Cher hard work

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

Do you see any irony that your first visit to New Zealand is also your farewell tour?

Someone said that to me before, but I'm planning to buy some property there so it won't really be my farewell.

But everyone wants to buy property here.

You know what? I don't want 51,000 acres. I just want a place for a little house.

Shania Twain bought a mountain down south.

But what for?

Maybe it reminds her of Canada. But less about her. This goodbye tour of yours has been going for years. It's been a very long goodbye.

Well, what happened was we were going to do 59 dates and we would sell out one place five times. And not anticipating that. So we've done 265 shows.

That's some work ethic. Is it hard?

Yeah, it's a bitch. I don't think there are a lot of people who can move from town to town like we do, forget doing the show. And I do actually sing lyrics so that's another hazard.

You're old fashioned like that.

Yeah, I am. But when I started there was no other way to sing.

There's not many people who can say "since I started out" and it actually means something ...

Yeah, since Sonny and I started people have said I was on my way out. I've been doing this for 41 years and every year they've said, 'She's on her way out'.

But you've had hits every decade since the 60s. You must have some theories about pop as a cyclical business?

I don't know how it is. I just know you go up, you go down. I don't know many who have stayed up for the whole time. I don't know many people who I started out with that are still around - Tina [Turner], the Rolling Stones, and after that I'm trying to think of people that started when I started.

After all those shows, what are you going to do with all the money?

Oh, I don't know. I'm not going to buy a hilltop in ...

The South Island.

Right.

You could probably afford the entire Southern Alps at the moment.

But I think it's too greedy. It just seems a little bit too greedy.

Your farewell tour ends in Australia. What do you think you will be feeling on that last night?

I don't know. I am one of those people who gets to a place when I get to it. I don't anticipate it too much.

That you've endured - has it just been a product of the music or is it something people have seen in you over the years?

You have to remember, too, that Sonny and I did TV shows together, I did TV shows by myself, movies and lots of different things. In some place you would have seen me unless you live in a cave and you either like me or you just don't. I think you have to like what you think a person's personality is, even if that's not necessarily the truth of it. I'm pretty open. I'm not looking to be Miss Perfect because I'm not.

You never seem to have projected a persona.

Sometimes you are maybe forced to be nicer than you are. You do 50,000 interviews and you finally go, 'I'd just like to shoot myself in the mouth with a gun,' and yet this is what you do. So it's more about being professional. But I am always who I am. I get into trouble a lot for it but I don't really care.

And you've never taken yourself particularly seriously.

For what reason? I couldn't even think of a reason to do it.

And the last movie you were in, Stuck on You [in which Cher played herself and in one scene shared a bed with teen star Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle fame], was a fine example of that.

That was funny, wasn't it?

Yes, what also made me laugh is the new autobiography by Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis which sounded a lot like the scene from Stuck on You. He was saying you used to babysit him ...

Oh, that's right! I only read that part.

So you are to blame for what the Red Hot Chili Peppers turned into?

No, I'm not. He was a sweet little boy.

You were just a rather formative experience for him.

Right. Ha ha ha.

For him and quite a few young men over the world ...

Yeah, but I didn't babysit a whole bunch of them.

Anyway, we digress. I take it you voted Kerry?

Yeah, yeah. It's a no-brainer, babe. I just care that I want the best person to run my country and we do not have that right now. Plus this is a very hard time because my whole life I was never afraid to speak up and this time I finally had to have a serious talk with myself because you can really ruin your career by speaking up in this administration.

Going back, wasn't there a theory that the Sonny and Cher Show seemed too innocent and frivolous after Vietnam, which is why the series didn't last long?

Actually, Sonny and I were on TV after the major part of Vietnam. That was a big time for both of us. We protested constantly. In the 60s you protested. If you didn't like something you protested. We hated the war. We all knew it was a bullshit war.

This is quite a leap but sort of connected - any regrets about the Turn Back Time video on the battleship?

Why? Was it in good taste? But so what? That's not all I do and plus the videos they do make that look like the mildest thing that ever happened. Also you couldn't see any more than you could see on any beach. There was nothing more revealing than any kind of bathing suit.

Er, I was more worried about the size of the battleship.

I liked the battleship. It was really fun and the sailors were great. They were so sweet and they kept calling me 'Ma'am'.

That's nice. You must have done wonders for recruiting.

Ha ha ha.

So how old do you feel, ma'am?

It depends on the day. Some days I feel really young and some days I think I'm so old. I had a friend who once told me, 'It's so strange I keep looking into this mirror and see this old woman and I don't know where she came from'. I think that I can understand that.

Is it a pain to be held up as someone who seems to be age-defiant?

No, it's all a bunch of crap. I just do what I do.

What do you think of your singing voice?

It's okay. I don't particularly care for it. I don't listen to it.

Has it changed over the years?

I think it's got better but it's still not that great. I got a singing teacher in some point back in the day and she helped me improve my voice. I think it's much better than when it first started. I have to kind of baby it a little bit because it just gets worn out.

You don't shout at people.

No, I don't do that. I'm not a screamer. I'm a turn on your heels and walk out kind of girl.

What's the show like from where you're standing? Like being a Fourth of July parade with music?

No, it's like Cirque du Soleil with music.

I guess nothing can be too over the top.

It's not Chekhov, just fun. It's to entertain. It's like a circus, that's what I think is wonderful and it's so much fun for me.

LOWDOWN

WHO: Cher

BORN: Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre, 20 May 1946, El Centro, California

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: Sonny Bono (married 1963, divorced 1975); Greg Allman (married June 30 1975, divorced 1978)

CHILDREN: Chastity (born 1969), Elijah Allman (1976)

KEY TRACKS: I Got You Babe, The Beat Goes On, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, Half-Breed, If I Could Turn Back Time, Believe

KEY MOVIES: Silkwood (1983), Mask (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Mermaids (1990), Stuck on You (playing herself, 2003)

PLAYING: North Harbour Stadium, Sunday February 20; Christchurch, Westpac Centre, Tuesday February 22. Tickets go on sale now.