1972 Cher – Living In A House Divided
Despite a series of solo hit records for Cher and more for the duo of Sonny and Cher in the mid-sixties, from 1968 to 1970, they couldn’t buy their way onto the charts. They pooled all their money and borrowed even more to make the 1969 movie Chastity, but the film failed to find an audience and left them deeply in debt.
Their bad luck reduced the pair to appearing as a lounge act that attracted audiences that heckled them. They began heckling the audiences back, and then even each other, and somehow that became the comedy that helped them get their own television show on CBS in the Summer of 1971.
Their brief Summer show provided Cher the opportunity to reignite her singing career. Kapp Records brought in producer Snuff Garrett to produce an album, and he called on Bob Stone to write a more adult song for Cher. The result: the single Gypsies, Tramps, And Thieves topped the Hot 100 in the Fall of 1971.
Her next single, The Way Of Love, may not have been another powerhouse hit, but it did reach the top ten of the Hot 100 in 1972.
Cher worked with Snuff on her next album as well. Kapp Records chose Living In A House Divided as her first single from the album.
While the record peaked at only #22 on the Hot 100, it did much better on the Adult Contemporary chart (where it reached #2). The song echoed the troubled marriage that Sonny and Cher were struggling with.
Cher’s next two singles failed to reach the top forty, but in late 1973 and early 1974 she had two back to back #1 singles with Half-Breed and Dark Lady.
Sonny and Cher finally separated in early 1974, and their divorce completed in 1975.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher_singles_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_in_a_House_Divided
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