The young woman in the black and white photo peers intently at the camera and radiates a confidence beyond her years. Her long, dark hair and bangs frame a striking face: porcelain skin, soft lips, a strong nose and soulful eyes accentuated by thick eyelashes and mascara, eyes that are at the same time vulnerable and fierce, inviting and mysterious.

She is the one and only Cher, an American icon who has long dazzled audiences around the world with her extraordinary singing, acting and comedic skills. She has won an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy and was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Cher is the personification of female empowerment and has done it her way, whether she’s dating men half her age, topping the Billboard charts for seven consecutive decades, setting fashion trends or wowing TV viewers ​​with her then-husband, Sonny Bono, on “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.”

Now she has written the long-awaited ‘Cher: The Memoir, Part One’, the first of two parts. It turns out that the seductive woman on the book’s cover is the same one who appears on these pages: intelligent, sensitive and captivating.

In a conversational tone she describes her rough childhood, the fade-outs, the comebacks and the romances – with music mogul David Geffen; after her divorce from Bono, a subsequent marriage to the troubled Gregg Allman, the late singer and keyboardist of the Allman Brothers Band; and her happy times with blood-spewing Kiss frontman Gene Simmons, aka ‘The Demon’.

The book roughly covers the period from her birth to 1980, when Cher, a twice-divorced single mother with two children, found herself at a professional crossroads and figuring out what to do with the rest of her life.

At the heart of the memoir is Cher’s life-changing, tortured, supportive, destructive, and co-dependent relationship with Sonny. Without his encouragement, vision and drive, Cherilyn LaPierre Sarkisian would probably never have become the great Cher. And without her talent and love, Bono would likely have remained a bit player on the fringes of the entertainment industry.

Cher with her mother in Gardena, 1946.

(from Cher)

Cher’s early years weren’t all that great. Born in 1946 to Johnnie Sarkisian, a ne’er-do-well who soon abandoned his family, and his 20-year-old wife, Jackie Jean (who later went by the name Georgia), her childhood was marked by instability, unrest and chaos. She was even briefly placed in a home for children and unwed mothers.

Cher’s mother, a beautiful model and actor who had supporting roles in “Gunsmoke” and “I Love Lucy,” had an unusual hobby: collecting and throwing away men, eventually having “seven or eight” husbands, according to Cher.

Sometimes Cher, her younger sister Georganne and her mother lived well. Other times Jackie Jean had trouble feeding them. They moved constantly, mostly in Southern California. Through it all, Cher – who left her mother’s home when she was 16 – developed perseverance and resilience.

But her childhood was not all doom and gloom.

In 1956, Cher’s mother took her to an Elvis Presley concert at the old Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles. “It was the most exciting experience I’ve ever had because I knew I wanted to be on that stage in the spotlight one day.”

Another time, according to the memoir, 15-year-old Cher made out with 25-year-old Warren Beatty in his pool until the wee hours of the morning. Cher wore the swimsuit of Natalie Wood, Beatty’s lover and co-star in “Splendor in the Grass.”

When Bono enters Cher’s life, everything turns into Technicolor.

Book cover of Cher: The Memoir, Part One.

(HarperCollins)

In a scene from a Hollywood movie, Cher first saw him at Aldo’s coffee shop in Los Angeles in late 1962. Bono, then 27, was an “intriguing stranger” with a Caesar-style haircut, mustard shirt and Beatles boots and had been a songwriter since his teens. He reminded Cher of her mother’s fascinating friends. It wasn’t definitely love at first sight for either of them.

Cher soon moved in with Bono as a friend who cooked and cleaned for him. Over time, their relationship blossomed, as did Bono’s career. He landed a gig as an assistant to Phillip Spector, an eccentric music producer and architect of the ‘Wall of Sound’. With Bono’s encouragement, Spector enlisted Cher to sing background vocals on songs from Darlene Love, the Crystals and the Righteous Brothers’ classic, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.”‘

Bono and Cher struck out on their own and made a big splash with the 1965 release of their signature song “I Got You Babe.” The song rose to No. 1 on the charts. In early 1966, Sonny and Cher headlined a sold-out Hollywood Bowl.

