Chaz Bono

Last updated

Chaz Bono
Chaz Bono by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Bono in 2017
Born
Chastity Sun Bono

(1969-03-04) March 4, 1969 (age 55)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Writer
  • musician
  • actor
Years active1972–present
Parent(s) Sonny Bono
Cher
Relatives Elijah Blue Allman (half-brother)
Georgia Holt (grandmother)

Chaz Salvatore Bono [1] (born Chastity Sun Bono; March 4, 1969) is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, and he became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour . [2] [3]

Contents

Bono is a trans man. In 1995, while then identifying as a woman, and several years after being outed as lesbian by the tabloid press, Bono publicly self-identified as a lesbian in a cover story in a leading American gay monthly magazine, The Advocate . Bono eventually went on to discuss the process of coming out to oneself and others in two books. Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families (1998) includes his coming-out account. The memoir The End of Innocence (2003) discusses his outing, music career, and partner Joan's death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. [4]

Between 2008 and 2010, Bono underwent female-to-male gender transition. A two-part Entertainment Tonight feature in June 2009 explained that his transition had started a year before. [5] In May 2010, he legally changed his gender and name. [6] A documentary on Bono's experience, Becoming Chaz, was screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and later made its television debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network. [7] [8]

Early life

Chaz Bono with Sonny Bono in 1974 Sonny and Chastity Bono 1974.JPG
Chaz Bono with Sonny Bono in 1974

Bono was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Cher and Sonny Bono of the pop duo Sonny & Cher, stars of a TV variety show on which the young child often appeared. Bono was named after the film Chastity , which was produced by Sonny and in which Cher (in her first solo role in a feature film) played a bisexual woman. [9] Through his mother, Bono is of Armenian, Irish, English, and German ancestry. He is of Italian descent through his father. [10] [11]

Bono was enrolled at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. [12] Bono came out to both parents as a lesbian at age 18. In Family Outing, Bono wrote that, "as a child, I always felt there was something different about me. I'd look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their obvious interest in the latest fashion, which boy in class was the cutest, and who looked the most like cover girl Christie Brinkley. When I was 13, I finally found a name for exactly how I was different. I realized I was gay." [13]

Ceremony

Bono began a short music career in 1988 with the band Ceremony, [4] which released one album, Hang Out Your Poetry, in 1993. The band featured Bono on vocals, acoustic guitar, and percussion. Other members were Steve March Tormé (backup vocals), Heidi Shink a.k.a. Chance, Pete McRae, Steve Bauman, Louis Ruiz, and Bryn Mathieu. All but one of the band's songs were written or co-written by Bono, Shink, and Mark Hudson. They used no synthesizers or digital effects on the album; Shink noted, "We turned our back on technology. [ ... ] It's reminiscent of the 60s, but more a tip of the hat than emulating it. We took the music we love and rejuvenated it, made it 90s." [14] Critical reception of the album was lukewarm, with Roch Parisien of Allmusic describing Hang Out Your Poetry as a mildly psychedelic take on early 1990s pop, "pleasant, accessible, well-produced ear-candy that's ultimately toothless". [15]

The songs "Could've Been Love" and "Ready for Love" were released as singles from the album. Sonny and Cher also recorded backing vocals for the track "Livin' It Up" on the album.

LGBT activism

Bono at the 2012 GLAAD Awards Chaz Bono square photo 1.jpg
Bono at the 2012 GLAAD Awards

In April 1995, Bono came out as a lesbian in an interview with The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian magazine. [16] The 1998 book Family Outing detailed how Bono's coming out "catapulted me into a political role that has transformed my life, providing me with affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman, and as an individual." [17] In the same book, Bono reported that Cher, who was both a gay icon and an ally of LGBT communities, was quite uncomfortable with the news at first and "went ballistic" [18] before coming to terms with it: "By August 1996, one year after I came out publicly, my mother had progressed so far that she agreed to 'come out' herself on the cover of The Advocate as the proud mother of a lesbian daughter." [17] Cher has since become an outspoken LGBT rights activist.

Bono's paternal relationship became strained after his father became a Republican Congressman from California. The differences in their political views separated them, and the two had not spoken for more than a year at the time of Sonny's fatal skiing accident in January 1998. [16]

Bono worked as a writer at large for The Advocate. [4] As a social activist, Bono became a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, promoted National Coming Out Day, campaigned for the reelection of Bill Clinton for US president, campaigned against the Defense of Marriage Act, and served as Entertainment Media Director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). [4] Bono was a team captain for Celebrity Fit Club 3 (2006) and was supported by girlfriend Jennifer Elia, who orchestrated exercise and training sessions. [5]

In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting; in the video, Bono and others told the stories of the people killed there. [19] [20]

Transition

In mid-2008, Bono began undergoing a physical and social transition from female to male. This was confirmed in June 2009 by his publicist, [5] who identified Bono's name as Chaz Bono and said, "It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did." [21] GLAAD and the Empowering Spirits Foundation were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement. [22] Bono's legal transition was completed on May 6, 2010, when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change. [6] [23] Bono made Becoming Chaz, a documentary film about his transition that premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The Oprah Winfrey Network acquired the rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011. [24]

