Question: I think you are the best singer ever and I love the new song. Where did you get the idea?
Cher: Well, the song was sent to me with a bunch of other songs. There were some songs that I didn’t like. But when I got “Believe,” it had a great chorus and we all rewrote the verses and then I put on the electronic vocal part.
Question: What was it about “Tea with Mussolini” that made you want to do it? Was it the era?
Cher: You know, I really loved the story of the women. How they reacted to one another. I thought it was a sweet story. And I never made a period movie before. I had made a period movie, but something in the ’60s and not something that long ago. And I thought it would be really interesting to make a movie in a foreign country.
Question: Do you have a web site?
Cher: Yes, of course I do. It’s cher.com
Question: Are you going to release “All or Nothing” as a single? I think it’s the best song on the album.
Cher: We just released it in Europe and I want to have it as the next one here. It’s definitely one of my favorite songs.
Question: Hi, Cher, I just love your . My question is… from where do you get all your inspiration?
Cher: Well, you know, I don’t write the , I just have access to some really great writers.
Question: Did you always know when you were little that you wanted to be an entertainer?
Cher: Yeah, I really did. I knew that from about the time I was four or five years old. And I went to see “Dumbo” in the movies and just knew that it’s what I wanted to do.
Question: Congratulations on winning the award at the Monaco World Music Awards! Did you get a trophy?
Cher: Yes, I did. It was a man holding up the world.
Question: Do you still spend a lot of time working out? Also, thanks for the memories back as far as your first appearance on “American Bandstand”!
Cher: Well, I’m spending more time working out now than I usually do because I’m getting ready to go on the road and tour. I have to be strong enough for dancing and just to run around.
Question: Will you be touring the US soon?
Cher: I start, my first date is June 12th in Phoenix. We’ll be posting on our web site the new version of the tour schedule.
Question: Are you planning a European Tour for next year? If so, what cities will be included?
Cher: Yes, I just don’t know if it will be the end of this year that I go to Europe or the end of next year. I’m supposed to make a movie in October, but I haven’t gotten the rewrite back yet.
Question: Have you ever heard of the pop group Hanson? They said, “We absolutely love Cher.”
Cher: Yeah, of course I know who they are. My keyboard player, Paul Merkovich, plays with them.
Question: Hey Cher, my birthday is on the same day as yours and I think that’s cool! I’m a really big fan! What is your favorite song not written or sung by you?
Cher: You know what, it’s so hard, that’s a hard question, but Procol Harem made a song called “Whiter Shade of Pale” and I’ve always loved that and it’s the song that always comes to mind. It was a favorite song of mine for such a long time, and I’m just not sure now. Annie Lennox did a version of it on one of her latest albums.
Question: Will the song you sang in “Tea with Mussolini” appear on a soundtrack, and did you sing any other songs for the movie/soundtrack?
Cher: I don’t know… and no, that was kind of a last minute thing where he just wanted something at the piano.
Question: Do you have any pets and what are they?
Cher: I have two cats, bangled cats, spotted from Asia, one’s name is Jack and the other is Nairobi. And I have a dog that I rescued him in Italy from my trailer, but now he lives with my sister and I think I’m going to have a hard time getting him back. And an Akita who lives up in Aspen with my housekeeper, it’s a big, big dog with a curly tail.
Question: I was thinking the other night… you, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Reba McEntire and Bette Midler should do an album. Do you think it is possible? How much fun do you think it would be?
Cher: You know what, the hard thing is getting those ladies together at one time. Everybody’s on a different record company. And that’s the hardest thing. To get a chance to do something like the Divas, it’s really fun because you don’t get a chance to sing with other artists that often.
Question: What are you most proud of from your career?
Cher: Well, I guess that it’s lasted as long as it has.
Question: Did you watch the Sonny and Cher TV movie that aired recently, and if so, what did you think? Was it fairly accurate?
Cher: I didn’t watch it because I was out of the country. I hear from my family that watched it, I didn’t hear that they liked it at all. They thought it was pretty sad.
Question: Cher, who is your favorite actor and why?
Cher: I think Anthony Hopkins. I just think that he can do anything.
Question: I noticed with your song “Strong Enough,” you did a “male” and female” version. That was great! Do you have plans on doing this with future songs or was this a one-time thing?
