Cher - Career and Public Life - 2000s: Dance Music Stardom, Touring Success and Vegas Residency

2000s: Dance Music Stardom, Touring Success and Vegas Residency

In 2000, Cher released an independent album titled Not.com.mercial, which was written mostly by her after attending a songwriters' conference in 1994. Because the album was quickly rejected by her record label for being "not commercial", she chose to sell it only on her website. Full of personal revelations, "blunt" language and "bleak" content, Not.com.mercial marked Cher's first attempt at full-fledged songwriting. One song from the album, "Sisters of Mercy", in which she called the Catholic nuns who cared for her when she was a child "cruel, heartless and wicked" for keeping her in their orphanage long after her mother attempted to retrieve her, caused controversy among church leaders, who quickly issued denouncements. That same year, Cher recorded a duet with Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti called "Più che puoi". In November 2000, Cher's cameo appearance on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace in the episode "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" gave the show its second-highest rating ever.

"We just chose songs that felt right on an individual basis. It wasn't until we started to assess the entire album and play with sequencing that we realized that this had subconsciously become an album filled with love and warmth. It was a pleasant surprise, and it's certainly an appropriate time to put some positive energy out into the world."

In 2001, still in a dance mode, Cher released the highly anticipated follow-up to Believe: Living Proof, which entered the Billboard 200 at number nine, making it her highest-charting album debut to date and extending her album chart span to 36 years and seven months. Slant Magazine proclaimed the album "the most life-affirming piece of pop art to emerge since 9/11". Living Proof's worldwide lead single, "The Music's No Good Without You", reached number eight in the UK and the top ten in a few countries. The album's first American single, "Song for the Lonely", was dedicated to "the corageous people of New York" following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Several songs from the album, including their remixed versions, established presence on the American club scene. Living Proof was certified gold by RIAA for sales exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. In May 2002, Cher performed on the VH1 benefit concert VH1 Divas Las Vegas. That same year, she won the Dance/Club Play Artist of the Year Award at the Billboard Music Awards. Also in 2002, her personal wealth was estimated at US $600 million (£315 million).

In June 2002, Cher embarked on the Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, which was announced as the final live concert tour of her career, though she vowed to continue making more records and movies. The show itself was a tribute to her 40 years in show business. It featured vintage performance and video clips from the 1960s onwards, highlighting her successes in music, television, and film, all set amongst an elaborate backdrop and stage set-up, complete with dancers, acrobats and backup singers. Yahoo! called the show "a multi-media extravaganza covering the incomparable entertainer's career in show business". Initially scheduled for 49 shows, the tour was extended several times, covering virtually all of the U.S., as well as cities in Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It was eventually redubbed the "Never Can Say Goodbye Tour". Cher found success on television once again with Cher: The Farewell Tour, an NBC special taped in Miami on November 2002 and aired in April 2003, which attracted 17 million viewers. It was the highest-rated network-TV concert special of 2003 and earned Cher a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special. Later in 2003, she released the album Live: The Farewell Tour, a collection of live tracks taken from the tour.

The Very Best of Cher, a greatest-hits collection that surveyed Cher's entire career, was released in April 2003. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and was certified double platinum by RIAA. In September 2003, she signed a worldwide deal with the U.S. division of Warner Bros. Records after she split with Warner UK last year. That same year, Cher played herself in the Farrelly Brothers' comedy Stuck on You, with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear. She spoofed her own image in the film, appearing in bed with a "way younger" boyfriend (Frankie Muniz). Also in 2003, she recorded a duet of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" for Rod Stewart's album As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook, Volume II. In 2004, Cher received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording for her song "Love One Another". Her three-year, 325-date Farewell Tour ended in April 2005 as the highest grossing music tour by a female artist at that time, earning Cher a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The tour earned upwards of US $192 million in the U.S. alone and over US $250 million worldwide, and had a global audience of over 3 million.

In 2008, Cher began a three-year, 200-performance residency at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, for which she earned a reported US $60 million per year. She said, "I started in Vegas at Caesars, so I've come full circle. I'm back and I plan to give my fans the best experience yet. I think everybody knows I only do things in a big way." The show featured 16 dancers and aerialists, "state-of-the-art" video and special effects, and "ambitious" set designs. In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in November 2008, Cher talked about an as-yet incomplete film project called The Drop-Out.