The 1970s anthems Cher couldn’t live without
There isn’t a medium that Cher doesn’t excel in. The multi-hyphenate, who began as a backing singer for The Ronettes as a teenager, would go on to become a celebrated actress, a fashion icon, and the only solo artist to ever achieve number-one Billboard hits over seven consecutive decades.
The 1970s, when Cher was in her 20s and 30s, was arguably the most tumultuous period of her career. She went through two divorces (one with longtime musical partner Sonny Bono and another with The Allman Brothers Band frontman Gregg Allman) and had her second son, Elijah.
In a recent interview aired on BBC Radio 4, Cher revealed what her personal “desert island” records are, two of which were from this uniquely eventful decade of her life: ‘Evil’ by Stevie Wonder and ‘Minute by Minute’ by The Doobie Brothers.
‘Evil’, the closer of Wonder’s 1972 LP Music of My Mind, is a succinct (by Stevie Wonder standards) ballad tackling the woes of the world at large. The track builds alongside Wonder’s powerhouse vocals, as he builds to a growl with the line “Evil, why have you destroyed / You’ve destroyed so much of this doggone world?” Much like the subject matter, the song ends unresolved. According to Cher, “His lyrics are so special. But the concept, taking evil and making it into that song, it’s genius.”
Cher also discussed how Stevie’s music got her through her split with Sonny: “Stevie was, when I left Sonny, it was the first music that I got. I don’t remember which one it was…Talking Book? I have no idea. And then we became friends. But Stevie just meant the world to me. He’s such a genius, It’s like hearing Beethoven. I’m sure those chicks were like, ‘Oh, God, this guy’s cool,’ you know, in whatever the vernacular was. But that’s the way I felt about Stevie. Also, Stevie kind of felt like liberation to me,” she said.
Cher and Stevie were friends for decades, but it wasn’t until her 2023 Christmas album that they finally collaborated. When Stevie agreed to sing and play harmonica on Cher’s cover of ‘What Christmas Means to Me’, the then 77-year-old was so excited she “jumped around my room and jumped up and down on my bed”.
‘Minute by Minute’, the title track of The Doobie Brothers’ 1978 record of the same name, is an infectious, shuffling piece of yacht rock. The song’s signature electric piano groove, combined with Michael McDonald’s rich, soulful vocals, helped define the band’s late-1970s sound.
While Cher didn’t have quite the same emotional attachment to The Doobie Brothers as she does to Stevie Wonder, she did have “…such a crush on Michael McDonald. Yes. Oh, my God. Loved him. I should have told him,” she gushes. McDonald’s distinct voice and songwriting contributions elevated the band during this era, making them one of the premier crossover rock acts of the decade.
The Doobie Brothers were early masters of genre-bending, effortlessly blending rock, pop, blues, and funk into a unique and ever-evolving sound. Minute by Minute itself is a prime example, weaving soft rock balladry, traditional country elements, and smooth R&B grooves throughout its tracklist. This stylistic versatility set them apart from their contemporaries and played a major role in their commercial success.
Beyond their genre experimentation, the band was impressively prolific, churning out a new record every year from 1971 to 1978, a feat few artists could match while maintaining their level of quality and innovation.
