Hollywood Memorial

Until the early 1960s, he had a job delivering meat along the Sunset Strip in California. He became an A&R Man for Phil Spector. Working with people such as Sam Cooke, and Chubby Checker, and writing songs such as ‘Baby Don’t Go,’ and ‘Don’t Laugh At Me.’ Bono achieved his highest level of fame in the entertainment field with his second wife ‘Cher.’ It was at Aldo’s Italian Restaurant in Hollywood in 1961 that Sonny met a very young Cher and they married in 1964. Destined to become one of the most famous duos in music history. Their weekly variety television show ran from 1972 until 1974. A daughter, Chastity, was born on March 04, 1969. After his marriage with Cher ended in 1974, Sonny appeared in movies such as ‘Hairspray,’ and ‘First Kid’’ and he was a guest star on many television shows. Sonny had a short-lived third marriage to Susie Coelho. In May of 1982 he married Mary Whitaker. In 1983 he opened a restaurant, Bono‚s in Los Angeles followed by another in Palm Springs. It was during a dispute with City Hall over a building permit needed for his Palm Springs restaurant that Bono became interested in politics. He set out to become the Mayor of Palm Springs so that he could help to change the bureaucracy. He served as Mayor from 1988-1992. In 1990 he formed the Palm Springs International Film Festival. A run for The U. S. Senate in 1991 was not successful, however in November of 1994 he was elected to Congress to serve the 44th District of California. He was well known for his outspoken and often blunt opinions of the policies and issues in which he was involved. He worked to achieve federal aid to preserve habitats of various endangered species. He was killed at the Heavenly Valley Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe after he collided with a tree. Bet that hurt. He is buried at Desert Memorial Park outside Palm Springs California.