Cher sues Bono’s widow over royalties

By: Nardine Saad Posted: 4:00 AM CDT Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021

LOS ANGELES — Call it a Cher fight.

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LOS ANGELES — Call it a Cher fight.

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This article was published 16/10/2021 (1779 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES — Call it a Cher fight.

Cher is suing Sonny Bono’s widow over royalties to songs the pop icon made famous with her ex-husband as the musical duo Sonny and Cher.

Cher filed a $1 million federal lawsuit Wednesday against former Rep. Mary Bono, a trustee of the Bono Collection Trust and other individuals, accusing them of breach of contract.

The 75-year-old entertainer claimed that Bono’s fourth wife has tried to terminate provisions that entitle Cher to 50 per cent ownership of the duo’s musical composition royalties, record royalties and other assets from their marriage.

Some of the hits cited in the filing include I Got You Babe, The Beat Goes On, Baby Don’t Go, Little Man and Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour stars began performing together in 1964, married in 1967 and divorced in 1975. Cher went on to become a solo superstar, making new hits with If I Could Turn Back Time and Believe and winning an Oscar for her role in Moonstruck.

Sonny Bono, who died in a Lake Tahoe skiing accident in 1998, pursued a career in California politics as a Republican Congressman in Palm Springs. Mary Bono later won his House seat and has appeared alongside Cher at various events over the years.

Cher alleged that she and Sonny agreed to equal division of their community property when they settled their divorce in 1978.

Her legal team — led by the L.A. firm Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLP — contends that Sonny Bono “irrevocably assigned” those rights to Cher in 1978 “as her sole and separate property throughout the world and in perpetuity.” She “has been the unchallenged owner of her 50 per cent share of all musical composition and record royalties during their collaboration and marriage,” according to the 20-page complaint, obtained Thursday by The Times.

Mary Bono is accused of trying to undo that agreement and deprive Cher of other long-established rights under the settlement, the lawsuit said.

“This action has become necessary because now, more than forty years after [Cher] received her 50 per cent ownership of her and Sonny’s community property, Sonny’s fourth wife and widow, defendant Mary Bono, claims that a wholly inapplicable statutory termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976… has undone [Cher’s] ownership of her royalties from the songs and recordings that she and Sonny made famous during their marriage, and deprived [Cher] of other long-established rights under the 1978 agreement,” the filing said.

Cher is seeking $1 million in damages and wants a judge to enforce the 1978 divorce settlement splitting their royalties in the future.

Mary Bono has not yet filed a response to Cher’s lawsuit. Her representatives did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Thursday.

— Los Angeles Times