Cher Superstar
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=JBMISN_U144
Art photos of Cher in one of her most famous Bob Mackie gowns. Along with her version of Superstar, that was recorded as her last single on her Atlantic Records contract...it is available from Rhino Handmade as part of their reissue of her 1969 album 3614 Jackson Highway. • • ABOUT THE GOWN.... • Cher wore this gown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at their annual costume gala in 1975 and it caused jaws to drop! Daring to shock people Cher did not wear a body stocking underneath. Consisiting of sheer net, crystal beads in a feather pattern and white ostrich feathers only covering the sleeves and hem. Cher was also photographed in this gown when she appeared on the cover of Time magazine (March 17, 1975) for an article called CHER, Gladrags to Riches . It was reported in the press that the gown cost a whopping $10,000 and that is in 1975 dollars. When later asked if she still had this gown CHER was quoted as saying, Oh I ripped the hem on it so it is on the floor of my closet. It was NOT in the recent CHER auction, so CHER must be keeping it for good, as she should. • • ABOUT THE SONG.... • Superstar is a 1969 song written by Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett, that has been a hit for many artists in different genres and interpretations in the years since; the most known version is by The Carpenters in 1971. • • Accounts of the song's origin vary somewhat, but it grew out of the late 1969/early 1970 nexus of English and American musicians known as Delaney, Bonnie Friends, that involved Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, and various others. The song's working title during portions of its development was Groupie Song . • In its first recorded incarnation, the song was called Groupie (Superstar) , and was recorded and released as a B-side to the Delaney Bonnie single Comin' Home in December 1969. Released by Atlantic Records, the full credit on the single was to Delaney Bonnie and Friends Featuring Eric Clapton. • Sung by Bonnie, the arrangement featured slow guitar and bass parts building up to an almost gospelish chorus using horns. • The song was about, as the title suggests, a groupie who holds a strong love for a rock star after a short sexual involvement. He has moved on to the next town, and despite his promises to see her again she can now only hear him on the radio. She is just left with the pure hopeless yearning of the chorus: • Don't you remember! You told me you loved me, baby • You said you'd be coming back this way again, baby • Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby, I love you! I really do ... • Delaney Bonnie were not yet well known at the time, and Comin' Home only reached number 84 on the U.S. pop singles chart, although it achieved a peak of sixteen on the UK Singles Chart. • • CHER'S version • • Around September 1970, CHER recorded Superstar as her last single for Atco Records. Released in October or November of 1970, and in the gap between Sonny and Cher's heyday and the start of Cher's solo successes, it did not chart. After the song became better known, a concert performance of it was included in the 1973 Sonny CHER In Las Vegas, Volume 2. This is an excellent version of the song and CHER's vocals are inspiring! • • The Carpenter's version • • Superstar became its biggest hit version for The Carpenters. It is said that Karen Carpenter recorded her vocal in just one take, using lyrics scribbled on a napkin. Since the song's subject was more risqué than usual for the clean-cut image of The Carpenters, Richard changed a lyric in the second verse from: • And I can hardly wait • To sleep with you again • To the far less explicit: • And I can hardly wait • To be with you again. • The duo's rendition was included on their May 1971 album Carpenters, and then released as a single in September 1971. It rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart that autumn and earned gold record status. It also reached number 18 on the UK pop singles chart and did well in Australia and New Zealand as well. • Richard Carpenter would be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist for his efforts. • • ABOUT THE ALBUM 3614 Jackson Highway...... • Please visit this excellent page on the 3614 Jackson Highway album • http://www.geocities.com/marcapregunt...
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