Cher Trashed By Sonny Bono's Widow Who Claims She Protected Pop Star's Legacy For Years Before Being Dragged to Court
Iconic singer Cher is engaged in a long running federal lawsuit against Sonny Bono's widow, Mary (r).
Dec. 1 2023, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
Sonny Bono’s widow Mary blasted the late singer’s ex-wife Cher for dragging her to federal court over royalties — and argued she has gone above and beyond to be nice to the entertainer over the years.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Mary testified under oath that she has continued to allow Cher to approve the use of Sonny & Cher songs.
As we previously reported, in 2021, Cher sued Mary claiming Mary concocted a scheme to have her cut her off from being paid royalties for her work with Sonny.
Cher said she and Sonny were each awarded 50% of the royalties for their hits in their 1975 divorce settlement. Following Sonny’s death in 1998, Cher and Mary reached a deal where Cher would continue to be paid her 50%.
Cher and Mary Bono agreed to split the proceeds 50/50.
Mary denied all allegations of wrongdoing. She claimed Sonny’s “copyright grants began to be eligible for termination in 2018, which meant that the Bono Heirs could serve notices of termination starting in 2008.”
Essentially, Mary argued federal law said the rights to Sonny’s songs were now the property of Sonny’s children NOT Cher.
In her new motion, Mary revealed that while she doesn’t believe Cher is owed royalties, she has continued to try to respect the entertainer’s wishes.
During a deposition, Mary said she “thinks it is very important that [Cher] approves” deals involving the songs. She said she “regularly communicated with Cher’s representative” whenever a person or entity “asked for permission to use any of the songs.”
She said the representative was given a say “in how much the songs were worth and who should be allowed to use them.”
Mary said she has even allowed Cher to veto projects if she felt they weren’t in her best interest. “
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Cher claims a 1978 Marriage Settlement Agreement with Sonny entitles her to 50-percent of the royalties.
In her motion, she said she has continued to seek Cher’s approval for uses of Sonny’s compositions “and there has not been a single use of Sonny’s music that Cher did not approve.”
During her deposition, Mary said, “I think the history of my belief on how I’ve tried to run this stuff the best I’ve been able to is to honor both Cher and Sonny’s legacies. I do believe that the songs over the years have been able to be misconstrued and I’ve wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t be. And I wanted to make sure that she has never had any objection to how she, her music, her singing, would be portrayed.”
The duo were known for their classics, I Got You Babe and The Beat Goes On.
Mary explained that Sonny & Cher had a song called Bang Bang. She said it “was an innocent love song back in the day, in the 60’s. And we continuously get requests to approve it in more of a domestic violence situation. When I interpret it to be used in something like that, I decline, but I need to make sure that their side agrees and is seeing it and hearing it in the same way I am.”
Mary then detailed an offer Sonny’s estate received from a religious organization in 2022.
Sonny’s widow said the religious organization wanted to use one of Sonny’s songs in a Super Bowl commercial. She said even though it was “significant money” they turned it down because it wasn’t the “right usage of the song.”
Mary demanded Cher’s lawsuit be thrown out of court.