Cher joked her two divorces were “easier” than getting into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during her induction ceremony over the weekend.
The Strong Enough hitmaker was officially inducted into the prestigious institution during an event held at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday night.
Following an introduction by Zendaya, Cher took to the stage amid a standing ovation from the crowd.
To begin her acceptance speech, the music icon referred to the amount of time it has taken for her to be inducted.
“It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” she joked. “I want to thank my guardian (music executive) David Geffen, because he wrote a letter and sent it to the directors, and now, haha, here I am! Thank you, David. Thank you for caring so much about me.”
Cher was married to Sonny Bono from 1964 until their divorce in 1975 and to Gregg Allman from 1975 until 1979.
The star then recalled the advice her mother Georgia Holt gave her as a girl.
“She said, ‘You know, if you’re down and you’re out, you get up again.’ And in my life, I’ve been so down,” the 78-year-old recounted. “As my mother would say, ‘Lower than a snake’s belly.’ That’s how down I’ve been. People have told me that I was finished, that I was through, that I have 10 minutes. The one thing that I think I got from my mom is that I never gave up.”
Elsewhere in the speech, Cher described herself as a “good” but not “great” singer.
She also reflected on how her hit 1998 track Believe almost didn’t get made.
“With Believe, I changed the sound of music forever, and it was an accident. My producer and I were having a fight, with my producer saying, ‘Cher, do it better,'” she remembered. “I said, ‘Dude, if you want it better, get a different singer.’ He called me later and said, ‘Cher, I’ve been playing around with the pitch machine, and I think I’ve got something.’ I went back and listened to it, and when it was over, we both jumped up and we high-fived each other. It was so great, it was a moment. And then, the head of my record company said, ‘We can’t do that because no one will know it was you.’ And I said, ‘Yes, that’s the deal! That’s the great part!'”
Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, and Kool & The Gang were also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.
