had a major influence on the growth of the art form.”

Others who were nominated this year but not selected for induction include Mariah Carey, Eric B. & Rakim, Jane’s Addiction, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinead O’Connor, and Sade.

The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction will air live on Saturday, October 19, on Disney , with a special airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day.

[From Entertainment Weekly]

As of this writing, Cher has not made a public statement in response to the news. And I hope she keeps it that way! Keep ‘em on their toes!! The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame only thinks they’re the ones inviting Cher, when really it’s Cher who makes the rules, and who decides whether or not to call you back. And speaking of rules, I know I’m not the first to say this, but the whole Hall of Fame structure is so needlessly convoluted. With an awards show, I understand announcing a group of nominees, then revealing the winner in each category. But this deal of naming nominees to enter a club, and then cutting out some of that group… Why not just announce and induct the same set of artists at once?? What possible value was there in making the late great Sinead O’Connor a nominee and then not letting her in two months later? Anyway, congratulations to all the inductees — if it means something to you. Something like the more than a million dollars Cher said she couldn’t be bribed with.

Photos via Instagram and credit: imago stock&people / Avalon, VALERIA MAGRI / Avalon, Tony Mottram / Avalon, King Collection / Retna/Photoshot, David Livingston / Wenn / Avalon, Photoshot, PacificCoastNews / Avalon, Ana M. Wiggins / Avalon

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Cher Music

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announces nominees – including Cher

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While promoting her debut Christmas album in December, Cher threw down the gauntlet and declared she wouldn’t be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame now “if they gave me a million dollars.” Why the indignation? Because it’s an insult to humanity that she wasn’t invited to be inducted decades ago, thank you very much! (My words, not Cher’s.) Well, guess who just nominated Cher to be in their little ole club? Yep, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2024 nominees, and they’re trying to right the wrong against Cher now, since they can’t turn back time:

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced the 15 nominees for its Class of 2024, including “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul” Mary J. Blige, Grammy winner Mariah Carey, and Cher, known as the “Goddess of Pop.”

Also among the contenders for the Rock Hall are Foreigner, Dave Matthews Band, Oasis, Lenny Kravits, Ozzy Osbourne, A Tribe Called Quest, Jane’s Addiction, Sinead O’Conner, Sade, Kool & The Gang, Peter Frampton and Eric B. Rakin.

This is the first time Carey, Cher, Sade, Foreigner, Frampton, Oasis, Kravitz, Kool & The Gang and the late O’Connor are on the ballot, according to USA Today.

But while many of the artists may be celebrating, the nomination isn’t exactly music to Cher’s ears.

Back in December, the pop diva, 77, slammed the Rock Hall for snubbing her for years.

“You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m not kidding you,” she admitted in an interview on the “Kelly Clarkson Show.”

“I’m never going to change my mind. They can just you-know-what themselves.”

Meanwhile, this week’s nominations mark the first time Osbourne will be considered as a solo artist; he was already inducted in 2006 as the frontman of Black Sabbath.

Other nominees have previously been nominated for the Rock Hall, but haven’t yet made the cut.

Blige was nominated in 2021, A Tribe Called Quest in 2022 and 2023, Jane’s Addiction in 2017 and Eric B. Rakin in 2012, per USA Today.

[From NY Post]

So how does Cher play this? Does she pull a Dolly Parton and respectfully decline the nomination (though Dolly later accepted), or does she remind the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame of her previous wishes for them to go fly a kite? As for the Hall of Fame, they’ve kind of called her bluff to see how much she really meant she would never change her mind. But Cher is indeed a goddess, so she can’t exactly make a wrong move here. She’s Cher, she makes the rules — just ask Paul Giamatti. While I personally think it would be spectacularly badass of her to reject the Hall of Fame entirely, that doesn’t mean I would think any less of her for bestowing benevolence upon them by accepting their overtures. I do have a request, though, that if Cher ends up being inducted and showing up to the ceremony, I hope she gives as effusive a comment as she did to The Guardian about how she ended up with her current partner. Something along the lines of, “I don’t know what happened, but I’m in the Hall now.”

Photos credit: Look Press Agency/Look Press / Avalon, King Collection / Retna/Photoshot, Photoshot / Avalon, affinitypicture/Backgrid, Alex Jr/Backgrid

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Cher Kelly Clarkson Music

Cher wouldn’t be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ‘if they gave me a million dollars’

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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame qualifications have been confusing for a while now. Dolly Parton was one of the classy few who declined the nomination, thinking it wasn’t an appropriate fit for her music. Then when she finally did accept the induction, she vowed to make good by releasing her first rock album. Rockstar came out in November and has become Dolly’s best-selling record to date. Cher will not be taking the same route. Cher released her first Christmas album, Christmas, in October (prompted by her manager, not from being inducted into the Christmas Hall of Fame). While chatting with Kelly Clarkson to plug the album, Cher commented that she has not been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and that at this point, the Hall has lost their chance.

