SALVATORE SONNY BONO
Born February 16, 1935 in Detroit Michigan.
Known professionally as performer: Sonny / Don Christy / Ronny Sommers / Prince Carter / Little Joey / Caesar.
Dreaming of stardom since arriving in Los Angeles in 1945, Sonny survived post-high school with unskilled jobs and music on his mind. By 1955 he'd convinced local R&B honcho Johnny Otis to audition his voice, his ukulele and his song "Ecstasy". It was recorded, it bombed. The affable and charming songwriter hustled his way through his idol Frankie Laine's Crystal Records and landed on his feet at Art Rupe's legendary Specialty label. While talented white stars often aspire to R&B cred, it's notable that Sonny had that "in" long before he made anything like a white pop record. He peddled his songs to all the small and mainly R&B labels which proliferated on Sunset Boulevard and East L.A. at the time. Friends from the period remember him fondly.
Six years of scuffling while attempting to launch himself as a solo star via records and lounge shows were a gruelling apprenticeship. Sonny was more than ready for The Big Breaks, and they came shortly after he met Cher. More in love at second sight than first, Sonny soon saw in Cher his Muse and to his detriment became progressively unable to distinguish her from an employee. He certainly fell in love with Sonny & Cher, and his obsession with the entity eventually swamped the couple as individuals. Cher's "escape" in 1974 may have been motivated more by seeking relief from numbing dysfunction than by blind ambitions of superstadom.
Culture remembers Sonny as a lovable though untalented showbiz buffoon who eventually made it to Capitol Hill. But supremely talented artists don't often score hit records - Sonny did. Talented songwriters don't often write classics which define a generation - Sonny did. The same can be said of record production and onstage entertainment. Ditto prime-time television. Sonny once said: "It's two words: "show" and "business". Pay attention to both." Remarkably, Sonny Bono was able to pull off an amazing entrepreneurial feat not once but twice.
Sonny & Cher had no predecessors: they were true originals who inspired a truckload of wannabees. Sonny & Cher were a dream come true - as engineered by Sonny. It extended to setting up Cher as a true leading lady some twenty years before Hollywood picked up on the idea.
Sometimes people are blessed with vision and energy, and just enough genius to make it all seem better than talent alone
1952 Sonny performs his co-composition (w. J. Bloomfield) "Ecstasy" on local Los Angeles KNXT television show Peter Potter's SEARCH FOR A SONG and wins. He also writes "Koko Joe" (inspired by Coco Joe's Cookies).
1955 Records "Ecstasy" for Johnny Otis' Dig label. (Catalog # unknown)
1956 Cuts another "Ecstasy" demo with his singing teacher.
In mid-1957 Sonny starts placing his songs with Larry Williams at Specialty and begins absorbing himself into the company. He also meets Jack Nitzsche, who he engages to write lead sheets for Specialty Records artists and begins an ongoing friendship and working relationship. He also collaborates with Al Hazan on 45's for Sonny Lowery and Roddy Jackson, and first hooks up with saxophonist Harold Battiste Jr. who was formerly Specialty's man in New Orleans.
As arranger and musician, Harold will help define Sonny's musical vision on the records he produces, and much later on television. Sonny claims that adding instrumentation to Sam Cooke's scratch-track of "I'll Come Running Back To You" (after the singer leaves the label) is his first "production"; the "sweetening" was actually done by Harold Battiste, and Jack Nitzsche learns string arrangements as Harold's copyist. Specialty's major star Little Richard is refusing to record by year's end, and the loss of sales from Cooke and Little Richard is impacting heavily on the label.
Specialty 608 High School Dance / Short Fat Fannie Both Prod "Bumps" Blackwell Specialty 615 Boney Moronie / You Bug Me Baby (SB) Both Prod "Bumps" Blackwell Specialty CD Hey Now (SB / LW) Specialty 618 Flippin" / Twitchy (SB) Specialty 619 I'll Come Running Back To You / Forever SB adds HB arr overdubs Specialty 620 I've Just Lost A Ball In High Weeds / Yawning Both Prod SB, Arr Rene Hall Specialty 621 Do You Promise / Thank You For Your Kisses Prod A-side SB Crystalette 712 Teenage Lovers / Waitin' Abbreviations: Arr = Arranger, Eng = Engineer, Prod = Producer, SB = Sonny Bono, SC = S. Christy
Troy Cory (left, with Rene Hall) recalls Sonny's attempts to launch him as a teen idol: "At that time, between June 1957 and June, 1958", recording studios were fighting to being unionised, and ASCAP had competition, BMI was established for the new breed of song writer. I was still in my first year as a serious recording artist with was collaborating with song writers Sonny Bono, Tip Tobin, Dorothy Swafford, and guitarist arranger, Rene
Hall in the production of my first record album for Art Rupe's Specialty Records.
Lucky for me, I was signed by Specialty, as their first "vanilla ice" performer, under the guidance of both Rene Hall and Sonny Bono, who were known for their excellence in producing the Sam Cooke, "I'll Come Running Back To You", and most of Larry Williams sessions. I'll never forget the attention Art Rupe gave me as a young singer, it was the fastest learning curve experience I've ever experienced in my life.
In just a short period of time, I saw how hit songs were written and made by the greatest black singers of all time, Larry Williams (pictured right ), Little Richard and Sam Cooke, lyrics and all, I also was made to understand, that if the artist wrote the song, be ready to share the publishing and writers credit with others."
collaborates with 
Midyear finds Sonny depressed
