This is a fantastic book. It is not for the casual fan who wants only an overview of Cher's life or career. Those books exist; the best is the Taraborelli. Others are mostly regurgitations of magazine articles and interviews and oft-told anecdotes that those of us who are serious, long-term fans can identify and probably quote. At least four of them are all entitled Cher! Some are catty (Bego), some merely comprehensive (Pellegrino). All of these books, while usually updated more recently, came out in about 1975, the time frame on which Strong Enough (despite its title coming from a more recent recording) focuses.
Those of us who have followed Cher for enough years understand that this is the time when she really became CHER, moving from being a famous singer and fashion icon to being a true superstar-- in a time when that term was applied sparingly and to celebrities with serious talent and track records rather than to any random "personality" who has parlayed a sex tape into a reality show career.
Following her divorce from Sonny in 1974, Cher moved into a solo career, and this is the focus of the book. While it includes overviews of her life and career before and after the years 1974-76, the book is really about Cher's amazing, groundbreaking, short-lived but much-admired (by her fans at least) solo television show.
The research and effort on display are impressive. Although the author did not interview the three most crucial people in the evolution of Cher into literally the biggest female star of this period-- David Geffen, Bob Mackie and Cher herself-- he seems to have spoken with all of the other important figures (George Schlatter, Ret Turner, Jimmy Webb, and other personnel involved with the show and with Cher's recording career at a time when she made an effort to be taken seriously as a recording artist). Additionally, the comprehensive details of the contents and production of each show are a goldmine to those of us who remember it fondly or who would like to know more about it, scarce as it is on today's airwaves. As the author points out, perhaps because of the expense of music rights, the show has never been available on DVD, and only truncated half-hour versions have been shown on VH1.
This show was a real high point of (and in many ways a conclusion to) the art of the variety show, along with Carol Burnett's show, but quite different from the latter. Between the "serious" musical guests who never appeared on television (David Bowie, Labelle, Bette Midler, Elton John) and the flamboyant and (for the '70s) risqué costumes, TV viewers before MTV had never seen anything like it.
While other Amazon reviews complain that the focus is on this time period, and that the details of the shows are, I suppose, less interesting to them than yet another repetition of her larger biography, to me, that is the value of this book. As mentioned, there are plenty of other sources for the same old same old. And those books include relatively little about the Cher show, focusing more on the concurrent divorce from Sonny and the tabloid saga of her relationship with Gregg Allmann, Certainly all of that is included here, as it was part of the era that began her ongoing role (along with Princess Diana) as one of the most frequently featured faces on celebrity periodicals. But here these "scandals" receive more measured coverage.
In fact, the book is notable for the lack of a salacious or bitchy attitude about the biographical details. Cher is given her due as a significant, unique cultural figure whose image, career and life were shaped by the events included in this book.
Oh, and great photos-- and, again, not the same ones on view in the other books and magazines.
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Opiniones destacadas de los Estados Unidos
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Calificado en Estados Unidos el 14 de agosto de 2017
Calificado en Estados Unidos el 21 de agosto de 2023
Calificado en Estados Unidos el 5 de marzo de 2014
Calificado en Estados Unidos el 23 de diciembre de 2013
Calificado en Estados Unidos el 21 de diciembre de 2016
Calificado en Estados Unidos el 24 de noviembre de 2013
Opiniones más destacadas de otros países
Rodrigo Goes Teixeira Araújo
Excelente livro, material de confecção duvidoso.
Calificado en Brasil el 25 de abril de 2021
Rodrigo Goes Teixeira Araújo
Calificado en Brasil el 25 de abril de 2021
A folha é branca, a gramatura da capa não é muito legal, mas, vem um photobook bem bonito no final com cerca de páginas.
No geral é um bom conteúdo, bem escrito, mas, com foco maior na carreira da Cher entre o final dos anos 50 e 80.
Imágenes en esta reseña