Cher: It was just that I thought about it. At the time that we were doing it I thought it would be really cool to do it this way. For songs that will be played in gay bars, it would be really great, so when I think of it, I will.
Question: Do you chat with your fans online?
Cher: I have. I haven’t done it lately because I’ve been out of the country a lot. But I’ve done it a couple times. But the first times I’ve done it, nobody believed it was me.
Question: Cher, did you expect “Believe” to have as much success as it did?
Cher: No, I was completely surprised. I mean, I loved this song, but for me to love it and — it doesn’t mean that just because you love it, doesn’t mean everybody else will love it. But everybody that I played it for, it just had a strong reaction. “I Got You Babe” had the same reaction.
Question: What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about performing?
Cher: It’s always a challenge. I never go onstage or up in front of a microphone or a movie set that isn’t a challenge. It puts you face to face to either come up with the goods or you don’t. So it’s always a little bit scary.
Question: How do you manage to look as wonderful as you do? Honestly, you must have the best butt in the business! I’d love it if my butt looked like that!
Cher: I just really work hard. I do different workouts. I do about 3 or 4 different kinds of workouts, Tae Bo and weights, and I have some machines. There’s just a lot of stuff that I do, and because I try not to get bored… I do different things on different days. Right now I’m kind of in exercise hell with the tour.
Question: Hi, Cher! I think you are the greatest! I read that you were getting rid of your tattoos. Is this true?
Cher: I’m starting by getting rid of two of them. And I’m going to see how it works, and so far it’s working pretty good. And then I’ll see what happens. Actually I’m trying a new laser next week. They’re always coming out with new things.
Question: Cher, are you a “Star Wars” fan?
Cher: Absolutely. I am so thrilled and so excited to go and see it. There is a special screening for people in the business, and I’m trying to get out of other things to go and see it.
Question: What do you mean when you say, “Do you believe in life after love?”
Cher: Well, what it means is if somebody breaks your heart, eventually it’s going to be fine and eventually you’re going to fall in love again.
Question: I love the photo of you in the “Believe” CD, with the candles — was that your idea?
Cher: Yeah, it was, because I had a catalog company for a couple years and it was really, that was the look of it, and so I wanted to take that because it’s a really kind of romantic look. We’re actually about to open an online store, and we’ll have things that were in that catalog. Candles and incense and mouse pads. It’s kind of a lifestyle store, about making a feeling and an environment. The Sanctuary catalog had everything in it.
Question: Cher, everybody in Germany loves you and your … when will you be here onstage?
Cher: I think that I’ll either be there February or October, but at this point you have to check the web site because it updates every day. That address again is cher.com.
Question: Were you nervous at all about working with actresses like Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, all your own movie successes notwithstanding?
Cher: I was absolutely terrified because it’s hard to work with your idols. When I work with someone that I am in complete awe of, you kind of revert back to just being a kid. They were the funniest women I ever met.
Question: The video for “Believe” was really cool. Did you have fun filming it?
Cher: I had a blast. We were in England and we had one day because I was leaving the next day, and we just worked all day and all night.
Question: Which do you prefer — acting or singing?
Cher: The truth is I like them both the same, and if I do them both, then if I do one, the next time I do the other I’ll do it better. I need the diversity and I need to be able to express myself in different places.
Question: Do you feel as young as you look?
Cher: Oh gosh, sometimes I feel younger and sometimes I feel ancient.
Question: What are you doing for the millennium?
Cher: I’m not sure. I don’t know. I’m working on something right now that might be really special, but I can’t say now. Really special.
Question: What happened to “Love Is in the Air”?
Cher: We recorded a number of songs that didn’t make the album. That was just one of the ones that didn’t make the album.
Question: Where is the most exciting place to perform?
Cher: It’s not so much about the place, it’s about the people.
Question: If you had to choose, whom would you want to sing a duet with?
Cher: Male or female? Hmmm… who would I want to sing a duet with, let me think. I don’t know because there are a lot of people I’d want to sing a duet with. Well, I’d love to sing with Tina Turner and I just did, so that was really fun. And it was just as exciting as I thought it would be. There are lots of people I’d really love to sing with.
Question: Do you think you’ll ever remarry?
Cher: Well, you know, I never like to say never because as soon as I say, “Oh no, I will never do that,” it’s the next thing I do, so never say never.
Question: Hi, Cher! My name is Alexis and I love singing, but I wanted to know if you could help me with my stage fright?
