3 of Sonny & Cher’s Most Iconic Duets From the 60s

Sonny & Cher put out a lot of great music together. The duo, made up of Sonny Bono and Cher, released their first studio album, Look At Us, in 1965.  A couple from 1964 to 1972, together the two churned out plenty of hits, including these three iconic duets.

“I Got You Babe”

“I Got You Babe” is Sonny & Cher’s first No. 1 single. On their sophomore Look At Us album, Bono wrote “I Got You Babe” by himself.

Likely their most popular duet, the success of “I Got You Babe” is a bit surprising, since Cher was not a fan of the song, at least at first.

“Sonny woke me up in the middle of the night to come in where the piano was, in the living room, and sing it,” Cher tells Billboard. “And I didn’t like it and just said, ‘OK, I’ll sing it, and then I’m going back to bed.’ So I was never a very good barometer.”

Cher never forgot what it felt like to have their first hit single together

“It was everything that we were living for,” she later says. “It was what we were breathing for; it was our goal to do it. We struggled and struggled and struggled because of the way we [Sonny & Cher] looked. And people didn’t get it until we went to England and then came back and they thought we were English. But I mean, we looked different than anyone else. We got thrown out of every place.”

“The Beat Goes On”

Sonny & Cher’s final Top 10 hit, “The Beat Goes On” came out in 1966. The song is on In Case You’re In Love, their third studio record. Although just Bono is listed as a writer, Carol Kaye, who plays bass on the song, says she deserves some credit for the song’s success.

“It was a nothing song,” Kaye tells Songfacts. “And then the bass line kind of made that.”

Bono passed away in 1998. “The Beat Goes On” was reportedly performed at Bono’s funeral. The title is also etched on his tombstone.

“Baby Don’t Go”

Sonny & Cher’s debut single, “Baby Don’t Go” is on the compilation album Baby Don’t Go – Sonny & Cher and Friends. Released as a single in 1964, “Baby Don’t Go” still became a Top 10 hit, an impressive feat since Sonny & Cher were still new to making music together.

When “Baby Don’t Go” was first released, Sonny & Cher had just decided to release music under their given names instead of as Caesar & Cleo. The record also includes music by Bill Medley, The Lettermen, and The Blendells.

Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images