"I Got You Babe" — Here's Sonny Bono and Cher's Relationship Timeline

In the early '60s, a young relationship was blossoming that would turn the music world on its head. A soon-to-be-power couple were just starting to fall in love, and plans were made that would change the landscape of music over the next decade. We're talking, of course, about the famed Sonny and Cher. Salvatore Bono and Cherilyn Sarkisian were a musical duo who created a unique sound and several hit songs that endure to this day.

In 2024, Cher released a memoir detailing that all was not as serene between the couple as they pretended in public, and accused Sonny of taking her money before his death in 1998. Yet before the end, the public believed they were a power couple through and through. Here's a timeline of their relationship and breakup.

From the outside, Sonny and Cher's relationship was simple and straightforward. They fell in love and made it work until it didn't, then they got divorced. But behind the scenes, their relationship was anything but straightforward. It all started in 1962. At the time, 27-year-old and once-divorced Sonny was working as a producer, gofer, and occasional drummer for Phil Spector. He ran into Cher while at a coffee shop in Los Angeles.

Cher, 16 at the time, had just dropped out of high school and was singing backup for major hits produced by Sonny's employer, Phil. Those hits included "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers, and "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. Despite the age gap and difference in life stages, Sonny wooed Cher and the two started a budding romance Cher would later describe as more "paternal" than "fiery."

They told the world they were married in 1964 — after Cher turned 18 and when Sonny was 29. It later turned out that they weren't married and didn't tie the knot until a few years later. As a singing duo then called Caesar and Cleopatra, they released several songs that didn't seem to catch on. But in 1965, everything changed for the couple.

By this time, they had re-branded themselves as Sonny and Cher and released a song many recognize to this day: "I Got You Babe." The song soared to No. 1 on the charts, and the pair had their fame locked in.

Sonny and Cher were a prolific songwriting duo and released many more hits. But only one other song even came close to the popularity of their first mega-hit, and that was 1967's "The Beat Goes On." In 1969, they welcomed their only child, Chaz Bono, and officially married that same year.

On the surface, they were a powerful singing duo and Hollywood couple, attending important events and presenting their brand to perfection with every performance. But behind the scenes, trouble was brewing.

By 1972, the duo had separated. Cher later expressed that she felt oppressed and "trapped" in her marriage. In a 1972 diary entry, Sonny wrote, "[My new partner] and I live together as husband and wife. But my public wife is still Cher in order to maintain all the things I want right now. That’s the way it has to be." Cher, miserable, said that there was a time in 1972 when she thought of ending her life (via People).

In a memoir released in 2024, Cher wrote, "I was dizzy with loneliness. I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear. For a few crazy minutes, I couldn't imagine any other option. I did this five or six times." In order to not disrupt the public's image of them as a powerful singing and songwriting couple, they continued the facade as things crumbled behind the scenes. Sonny eventually filed for separation in 1974, and then Cher demanded a divorce.

What followed was a bitter divorce battle that played out and left them both frustrated and angry. In her memoir, Cher accuses Sonny of taking more than his fair share in the divorce which was finalized in 1975.

In her memoir, Cher wrote, "He took all my money. I just thought, we’re husband and wife. Half the things are his, half the things are mine. It didn’t occur to me that there was another way … To this day, I wish to God I could just ask, ‘Son, at what point, during what day, did you go, "Yeah, you know what? I’m going to take her money."'”

Despite the fact that Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998, she continues to fight for her due royalties to this day with Sonny's widow, Mary Bono. It's an ongoing battle that highlights just how loveless and bitter their relationship was for the majority of their marriage. Despite the smiles they wore in public, Sonny and Cher were anything but the perfect couple.