Decades after his death, Bono remains an enigma and inspiration
Twenty-three years ago as Sonny Bono was buried in Cathedral City, Calif., he left behind a legacy that is both simple and confusing.
On one hand Bono, who died Jan. 5, 1998, on the Heavenly ski slopes of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., was widely admired as an underdog who beat heavy odds to succeed in the music, television and restaurant industries, as well as the political arena. He was a second-term U.S. Congressman at the time of his death.
But there was a dark side to the man who in the 1960s masterminded the astronomical rise of the Sonny & Cher act. He had three failed marriages, squandered a fortune and died in a peculiar manner – skiing alone through a wooded area and sustaining a massive head injury after hitting a tree. That was not an accident an experienced skier like Bono was likely to have. His widow Mary went on record as saying prescription drug abuse caused his death.
If his accident had a Hollywood ending, he would have made a miraculous recovery and continued his political career to become President of the United States. That’s the way Bono’s life had gone for 62 years – dismal setbacks followed by one incredible success after another.
The youngest of three children, Salvatore Phillip Bono was born in Detroit in 1935 to Sicilian immigrants. After the family relocated to southern California in 1942, he and his father Santo rode a train to Cheyenne, Wyo., to retrieve their car, which had broken down on the drive out West. While driving through the desert, Sonny accidentally fell out of the vehicle, which was traveling at about 70 mph. Recovery from those extensive injuries was his first triumph.
After doctors finished removing gravel from his skin and bandaged him, “I looked like a pint-size mummy, wrapped from head to toe,” Bono recalled in his autobiography. “I even bled under each fingernail.”
Sonny was not a good student, yet he had the ambition to be an actor. Santo filled his head with the idea that Sonny would be a failure, however, and the young man drifted from job to job for a few years. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to be a successful songwriter since he had no musical training. But that didn’t stop him from trying. And succeeding.
Bono confessed in his book, “I didn’t think I had any talent. I could barely sing … couldn’t play the piano … felt I couldn’t do anything. My dad told me I’d be a failure. Everyone believed it, but I fought it, convinced myself to grab any opportunity that came my way.”
Bono married Donna Rankin in 1954 and had a daughter, Christy. The marriage was doomed from the start, as the partners drifted apart soon after the wedding. Divorce followed in 1961.
During his marriage to Donna, her father offered Sonny a job with his construction company. It was the mid-1950s, and the young songwriter had been trying to pitch his songs to various artists while working full-time at Douglas Aircraft. Extremely bored with his job operating a tug at Douglas, he accepted the offer immediately and began pouring concrete in Anaheim, building bridges that lead to Disneyland.
Sonny admitted that it was hard but satisfying work. However, about seven months after he started the job, he was fired, abruptly and mysteriously.
“There was no precipitating incident,” Bono wrote. “When I asked my foreman why, he shrugged. None of my superiors came forth with an explanation either. It was incredibly frustrating.”
But from that job termination came the chance to sell his songs face-to-face to record executives after he got a job delivering meat on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. At the time, that district was the equivalent of New York’s Tin Pan Alley.
Months later, after having heard that Sonny played one of his songs for Frankie Lane, Donna’s father called Bono and admitted that it was he who had him fired from the construction company. The explanation: “I knew your heart was in music, and that you’d never go anywhere if you stayed with the company.”
After the breakup of his first marriage, Bono seldom saw Christy and lamented the fact that he wasn’t a better father to her. It was an experience that made him an improved parent for children who would come later in his life.
Songwriting really began to pay off for Sonny when, along with musician/producer Jack Nitzche, he wrote “Needles And Pins.” The song launched the career of the British band The Searchers, and it hit No. 1 on the English charts in 1964.
He saw his entire world change dramatically when he met aspiring actress Cherilyn LaPierre Sarkisian in the early 1960s, and he became Cher’s lover and show biz mentor.
Bono made a career leap when he became employed by record producer Phil Spector. Sonny convinced Spector that he needed a West Coast promotions man for his Philles record label, and Spector gave him the position. But Bono was a jack of all trades. During this period he became a recording artist in the simplest of ways: he played tambourine and did background singing, hand claps and finger snaps on recordings by groups like the Crystals, Ronettes and Righteous Brothers.
As he absorbed music industry knowledge from Spector, Bono secretly schemed to produce Cher as a recording artist. They tested the waters as a singing duo under the name of Caesar and Cleopatra before settling on the Sonny & Cher moniker.
The biggest hit from Sonny’s pen, “I Got You Babe,” launched the duo into musical stardom in 1965. A modest string of releases kept them on the charts for about four years, and they enjoyed the kind of publicity blitz that hadn’t been seen since the Beatles were introduced to America.
Nasal voice and all, Sonny recorded a few songs by himself. But his only solo album, “Inner Views,” was a commercial failure. He didn’t mind because he was focused on making Cher a star.
Sonny and Cher were the toast of Hollywood, moving into a Beverly Hills mansion and getting married in 1969 after posing as husband and wife for years. As their stream of recording successes ran dry, Sonny gambled his bankroll on a film he produced called “Chastity,” in which Cher was the star. The film flopped, and they were back to where they had started in early ’65. The only difference was that now they had a daughter named Chastity.