Cher is sounding off on her snub from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The music icon, during an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” Friday, said the museum’s voting committee can “go you-know-what themselves.”

“You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars,” she told host Kelly Clarkson. “I’m never going to change my mind.”

Clarkson shared her disbelief as the audience gasped. “Wait, are you serious?” the “Stronger” singer said. “I’m not kidding you,” Cher responded.

In an email to USA TODAY, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame declined to comment.

The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in September included inductees Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine and The Spinners. While this year’s nominations were Crow’s and Nelson’s first, the two have been eligible since 2018 and the ‘80s, respectively. Elliott was the lone act to be inducted on her first year of eligibility.

Clarkson earlier shared how the 77-year-old singer recently made history.

“DJ Play a Christmas Song,” from Cher’s latest album, “Christmas,” topped Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart last week, which means the music legend now has had a No. 1 record in each of the last seven decades.

Cher and The Rolling Stones are the only two artists to reach that milestone, but as the “Believe” singer said with a laugh, “It took four of them to be one of me.”

Cher went on to tout more accolades, including the success of her best selling single and one of the biggest-selling singles ever.

“I changed music forever with ‘Believe,’” she said.

Clarkson said like the hit 1998 track, “DJ Play a Christmas Song” has the same quintessential Cher “vibe,” adding, “No one has that sound.”

[From USA Today]

Oh I love it — Cher bragging that she “changed music forever with ‘Believe,’” a song that was a pioneer for auto-tune. Then Kelly piling on with “No one has that sound.” And if you watch the clip, Kelly is trying to talk about “DJ Play a Christmas Song” when Cher interrupts with, “Can I just say one thing? I changed music forever.” She’s fabulous! She’s not wasting time with feigned humility or bashfulness. Icon’s don’t have time for that, snap out of it! The older I get the more I have unreserved enthusiasm for women with unshakable confidence. And bless all 5’ 7” inches of her, Cher is positively lousy with confidence. From telling the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame to go fly a kite, to snapping back that it took four Rolling Stones to match one Cher. As I’ve said here before, it’s Cher’s world, we’re just living in it.

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Cher Music

Cher is releasing her first Christmas album called ‘Cher Christmas’

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I’m dating myself, but I can no longer think of Cher without also hearing Sean Hayes-as-Jack McFarland singing her lyrics. Cher is so much more than that, I know! I love a diva who fully owns her divahood, and to me she epitomized that when she guest starred as herself on Will & Grace, blowing Jack McFarland’s mind AND landing a Moonstruck joke. Perfection. I only wish Will & Grace 2.0 were still around to make hay out of this news: Cher is releasing her first Christmas album!

Winter is coming — and so is Cher!

The “Believe” singer, 77, is gearing up to release her first holiday album, Cher Christmas, and she started teasing the project to her 2.6 million Instagram followers on Thursday.

“Are you spending Christmas with me?” the singer wrote alongside the record’s festive cover art.

And after describing the album photos (in exhaustive detail), People Mag shared more info on the contents:

Although the release date for Cher Christmas has not yet been announced, the album is available for preorder now — and Cher is “really, really excited” about it.

“It’s a Cher Christmas album. It’s not your mother’s Christmas album,” the singer said on Good Morning Britain earlier this month.

“I’m really, really excited because there’s millions of people on it, and I’ve never had duets. I’ve never had people on any of my records” Cher told the hosts, adding that the collaborations were a “last-minute thing.”

Though the Moonstruck actress did not reveal any of the artists’ names, she hinted they are “special.”

“I mean, I’m in awe of all of them,” Cher added.

[From People]

“It’s a Cher Christmas album. It’s not your mother’s Christmas album.” I’m all in favor of that, but what are we thinking it means exactly? I’m hoping for mash-ups of classic Cher with classic Christmas. Like, “All I Want for Christmas is to Turn Back Time,” or “Gypsies, Tramps and Frosty the Snowman.” Or what about “I Got You Baby It’s Cold Outside!” Also, how long before we see tie ins between the album and Cherlato? That’s not a criticism, it’s part of why I love her. After all, it’s Cher’s world, we’re just living in it.