Cher: This is what I think. Stage fright and being excited are like twins. And I get really nervous and excited when I go on tage. Remember the feelings of excitement, and it’s a big thing I’m going to do, but I don’t let it go. It’s like a roller coaster, there are moments when you’re exhilarated and moments when you’re frightened, and you have to let it go and just walk out onstage and remember that why you’re on stage is because it’s where you want to be.
Question: If you could change one thing that you did in the past, what would it be?
Cher: Oh gosh, there would be so much, well, there wouldn’t be a lot, but there would be quite a number of things I would change. I can’t really think of one specific one right now. And, also, maybe the ones I can think of are too personal and I don’t want to tell them.
Question: Cher, one of my all-time favorite movies is “Moonstruck.” I especially like to see your comic side. Will we be seeing you in that kind of movie anytime soon?
Cher: Well, I’m supposed to make this movie called “Breakers” with Jennifer Aniston, and that’s the movie that will either be made in October or next year.
Question: Cher, how do you keep your sanity as a wonderful singer, a great movie star, a diva and most of all a wonderful woman mentor for womanhood?
Cher: You know, you don’t take fame seriously. It’s a byproduct of the things that I like to do, but it has nothing to do with me.
Question: Is there any special man in your life right now?
Cher: No, right now I’m not seeing anybody. Right now I don’t have time to see anybody. So, thank God there isn’t anybody in my life. Literally I’m up at the crack of dawn and working every hour on the hour.
Question: Cher, I know it was hard for you with your daughter’s sexuality — how do you two get along now?
Cher: You know what, we get along so great now. It was the best thing that happened to us. We had the big blowout and everything got out in the open, and everything’s been great since.
Question: Why are people saying you lip-synched that song on the Diva show?
Cher: Well, because I sang live with Tina on “Turn Back Time,” but at that point we hadn’t figured out how to do all the electronics stuff so it was either don’t do the song or sing along with the tracks. So the electronics parts were all tracks. It was complicated.
Question: Heard you are doing a dance version of “I Got You Babe” — any truth?
Cher: No. It’s a good idea, though.
Question: Hi, this is Jessica — who had the biggest influence on your career?
Cher: Oh, I would guess Sonny Bono.
Question: Is Madonna going to direct the video for your next single as rumored, and are you good friends?
Cher: She was supposed to direct the next single, but now she’s doing a movie with Rupert Everett, but it if she’s free in the fall, she’ll do it in the fall (Ed. note: Cher didn’t answer the second part of the question)
Question: The USS Missouri, the ship from “Turn Back Time,” was ported here in Oregon for 2 months. How did you enjoy being surrounded by all those gorgeous Navy men?
Cher: It was great! We had a fabulous time, but they kept calling me ma’am the whole time.
Question: Will there be a tribute album to Sonny?
Cher: I want to do one. I had an idea to take and do duets with Bono from U2 and take his favorite artists and do duets. Have them do Sonny’s part. I’m working on that right now.
Question: Do you still have the outfit you wore on the “Ed Sullivan Show”?
Cher: I actually do. My mom saved it. My mom saved a lot of my costumes.
Question: Cher, how much time do you spend online a week?
Cher: I haven’t spent very much time at all lately. I have just been working constantly. But I try to go on each week.
Question: I think that “Baby Don’t Go” was your best effort ever. (One man’s opinion.) What do you consider your best song?
Cher: “Believe,” I guess.
Question: What do you think about Marilyn Manson?
Cher: You know, I think that when he started, I really enjoyed watching a lot of his creativity, and artists go through things. Sometimes they stretch out to where I might think is too far. I think he’s really talented. I think that he relies on shock value and is losing some of his validity, which I think it’s important that he doesn’t spend too much time on one particular thing. Because then it won’t lock him in like it locked in Alice Cooper.
Question: Do you think you will ever do a biography movie that you direct?
Cher: Yeah. I’d never be in one, but it would certainly not be unheard of to want to do a really great movie. Like Tina’s movie I thought was really good.
Question: Do you have anything you’d like to say to your fans?
Cher: I just want to tell you that you’ve made this one of the most amazing years of my career as an entertainer and I’m just so thrilled that you’re happy with what I’m doing.
Question: Thank you so much for all of your great questions, and thank you, Cher!
Cher: Thank you!
AOL Chat 99,
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