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Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (February 16, 1935
– January 5, 1998) was an United
States|American record producer, singer, actor,
and politician whose career spanned over three
decades.

Bono began his music career working for the
legendary record producer Phil Spector in the
early 1960s. Later in the same decade, he achieved
commercial success, along with his then-wife Cher
(entertainer)|Cher, as part of the singing duo
Sonny and Cher.

Bono wrote, arranged and produced a number of hit
records with singles like "I Got You, Babe" and
"The Beat Goes On" though few people knew he did
more than sing.  Cher got a lot more attention as
a musical talent.

Sonny and Cher starred in a popular television
variety show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,
which ran on CBS from 1971 to 1974.  But there
again, Cher seemed lively and funny, and Sonny a
bit slow.

They had a daughter, Chastity Bono, and divorced
in 1975.  Sonny continued his acting career, doing
bit roles in such shows as Fantasy Island and The
Love Boat.  He played the part of a mad bomber in
Airplane II: The Sequel.  Bono married Susie
Coelho and divorced her in 1984; he married again
in 1986 to the much younger, former Mary Whitaker.
He became a practicing Scientology|Scientologist,
but he claimed to still be Roman Catholic on all
official documents, campaign materials, website
info., etc. The couple had two children, Chesare
Elan Bono and Chianna Marie Bono.

Bono entered politics after experiencing great
frustration with local government bureaucracy in
trying to open a restaurant in Palm Springs,
California.  With local conservative talk radio
host Marshall Gilbert as his campaign manager (and
later as the godfather of his two children by his
wife Mary), Bono placed a successful bid to become
the new mayor of Palm Springs.  He was
instrumental in making the city more
business-friendly and in spearheading the creation
of the Nortel Palm Springs International Film
Festival, now held each year in Bono's memory. 
After unsuccessfully running for the Republican
nomination for U.S. Senate in 1992, Bono was
elected to the United States House of
Representatives in 1994 to represent the 44th
Congressional District of California. He
introduced the controversial Sonny Bono Copyright
Term Extension Act during his tenure to benefit
the music industry and also championed the
restoration of the Salton Sea, bringing the giant
lake's plight to national attention.  Speaker of
the United States House of Representatives|Speaker
of the House Newt Gingrich made a public
appearance and speech at the shore of the lake on
Bono's behalf.

He died of injuries from hitting a tree while
skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake
Tahoe, California at the age of 62. His widow,
Mary Whitaker Bono, was elected to fill his
unexpired Congressional term, and has since been
re-elected as a moderate Republican in 1998 and
later elections in her own right. She continues to
champion many of her late husband's causes,
including the ongoing fight as how to best save
the Salton Sea.

A surprisingly distraught Cher gave a tearful
eulogy at Bono's funeral, after which the
attendees sang the song The Beat Goes On. His
final resting place is Desert Memorial Park in
nearby Cathedral City, California, the same
cemetery in which Frank Sinatra was laid to rest
later that same year. The epitaph on Bono's
headstone reads: "And The Beat Goes On".

==See also==

*List of famous skiing deaths
*List of actor-politicians