Revisiting Cher’s Long-Forgotten ’80s Rock Band, Black Rose

Tired
of
being
boxed
in
creatively,
in
1980

Cher
tried
life
as
a
singer
in
the
short-lived
rock
band
Black
Rose.
Her
attempt
to
be
just
one
member
of
a
band
of
equals
was
similar
to
what

David
Bowie
attempted
with

Tin
Machine,
although
Cher
did
it
almost
a
decade
earlier.

In
an
exclusive
excerpt
from
her
new
book

I
Got
You
Babe:
A
Celebration
of
Cher,
author
and
UCR
contributor
Annie
Zaleski
tells
the
story
of
this
long-forgotten
stage
of
Cher’s
career.

Cher
the
Rock
Star

Established
bands
typically
book
up-and-coming
artists
as
opening
acts—which
is
why
nobody
batted
an
eye
when
a
then-new
group
called
Black
Rose
warmed
up
for
Hall
&
Oates
at
the
duo’s
triumphant
August
1980
hometown
Philadelphia
show.
But
the
fiery
singer
who
turned
up
onstage
fronting
Black
Rose
was
a
surprise—it
was
Cher,
going
under
the
radar
(at
least
in
the
promotional
sense)
as
the
uncredited
vocalist.

That
was
by
design.
“The
point
is
that
this
is
not
Cher,”
a
publicist
said
at
the
time.
“Black
Rose
is
just
a
band—a
rock
’n’
roll
band.”
As
for
the
secrecy
around
her
presence,
the
publicist
added,
“There
are
probably
a
lot
of
people
who
don’t
consider
Cher
a
rock
’n’
roll
singer,
and
they
might
have
trouble
accepting
her
as
such.”

One
person
who
had
no
trouble
considering
her
a
rocker?
That
would
be
Cher
herself,
who
wanted
to
sing
with
Black
Rose
thanks
to
her
fondness
for
the
genre.
“To
me,
rock
’n’
roll
is
like
going
to
a
party
and
having
a
really
good
time,”
she
said.
But
she
also
saw
parallels
between
rock’s
penchant
for
rebellion
and
her
early
career.
“You
know,
‘Cher’
has
so
many
connotations
for
so
many
people,”
she
said
in
1980.
“It’s
like,
‘How
could
Cher
do
rock
’n’
roll?’
Most
of
the
people
that
we
have
now
are
too
young
to
really
remember
when
Sonny
and
I
started.
Even
though
our
music
wasn’t
called
rock
’n’
roll,
we
were
pretty
outrageous.”

As
it
turns
out,
Cher
more
than
held
her
own
with
Black
Rose,
a
septet
that
featured
(among
other
players)
her
then
boyfriend
Les
Dudek
and
future
Kansas/
Ringo
Starr
collaborator
Warren
Ham.
The
group’s
1980
self-titled
debut
album
favored
no-frills
hard
rock
with
dashes
of
glam,
power-pop,
and
new
wave.
Unfettered
by
expectations
and
her
own
history,
she
added
theatrical
howls
and
biting
shrieks
to
“Never
Should’ve
Started”
and
belted
out
“Take
It
from
the
Boys”
with
a
ferocious
growl.
This
was
no
vanity
project,
but
Cher
embracing
reinvention—something
that
would
distinguish
her
career
throughout
the
1980s.

Unfortunately,

Black
Rose
was
a
commercial
disappointment
and,
despite
a
brief
tour
and
several
high-profile
TV
appearances
on

The
Midnight
Special
and

The
Tonight
Show
Starring
Johnny
Carson,
the
band
petered
out.
But
Black
Rose’s
sound
influenced
portions
of
Cher’s
1982
solo
album

I
Paralyze—and
it
foreshadowed
her
meteoric
late-decade
comeback,
led
by
a
1987
self-titled
effort
and
1989’s

Heart
of
Stone.

By
this
time,
of
course,
it
was
on
trend
to
merge
pop
and
hard
rock—and
Cher
was
perfectly
suited
to
work
with
hitmakers
like
Desmond
Child
(who
cowrote
the
towering
“We
All
Sleep
Alone”
with
rock
stars
Jon
Bon
Jovi
and
Richie
Sambora),
record
blazing
songs
like
the
Michael
Bolton–penned
top
10
hit
“I
Found
Someone,”
and
cut
power
ballads
such
as
“Just
Like
Jesse
James.”
Pop
culture
had
finally
caught
up
to
Cher,
making
her
time
in
Black
Rose
look
rather
prescient
indeed—something
underscored
even
more
when
she
was
inducted
into
the
Rock
&
Roll
Hall
of
Fame
in
2024.

Excerpted
from
I
GOT
YOU
BABE:
A
Celebration
of
Cher
by
Annie
Zaleski.
Copyright
©
2025.
Available
from
Running
Press,
an
imprint
of
Hachette
Book
Group,
Inc.

Watch
Cher
Perform
With
Black
Rose