Sonny Bono
Sonny Bono was an American singer, songwriter, actor, performer, comic, and politician who achieved fame as one-half of the pop duo Sonny and Cher. With his wife Cher, he had several top-forty hits in the early and mid-1960s. By the end of the decade, their popularity as a duo on records had faded and Sonny reinvented the couple as a television variety show host and hostess, on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. In 1975 the couple divorced, a year after their variety show had ended, but they returned to television together in 1976 with another variety show.
Throughout the 1970s Sonny appeared in several television shows, usually in small roles, and he appeared in the comedy film sequel Airplane II. Many of his appearances were on programs which featured a different ensemble cast each week, such as The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. He also occasionally appeared as himself on sitcoms. Late in the decade, he began to explore opportunities away from show business, and it was this which led to his political career.
When he tried to open a restaurant in Palm Springs, California he encountered what he described as bureaucratic incompetence and unnecessary and repetitive regulations and permits. Frustrated, he campaigned for the office of Mayor of Palm Springs, winning the office and serving as Mayor from 1988-1992, a single term. He attempted to obtain nomination as a Republican to run for the US Senate in 1992 and when that failed he ran for the House of Representatives from California and won in 1994.
In Congress, Bono applied himself to the extension of copyright protections, and although the law was passed in the House it was never sent to the Senate floor. The Senate would pass its own version after Bono’s death. He also dedicated himself to environmental concerns. Bono sponsored or co-sponsored several bills with his interest primarily directed towards commerce and government operations. He served on several committees, including the House Judiciary Committee, and told The New York Times that he favored cutting the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts, having never needed subsidies for his own artistic career.
In January 1998 Bono was on a ski trip near South Lake Tahoe, at Heavenly Ski Resort. He was on the Nevada side downhill run when he hit a tree. According to the Douglas County Sheriff, he suffered massive head injuries and death was immediate. Nobody reported witnessing the accident, and Bono’s body was found hours later in a stand of trees just off the ski trail.