Cher (born May 20, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Dubbed the "Goddess of Pop", she gained fame in 1965 as part of the folk duo Sonny & Cher, early exponents of 1960s counterculture. She became a TV star in the 1970s, with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour drawing more than 30 million viewers weekly, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 with narrative pop songs including "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" and "Half- Breed". Transitioning to film, she earned two Academy Awards nominations—for Silkwood (1983) and Moonstruck (1987), winning Best Actress for the latter—and received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Mask (1985). Her dance-pop comeback album Believe (1998) introduced the "Cher effect", a stylized use of Auto-Tune to distort vocals. Her 2002–2005 Farewell Tour grossed $250 million, the highest ever by a female artist at the time. A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Cher is the only solo artist with Billboard number-one singles in each of seven decades.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

794:

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia was beheaded on the orders of Offa of Mercia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelberht_II_of_East_Anglia

1714:

J. S. Bach led the first performance of his Pentecost cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder at the chapel of Schloss Weimar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erschallet,_ihr_Lieder,_erklinget,_ihr_Saiten!_BWV_172

1927:

With the signing of the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud

1941:

World War II: German paratroopers began the Battle of Heraklion on the island of Crete, capturing the airfield and port in Heraklion ten days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Heraklion

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

boatage: 1. (uncountable) Conveyance, chiefly of goods, by boat. 2. (uncountable) A charge for transporting goods or people by boat; (countable) an instance of this. 3. (uncountable) The total capacity of a number of boats, especially of lifeboats on a ship. 4. (uncountable, obsolete) Boats collectively. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boatage

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

My goal in life is to make people think. If I do that, I've been a success.   --Charles A. Reich https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_A._Reich