It's time to dig out your dancing shoes, dust off your shiniest outfit and get ready to believe in life after love once again with the news that the Goddess of Pop, Cher, is coming Down Under.
The 'Here We Go Again' tour shows will mark the first time in 13 years the 72-year-old will tour Australia, with stops in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, Adelaide, Wollongong and Perth.
If she could turn back time to 2005, the singer and actress might not have toured under the 'Farewell Tour' banner when she played her last headline shows here.
But if anyone has earned the right to do just about whatever she wants in show business, it's the cultural phenomenon born Cherilyn Sarkisian.
Fifty-three years after her debut single – a cover of Bob Dylan's 'All I Really Want To Do' – reached #15 on the Billboard chart and the world was introduced to her via the international smash 'I Got You Babe' with first husband Sonny Bono, Cher is ready to delight Australian audiences once more. And a delight it's sure to be.
Pop, film, fashion, television and a whole lot more: there's not much the native Californian hasn't packed into her lengthy and hugely varied career. Add to that numerous Vegas residencies, business ventures and even starring roles in a string of infomercials, Cher has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
“All of us invent ourselves: some of us just have more imagination than others,” is a quote often attributed to her, and to say she's done it all and won it all is an understatement.
She has bagged an Academy Award (for 1987's 'Moonstruck'), a Grammy, an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, among many more, making her one of a select few to have swept the board in such a way.
But don't think that means she's planning to slow down. Not content to still be selling out arenas and stadiums globally in 2018, she also stars in recent box office smash 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again'.
With extra shows recently added in Brisbane and Wollongong, the love affair between Cher and her Australian fans is burning as brightly as ever.
“My visit to Sydney’s Mardi Gras [this year] reminded me how unique and beautiful Australia is,” she said in a statement. “It’s been 13 years since I toured there so I thought ‘let’s do it one more time'.”
Known for much more than performance, Cher has been a fashion icon since the 1970s when she was first celebrated for wearing elaborate and original stage outfits in her various television shows and appearances – after navigating a messy divorce from Sonny Bono and emerging as a solo star.
Between 1972 and 1975 alone she appeared on the cover of Vogue five times, and has been described by Time magazine as a 'cultural phenomenon who has forever changed the way we see celebrity fashion'.
With such impeccable fashion credentials, it's no wonder she has been honoured by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for her enduring impact on the fashion world.
While she's been successful in many roles over several decades, she is perhaps most well known by a younger generation for the single 'Believe' from the 1998 album of the same name – the 22nd LP of her career.
After a relatively unsuccessful couple of pop-rock albums, musical wilderness was beckoning. But the Queen of Reinvention struck gold with 'Believe'.
The switch to a more dance-oriented sound fitted perfectly with the late-1990s clubbing Zeitgeist, the album went on to sell over ten million copies, and Cher was tasting musical highs perhaps even she had never experienced before.
The single topped the Billboard chart 25 years after her last #1, setting a record for the longest time between first-place finishes, and it made her the oldest woman to reach number one – a record she still holds. The song was also one of the earliest examples of Auto-Tune vocal effects on a successful pop record (a time long before it became risible).
The song and album gave her music career a much-needed shot in the arm, introduced her to a new generation of fans, provided her with the eternal encore, was described as recently as 2016 as 'the biggest club record ever' by Vice, and perhaps sealed her spot as the Goddess of Pop of all time.
Since then, she hasn't looked back, performing in front of huge audiences globally. Her 2014 'Dressed To Kill' tour grossed $54.8 million and sold more than 600,000 tickets, despite ending prematurely due to the singer's health issues.
“I've always taken risks and never worried about what the world might think of me,” she's been quoted as saying. “Some people's feathers are just bigger and brighter than others.”
Cher's 90-minute Australian shows will feature songs from her entire, six-decade career, and now that she rarely tours outside the US and could probably be offered another Vegas residency at the drop of a hat, Australian fans should jump at the chance to see her while they still can.
Cher Tour Dates
26 Sep - Newcastle Entertainment Centre28-29 Sep - Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3, 5 Oct - Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)
9 Oct - Adelaide Entertainment Centre
12 Oct - Perth Arena
16 Oct - WIN Entertainment Centre (Wollongong)
18, 20 Oct - Qudos Bank Arena (Sydney)