In September 2011, he became a competitor on the 13th season of the U.S. version of Dancing with the Stars , paired with professional ballroom dancer Lacey Schwimmer. [25] The duo was eliminated on October 25, 2011. [26] This was the first time an openly transgender man starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender. [27]

His book, Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be was published in 2012, making him the first person of Armenian descent to publish a memoir about being an openly transgender man. [28]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994 Bar Girls [lower-alpha 1] Scorp'
2004Fronterz [lower-alpha 1]
2016DirtyJerry the Hoarder
2019 3 from Hell Digby Neville
2020 Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen HimselfDocumentary film
2020 Reboot Camp Herbertmockumentary
2023 The Bell Keeper Sheriff Carlson

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1972–77 The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour [lower-alpha 1] Himself32 episodes
1975 Cher [lower-alpha 1] HimselfEpisode 2.14
1997 Ellen [lower-alpha 1] The ModeratorEpisode: "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah"
2011Becoming ChazHimself Documentary film
Dancing with the Stars Himself6 episodes
2012 Degrassi: The Next Generation HimselfEpisode: "Tonight, Tonight: Part 2"
2013 The Secret Life of the American Teenager HimselfEpisode: "To Each Her Own"
2014 RuPaul's Drag Race Himself/Guest Judge"Queens of Talk" [29]

"Reunited!" [30]

2016 The Bold and the Beautiful Reverend Rydale5 episodes
American Horror Story: Roanoke Lot Polk2 episodes
Brian Wells2 episodes
Where the Bears Are Gavin Kelly3 episodes
2017 American Horror Story: Cult Gary K. Longstreet8 episodes
2018Adi Shankar's Gods and SecretsUpcoming series
2020 Curb Your Enthusiasm Joey FunkhouserEpisode: "The Spite Store"

Bibliography

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 as Chastity Bono

Related Research Articles

Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to combat homophobia and heterosexism by revealing that a prominent or respected individual is homosexual. Historical examples of outing include the Krupp affair, Eulenburg affair, and Röhm scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Bono</span> American singer, comedian, actor, and politician (1935–1998)

Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was an American singer, songwriter, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife, Cher, as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republican Party, Bono served as the 16th mayor of Palm Springs, California, from 1988 to 1992, and served as the U.S. representative for California's 44th district from 1995 until his death in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coming out</span> Process of revealing ones sexual orientation or other attributes

Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or gender identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cher</span> American singer and actress (born 1946)

Cher is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. Known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances, Cher rose to fame in 1965 as one half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher before releasing her first solo top-ten singles "Bang Bang " and "You Better Sit Down Kids". Throughout the 1970s, she scored the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady", becoming the female solo artist with the most number-one singles in US history at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny & Cher</span> American pop music duo

Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of spouses Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Bono</span> American politician and lobbyist (born 1961)

Mary Bono is an American politician, businesswoman, and lobbyist who served Palm Springs and most of central and eastern Riverside County, California, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1998 to 2013.

<i>The Advocate</i> (magazine) Bi-monthly American magazine covering LGBT-interest topics

The Advocate is an American LGBT magazine, printed bi-monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a website. Both magazine and website have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people. The magazine, established in 1967, is the oldest and largest LGBT publication in the United States and the only surviving one of its kind that was founded before the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, an uprising that was a major milestone in the LGBT rights movement. On June 9, 2022, Pride Media was acquired by Equal Entertainment LLC.

Patrick Califia is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transitioning, Califia identified as a lesbian and wrote for many years a sex advice column for the gay men's leather magazine Drummer. His writings explore sexuality and gender identity, and have included lesbian erotica and works about BDSM subculture. Califia is a member of the third-wave feminism movement.

<i>The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour</i> American variety show

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour is an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was cancelled in May 1974, due to the couple's divorce, but the duo reunited in 1976 for the similarly formatted The Sonny & Cher Show, which ran for two seasons, ending August 29, 1977.

Bono is an Irish musician, activist, and lead singer for the band U2.

<i>All I Really Want to Do</i> (album) 1965 studio album by Cher

All I Really Want to Do is the debut solo studio album by American singer-actress Cher and was released on August 16, 1965, by Imperial Records. The album was produced for Cher by her then husband and singing partner, Sonny Bono, with contributions from arranger Harold Battiste. The album is by-and-large a collection of cover versions but does contain three songs written by Bono. In 1992, All I Really Want to Do and Cher's follow-up solo album, The Sonny Side of Chér, were reissued on one CD by EMI Records. Later, in 1995, EMI released a collection titled The Originals, which included All I Really Want to Do, The Sonny Side of Chér, and Cher's third solo album, Chér. The album was again reissued on one CD with The Sonny Side of Chér by BGO Records in 2005 in the UK only. The original twelve track All I Really Want to Do album has never been issued on Compact Disc on its own. Upon its release, the album was well received by critics and garnered positive reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Got You Babe</span> 1965 single by Sonny Bono & Cher

