Cher's Fierce Speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Has Every Woman Cheering Right Now

Cher has never been a shrinking violet, and she certainly wasn’t one at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 19. The 78-year-old star gave a badass speech in front of her music peers after rockin’ the house with her huge hits, “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Believe.”

The multi-talented celebrity admitted that not everyone appreciated her musical talents over the years. “It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Cher joked. “I want to thank my guardian David Geffen, because he wrote a letter and sent it to the directors, and now, ha-ha, here I am!” She’s the first to admit that she’s a “good singer, not a great singer,” but Cher is also proud to pat herself on the back. 

Cher was the first artist to utilize Auto-Tune in a hit song. She sweetly bragged that she “changed the sound of music forever, and it was an accident.” Cher added, “My producer and I were having a fight, with my producer saying, ‘Cher, do it better.’ “

“I said, ‘Dude, if you want it better, get a different singer.’ He called me later and said, ‘Cher, I’ve been playing around with the pitch machine, and I think I’ve got something.’” The single was pure magic and pure Cher. 

She also let the audience in on the advice her mother, Georgia Holt, gave her growing up. “She said to me, ‘You might not be the prettiest, you might not be the smartest, you might not be the most talented, but you’re special,’” Cher continued. “She kept instilling it into me: ‘If you’re down and you’re out, you get up again.’” That’s exactly what the Oscar-winning actress did, she “never gave up.”

Cher concluded, “We have been down and out, but we keep striving, and we keep going and we are somebody. We are special, as my mother would say.” She was one of 16 artists inducted this year even though she told Kelly Clarkson in December 2023 that she “wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. She said, “I’m never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves.” Women only make up 8.5 percent of the institution, according to Newsweek, so that might have been a big issue for Cher. 

Now, that she’s a part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, hopefully, Cher can work her magic to push aside the inherent sexism and get more women to join her on that stage.

Before you go, click here for more documentaries about strong women in music.