“Kellyoke” has been one of the most popular segments on The Kelly Clarkson Show since the show premiered in 2019. Clarkson has covered more than 800 songs in the segment, demonstrating on a daily basis that she can just sing about any kind of song. 2024 Grammy host Trevor Noah alluded to Clarkson’s prowess when he joked that if winners went too long in their acceptance speeches, “We’re going to get Kelly Clarkson to cover one of your songs better than you ever could.”
This isn’t the first time a popular singer has tackled an astonishingly wide range of material on a TV show. Cher also showed her range in musical performances on her 1970s variety shows, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and Cher. She sang everything from torch standards to pop, rock, R&B, country, blues and children’s music.
Both singers’ early careers help explain their openness to a wide range of genres. Clarkson rose to fame on American Idol, where she was called on to shine during such diverse theme weeks as Motown, big band and Burt Bacharach love songs. Cher was a backup singer behind such acts as The Ronettes and The Righteous Brothers before her obvious star quality pushed her to the front.
Cher also sang duets on her TV shows with a wide range of guest stars. And she did a lot of medleys. Our focus here is on her solo performances of individual songs, which is most analogous to what Clarkson does every day on her show.
As you will see, Cher had a fondness for opening a song performance as a torchy ballad and then kicking it into high gear (while shedding some clothes) about one minute in. It was a formula, but it worked every time. If you ever see Cher striding onstage wearing a big cape, you can bet that thing will on the floor within a minute.
Cher has won a Grammy, an Oscar and a Primetime Emmy. Clarkson has won eight Daytime Emmys and three Grammys. Cher will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Oct. 19, an accolade that could also be in Clarkson’s future now that the Rock Hall has expanded the definition of rock to encompass pretty much any contemporary music star, especially one with the talent to sustain across the decades.
Let’s revisit 10 musical performances from Cher’s solo TV show that demonstrate her range. The title is followed in parentheses by the original artist and year that recording was released.
Air Date: May 18, 1975
Notes: This rock and roll classic peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in January 1958. It made the Hot 100 a second time in 1969 in a version by Tiny Tim. (You can’t make this stuff up.) Cher’s gender-flipped version was provocative by TV standards of the day.
Air Date: Oct. 5, 1975
Notes: Cher performed this song twice on her show, on April 6, 1975 and again six months later. Denver’s original reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in August 1971, becoming his first top 10 hit. It remains a pop, country and folk classic. Cher, of course, would go on to have a pop hit with her sexy disco foray “Take Me Home.” Totally different song.
Air Date: April 20, 1975
Notes: Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 on Aug. 14, 1965. “Satisfaction” was No. 2 that week, having previously spent four weeks on top. Both are top-tier classics. “Satisfaction” has returned to the Hot 100 for a soul legend, Otis Redding, and a pop/rap phenom, Vanilla Ice.
Air Date: Sept. 28, 1975
Notes: Cher was costumed as a pig-tailed kid when she performed this song from Sesame Street. It appeared on the 1970 album The Sesame Street Book & Record, which won a Grammy for best children’s album and went gold. The album spent more than a year on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 23.
Air Date: April 13, 1975
Notes: Jimmy Cliff’s 1969 song appeared on The Harder They Come soundtrack, which was released in July 1972 and belatedly cracked the Billboard 200 in March 1975. That film and its accompanying soundtrack helped break reggae in America. Cliff’s version never cracked the Hot 100, but a cover version by Annie Lennox reached No. 80 in 2008.
Air Date: May 18, 1975
Notes: Cher did a full-scale Latin-themed production number on this sexy tango that was sung by Carol Haney, John Raitt (Bonnie’s dad) and company in the Tony-winning 1954 musical The Pajama Game. Archie Bleyer won a cover battle that year to have the biggest hit version of the song (No. 2 on the Best Sellers chart, in the pre-Hot 100 days).
Air Date: March 16, 1975
Notes: Buddy Johnson wrote this heartbreaking ballad, which was recorded by his sister, jazz singer Ella Johnson, in 1945. Most of us know it from Lenny Welch’s recording, which reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 in December 1963. It’s simply one of the best torch songs ever written. Cher had a way with torch songs. See also: Her 1972 hit “The Way of Love,” which made the top 10.
Air Date: Feb. 12, 1975
Notes: Cher presented album of the year on the 1974 Grammy telecast to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions (his first of three consecutive studio releases to win that award). Wonder didn’t release this ballad from Innervisions as a single, but Barbra Streisand covered it on her Billboard 200-topping album, The Way We Were. Her version reached No. 63 on the Hot 100 in 1974. The following year, Cher performed the song on her special which previewed the series.
Air Date: Feb. 23, 1975
Notes: Cher does a credible job on this Bessie Smith blues classic, which was way ahead of its time in expressing a woman’s desire to make her own life choices. “If I should go to church on Sunday/ Then swing it one night, Monday/ Ain’t nobody’s business if I do.” More than a century later, thanks to certain Supreme Court justices, the song is still relevant.
Air Date: March 16, 1975
Notes: This anthemic song appeared on Midler’s 1972 debut album The Divine Miss M. Midler was a guest (along with Elton John and the then-hot Flip Wilson) on a Feb. 12, 1975 special that previewed Cher’s weekly series. The four stars performed a medley of pop classics, and Cher and Midler performed a “Trashy Ladies” medley. But Midler didn’t get a solo number, which irked her. She went public with her displeasure on a big platform, the Grammy Awards telecast on March 1, 1975, with a characteristically funny line. “Do you love this dress?,” she riffed. “Wait – it’s Cher’s. She didn’t give me a solo, so she gave me a dress.”