"I Got You Babe" is a song performed by American pop and entertainment duo Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album, Look at Us (1965). In August 1965, the single spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States where it sold more than one million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bianca Montgomery</span> Soap opera character

Bianca Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Until Eden Riegel assumed the role, portraying the character from July 2000 to January 2010, the character was portrayed solely by child actresses: Lacey Chabert, Nathalie Paulding, Gina Gallagher, Caroline Wilde and Jessica Leigh Falborn. When Riegel decided to permanently exit the role, plans to recast were confirmed; in June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Riegel, and remained on the series through the original television finale episode, which aired September 23, 2011. In February 2013, it was announced that Riegel would be reprising her role as Bianca in a guest-arc on Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children.

<i>Half-Breed</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Cher

Half-Breed is the tenth studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released in September 1973 by MCA. For the production of the album Cher returned with Snuff Garrett and Al Capps. Half-Breed was her second record for MCA and was promoted on her successful The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour television show. After its release, the album faced mixed reviews from critics, and the RIAA certified it gold on March 4, 1974. The album was her second solo album to receive a certification by RIAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cher filmography</span>

Throughout her acting career, Cher has mainly starred in comedy, drama, and romance films. She has appeared in eighteen films, including two as a cameo. She has also appeared in one starring theater role, one video game role, numerous television commercials and directed a piece of the motion picture If These Walls Could Talk in 1996 and some of her music videos of the Geffen-era in late 1980s and in early 1990s. Cher has starred in various international television commercials, as well as high-profile print advertising for Lori Davis (1992). Before she started her film career, she had a couple of hits in the 1960s, as a solo artist, and with her ex-husband Sonny Bono as the couple Sonny & Cher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baby Don't Go</span> 1964 single by Sonny & Cher

"Baby Don't Go" is a song written by Sonny Bono and recorded by Sonny & Cher. It was first released on Reprise Records in 1964 and was a minor regional hit. Subsequently, following the duo's big success with "I Got You Babe" in the summer of 1965, "Baby Don't Go" was re-released by Reprise later that year and became another huge hit for Sonny & Cher, reaching the top ten in the U.S. and doing well in the UK and elsewhere, going as far as reaching number one in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Puppy Episode</span> 22nd and 23rd episodes of the 4th season of Ellen

"The Puppy Episode" is a two-part episode of the American situation comedy television series Ellen. The episode details lead character Ellen Morgan's realization that she is a lesbian and her coming out. It was the 22nd and 23rd episode of the series's 4th season. The episode was written by series star Ellen DeGeneres with Mark Driscoll, Tracy Newman, Dava Savel and Jonathan Stark and directed by Gil Junger. It originally aired on ABC on April 30, 1997. The title was used as a code name for Ellen's coming out so as to keep the episode under wraps.

<i>Chastity</i> (soundtrack) 1969 soundtrack album by Cher

Chastity is the first soundtrack album featuring American singer-actress Cher, released on June 1969 by Atco. It was released to promote and accompany the 1969 motion picture, Chastity. The album, like the film from which it came, was a commercial failure.

<i>Chastity</i> (1969 film) 1969 film by Alessio de Paola

Chastity is a 1969 American romantic drama film directed by Alessio de Paola and starring American singer-actress Cher, in her first film role without her then-husband Sonny Bono. Written and produced by Sonny Bono, as a star vehicle for her, it flopped badly and deterred her from acting in films for more than a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chastity (given name)</span> Name list

Chastity is a feminine given name meaning chastity, referring to the virtue of exercising self-control over one's sexual behavior, which might mean practicing celibacy for a person who is unmarried, or monogamy for a person who is married. The name comes from the Late Latin word castitas. According to some sources, it was one of many virtue names in use by Puritans in the Colonial United States. The name increased in usage in the United States in the early 1970s after it was used by Sonny Bono and Cher for their child Chaz Bono, who was originally named Chastity Bono, in 1969. Chasity is a modern variant. However, other sources state that the name was not actually in use by the Puritans. Cher portrayed a character called Chastity in the 1969 film Chastity that was released the same year Cher named her child. Other modern spelling variants and name variants in use include Chasidy, Chassidy, Chassiti, Chassity, Chastady, Chastidy, Chastitea, Chastitee, Chastitey, Chastiti, and Chastitie. Some other variations of the name in use in the United States during the 19th century were Chassie, Chasta, Chasteen, Chastin, Chastina, Chastine, and Chasty. Some sources note that a girl named Chastity might not resemble the meaning of the name.

References

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  10. Bego 2001 , p. 11: Sarkisian's profession; Berman 2001 , p. 17: Sarkisian's nationality and personal problems, Crouch's profession; Cheever 1993: Crouch's ancestry.
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  22. "ESF Applauds Chastity Bono's Gender Transition Announcement" (PDF). Empowering Spirits Foundation Press Release. June 11, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 16, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
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Works cited