But to paraphrase Bob Dylan, times were a changing.” Artists like The Doors, Cream and Jefferson Airplane had burst onto the scene to celebrate sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Suddenly, Sonny and Cher suddenly seemed passé.

Cher in Rudi Gernreich’s outfit, a saleswoman told her she couldn’t afford it. She bought it in three colors.

(from Cher)

Bad investments, overspending and declining interest rates took their toll. In 1969, just weeks after Cher gave birth to their daughter Chastity (now a man named Chaz), Bono told Cher that they were broke and that they owed the IRS $270,000. He asked her to give him two years and promised that he would make them bigger than ever. Their arduous climb back makes for one of the book’s most moving reads.

Without a hit or a movie, Sonny and Cher played dinner theaters for a hundred people or less. One night, Cher responded rudely to a brawler, and the crowd laughed. Then Bono joined in and the couple started having fun. Over time, they developed a new act based on their jokes, barbs and songs. People started coming again.

That became the basis for “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour,” which debuted on CBS in 1971 and ran for three seasons. Viewers came in to see Cher’s over-the-top skits and outfits, the biggest stars of the era and the couple’s sharp banter and unbridled joy.

The couple was a good match. Sonny loved Cher’s quirky sense of humor, and she enjoyed being taken care of. Sharing a stage with Sonny and looking into his eyes while singing gave Cher confidence and a sense of calm.

But Sonny, according to Cher, had a dark side. He cut her off from her friends and didn’t let her go anywhere but shopping. Sonny even burned her tennis clothes when he heard that she had been talking to some men after a private lesson. He also cheated on her relentlessly.

Eventually, Cher had enough and told a distant Bono that she wanted to sleep with their band’s guitarist, which she did. They agreed to keep their split out of the tabloids and continued to do their show together as if nothing had happened. “The rapport we had on stage was not a lie,” Cher writes. “We were always Sonny & Cher, even though we weren’t Sonny and Cher.”

Then another bomb. Cher discovered that her contract made her an employee of Bono and their lawyer. She couldn’t even sign a check or withdraw money without their approval. Devastated, Cher lobbied CBS not to pick up the hit show for season 4. Somehow her wish was granted. Cher soon filed for divorce.

The rhythm continued. “The Sonny Comedy Revue” debuted in October 1974 and was quickly canceled. In early 1975, “Cher” premiered and did much better in the ratings. But instead of feeling vindicated, Cher felt overwhelmed doing the show alone.

Cher with Greg Allman and their one-day-old son Elijah.

(from Cher)

The pregnant Cher, now married to the drug-addicted Allman and increasingly unhappy with him, contacted Sonny for support and asked if he would revive their show. Their bond was so strong that Cher wanted to reunite with her first husband while carrying her second husband’s baby.

The new “Sonny & Cher Show” ran from 1976 to 1977, with two crossed fingers instead of the ampersand. Despite the affairs, the pain and the bitterness built up over the years, the couple continued to make people laugh – and make fun of each other. They even went on a reunion tour.

If the memoir takes off when Cher writes about Bono, it fizzles out a bit when she discusses other relationships. For example, she says Geffen was a great boyfriend. What she doesn’t say is that he was gay. Did she know that? How did that affect their relationship, if at all? Why the silence?

Likewise, her reflections on Allman lack depth. Why did the often sober Cher pursue a relationship with a famous junkie? What did she see in him besides his golden good looks, artistry and generic sweetness?

These are minor drawbacks. ‘Cher: The Memoir, Part One’ is a fun read, a candid and well-written book that will have her legion of fans rightly excited for the release of the second part. Like Barbra Streisand, who recently wrote a 970-page memoir, Cher is one of the few artists whose extraordinary lives deserve extra ink.

Ballon, a former Times, Forbes and Inc. reporter. Magazine, teaches advanced writing classes at USC. He lives in Fullerton.