TV mogul Fred Silverman helped the pair get back on their feet in 1971 when he created a variety show titled “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” and made it a summer replacement for CBS. It was a huge success and ran until 1974. They were ratings winners, with the gorgeous Cher wearing designer outfits and belting out songs while Sonny played the fall guy in their comedy skits. The format for the TV show was based on their successful Las Vegas lounge routine.
Amid reports of extramarital affairs, the couple divorced in ’74. An attempt to revive their variety show in 1976 was short-lived. Cher then launched her acting career, and Sonny was mostly forgotten. He made a few guest acting appearances on TV series like “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island.”
Model Susie Coelho became Bono’s third bride in a ceremony on New Year’s Eve 1981, and they divorced in 1984.
Was that marriage cursed? You might conclude that it was when you consider that the officiating minister in Aspen, Colo., referred to Susie as “Cherie” at the outset of the ceremony.
Concerning the dissolution of marriage No. 3, Bono wrote, “The problem? If I had to put my finger on one specific thing, I would have to say show business. Our relationship was based more on the pursuit of a career than on romance. Susie wanted to make it as an actress …”
Sonny had no experience in the food service business, but in 1982 he boldly opened his own Italian restaurant on Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. He was armed with little more than his mother’s recipe for spaghetti sauce and a visual concept for his trattoria. Bono was a hit, becoming a trendy hangout for celebrities. He opened a second location in Houston but sold his interest to his partner after the Texas oil industry declined.
He met Mary Whitaker in the Melrose restaurant in 1985 when she was celebrating her graduation from the University of Southern California. A year later she became his fourth bride.
Mary and Sonny had a son and daughter together, Chesare and Chianna.
Bono had fallen in love with Palm Springs around the time he and Cher were breaking up. Having kept a home in the desert town 110 miles east of L.A. for 15 years, he decided to sell his restaurant and move there to open a new Bono in January 1986, at the Palm Springs Racquet Club. Again, the business thrived.
The restaurant’s fare was strictly Italian in nature, but the menus had a whimsical flair. They were designed to look like 45 rpm records and were categorized by some of Sonny’s song titles: “The Beat Goes On” appetizers; “Baby Don’t Go” soups and salads; and “Bang Bang” pastas. He also honored his family with “Mary’s Favorite” (penne pasta with Italian sausage, artichoke hearts, asparagus and olive oil); “Rigatoni Chesare” (breaded chicken sautéed with spinach, herbs, rigatoni and olive oil; and “Steak Bono” (N.Y. steak crusted with herbs, served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes).
Sonny reinvented himself for the last time in 1988 when he fought with Palm Springs’ city hall over his inability to get approval for a larger sign for the restaurant and had “a few silly bureaucratic battles” over the remodeling of his house. Ultimately, he took over city hall after he ran for mayor without any previous political experience and defeated long-time incumbent Frank Bogert. In true Hollywood style, his election came one day after Cher won an Oscar for best actress (“Moonstruck”) and about a year after he had registered to vote for the first time.
Bono, a diminutive 5 feet 5, became a popular, high profile mayor who had time for guest appearances in movies and TV shows. The annual Palm Springs International Film was created under his administration, and a $2.5 million budget deficit was erased without raising taxes.
After one term as mayor, Bono decided to raise the proverbial bar for himself and run for U.S. Senate. Bruce Herschensohn defeated him in the Republican primary of 1992.
But he wasn’t finished with politics. Two years later he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 44 district and won the GOP primary. Ever the bitter loser, Bogert then remarked, “… I sure don’t want to see Sonny Bono there, making a fool of himself and us.” But Bono defeated Democrat Steve Clute, receiving 56 percent of the vote. He closed his restaurant in 1995, and reelection followed in 1996.
Through all of his encounters with the stodgy Washington society, Bono never lost his sense of humor. He told the VH-1 documentary Behind The Music, “I walked into my first session as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and all these faces looked up at me. I could see by the fearful look in their eyes that they were thinking, ‘Please let him be delivering pizza.’”
He also was a member of the National Security Committee and was active on immigration and Indian gaming issues. He became a popular draw at Republican fundraising events.
A section of Interstate 10 near Palm Springs has been named the Sonny Bono Freeway.
Cher, who reached incredible career heights after she split with Sonny, forever will be linked to him. Despite all of the acrimony that boiled out of their breakup, his death was a big blow to her. It caused her to reflect on how important he was to her success.
She delivered a tearful eulogy at his funeral. Then, inspired by Sonny, she gathered the strength to record again and ended up with her biggest hit, “Believe.” On her website, Cher once stated that the song is “In memory of Son.”
Regardless of whether you liked him, it is important to view Bono’s life as an inspiration. He was a diamond in the rough – untrained but not untalented. He took life’s pitfalls in stride, and he wasn’t afraid to try something new after he experienced failure.
He left an indelible fingerprint on the music and television industries and on the city of Palm Springs.
What we can learn from Sonny’s life, simply, is that seemingly impossible things can be accomplished through sheer determination.
