Cher Sues The Widow Of Her Ex-Husband Sonny Bono For $1 Million
Emma Martinez Cher is suing Sonny Bono’s widow for what she claims are unpaid royalties that should have been hers. The 75-year-old entertainer has filed paperwork in Los Angeles and is seeking $1 million in damages. The performer claims that royalties from her hit songs with Sonny from the 1960s were illegally withheld.
Cher and Sonny Bono married in 1964 and began performing under the name Caesar and Cleo before switching to the more popular Sonny & Cher. The duo performed together in a wildly successful musical duo. The pair had 1960s hits such as I Got You Babe and The Beat Goes On.
The success of the pair extended beyond their music. The couple was able to gain wider fame and recognition by positioning themselves as media personalities. The partners starred in two top ten TV shows in the US, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and The Sonny & Cher Show.
Their career together began to wane by the mid-1970s, and the two stopped working together in 1975 following their divorce. Each went on to find success in new areas.
Cher launched a successful acting career, starring in movies such as Mask and Moonstruck" and continued to create music. Today Celebrity Net Worth estimates the performer has a fortune of $320 million.
Bono was a successful Californian politician serving in the House of Representatives until he died in 1998.
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According to the lawsuit, after Cher and Sonny Bono divorced in 1975, they agreed to split revenue from the songs recorded together.
According to Deadline, in recent years, the relationship Between Cher and Sonny's widow has soured. Sonny's fourth wife and widow, Mary Bono, has reportedly revoked Cher's ownership of those rights and royalties.
Cher claims that Mary, a former US Representative, is now withholding what she rightfully deserves as part of the music pair.
The ownership and royalty to the hits are worth millions of dollars, and Cher has had to sue over them before. In 2019 Cher sued Universal Music Group, claiming that the label’s creative accounting has shortchanged her and Bono to the tune of $5 million.
Cher has filed paperwork to sue Bono’s widow in Los Angeles. The performer is seeking $1 million in damages.
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