How Cher lost a fortune through one costly mistake

Cher has revealed a massive mistake she made in her career that cost her a fortune. Photo / FilmMagic

Cher, the “Goddess of Pop” and one of the most successful music artists in the world, has revealed that she holds on to a major regret regarding her hit single Believe.

Released in 1998, Believe (which is also the title for the album it features on) was a groundbreaking success, charting at number one in 23 countries and selling more than 11 million copies in the process.

Despite the single going on to become one of the best-selling singles in music history, Cher has revealed that she has some major issues with the song in this week’s episode of BBC Radio 2′s Tracks Of My Years with Vernon Kay.

Speaking to Kay about the single, Cher lamented how she was too afraid to challenge the status quo that she refrained from asking for a writing credit, despite having contributed to the song. “You can’t even image — about 30 people wrote on it. And I was so stupid. I didn’t ask. I didn’t even get a writer’s credit,” she said.

Cher has recently released "Christmas", her debut Christmas album that features her latest original work in over 10 years. Photo / Instagram

By failing to be credited for her contribution to the song’s development, Cher missed out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties after the single went on to become her most successful song ever.

“I wrote, ‘I’ve had time to think it through, and maybe I’m too good for you,’” Cher explained. “It sold 11 million copies. I could have got a lot of money.”

Despite fumbling over the expensive mistake, Cher seems to have done well otherwise. Current estimates put her net worth at around US$360 million ($580.3 million), according to Parade.

In the Tracks Of My Years episode, Cher explains how the studio sessions for recording the song were filled with tension and stress, highlighting how she walked out of one after receiving criticism of her vocals.

“The verse was so bad I couldn’t make it good,” Cher jokingly exclaimed. “We, the songwriters and I, got into a big fight over it. I walked out after they said I had to sing it better.

“Then in the morning I said, ‘What, [use] a vocoder?’ and they said, ‘No, you’ve got to do it at the time.”

Yet after the single had been digitally edited, Cher was back on board with the vision and went on to promote the single and its accompanying album.

Cher recently released her debut Christmas album Christmas which features her latest original work in than 10 years.