Sonny Bono
February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998
Salvatore “Sonny” Bono was good at a lot of things. He was a pretty good singer. He was a much better songwriter, entertainer and producer, though. This was evidenced by the massive popularity of his 1960’s and ’70’s pop duo, Sonny and Cher. While Cher may have gotten most of the attention and had an arguably better career, it was Sonny who goofily smiled and quietly wrote all of their huge hits. He was a good actor and funnyman. Sonny and Cher had their own TV shows – mostly of the variety genre – and he enjoyed post-S&C success on television and in films like Airplane II and Hairspray. He was even a decent politician. In 1988, he was elected as mayor of Palm Springs, California. He later went on to serve in the United States Congress for 3 years. He was, however, not that great of a skier. That’s not exactly fair. He may very well have been a fine skier. But on January 5th, 1998, he could have done a better job. As it were, on that afternoon, he veered off the slopes, hit a tree and died. A bad week for skiing. And a bad week for man who had had a pretty good life.
Burial
Desert Memorial Park – Cathedral City, CA
Specific Location
Section B-35, #294; At the north end (back) of the cemetery, on the southwest edge of a large niche garden.
November 5, 2013 at 11:37 am
After Sonny Bono turned 17, Patricia Travers gave up the violin and dropped out of sight.