THE BEAT GOES ON

Cher Wins Royalties Fight in Court With Sonny Bono’s Widow

Cher and Mary Bono had been duking it out for years over payments for such classic hits like, “I Got You Babe”.

Cher really does believe in life after love, and apparently, so does a a federal judge in the Central District of California. On Wednesday, Judge John Kronstadt ruled in favor of the music legend’s years-long court battle against Sonny Bono’s widow, in which Cher sued over royalty payments from the Sonny & Cher catalog, including the hits “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” It all stems back to 1978 when the pair divorced, and agreed Cher would retain a 50% stake. When Sonny died in 1998, Bono’s heirs took over his stake. In 2016, Mary Bono took advantage of “termination rights” in the Copyright Act, which allows songwriters and their heirs to claim the U.S. publishing rights of their songs after 35 years. By 2021, Mary claimed she could stop paying royalties due to those termination rights, forcing Cher to sue. Mary returned fire by claiming the termination rights overruled the divorce agreement, but on Wednesday, Judge Kronstadt disagreed, writing that Sonny gave Cher a “contractual right to receive financial compensation,” and that “a right to receive royalties is distinct from a grant of copyright.” According to the ruling, obtained by Billboard, Cher is owed approximately $418,000 in royalties.