More: Singer-Turned-Congressman Bono Dies Skiing
04:10 p.m Jan 06, 1998 Eastern
By Andrew Quinn
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (Reuters) - Congressman Sonny Bono, who went
from flower-power pop stardom with ex-wife Cher to Washington power lunches,
died after hitting a tree in a skiing accident, officials said Tuesday.
A coroner ruled that Bono died of massive head injuries due to blunt force trauma
caused by hitting a tree off a ski run.
''Death was immediate,'' Douglas County, Nevada sheriff Ron Pierini told
reporters, adding that Bono's body was found in a wooded area off an intermediate
ski trail in a foot of powered snow. ''There is no indication of any substances or
alcohol,'' he added.
Pierini said officials estimated that Bono, an experienced skier, was going between
20 and 30 miles per hour when the accident occurred.
He was skiing alone because his wife and two young daughters had fallen behind
after one of the girls stumbled.
Pierini said the family waited at the bottom of the trail for Bono and when he did
not show up after two hours alerted authorities. The wooded area where he was
killed, while not part of the official trail, is said to be a favorite for skiers who like to
dart between trees.
There are no barriers or warning signs in the area. ''The message is -- be careful,''
Pierini said, adding, ''There are trees all over the place. Even if paramedics were
on the scene, it would not have done any good.''
The 62-year-old California Republican Representative, who was one of his party's
most potent fund-raisers thanks to a ready wit and winning smile, was the second
celebrity in less than a week to die on U.S. ski slopes.
Michael Kennedy, son of the late Robert Kennedy and a behind-the-scenes political
activist, was killed in a similar accident in Aspen, Col., on New Year's Eve. Both
men, who were expert skiers, slammed into trees.
Washington, which once viewed Bono's election from the desert retreat of Palm
Springs as a joke, was plunged into mourning for a man both parties said they had
come to respect.
Bono himself often joked that politics and entertainment were similar. ''Both have
lyrics and both have a beat,'' he said. In an interview with Reuters shortly after
winning a Congressional seat for the first time in 1994, he said, ''The last thing I
thought I would be is a U.S. congressman given all the bobcat vests and Eskimo
boots I used to wear.''
President Bill Clinton said of Bono, ''His joyful entertainment of millions earned him
celebrity, but in Washington he earned respect by being a witty and wise participant
in policymaking processes that often seem ponderous to the American people.''
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a close friend of Bono's, said, ''I'm going to miss
him as a human being in a way that transcends politics. This is a man who
succeeded, and he succeeded inside himself. There was so much less pretense, it
was the opposite of what you think of as the Hollywood effect.
''He was building a real fan club here in Washington.''
Lesbian activist Chastity, Bono's daughter with Cher, said she and her father
differed politically on such issues as gay rights, but ''he was very supportive of my
personal life and career and was a loving father. I will miss him greatly.''
Cher was stunned at the news of his death and was flying back to Los Angeles
after canceling an appearance in London where she was to open Harrods' winter
sale.
In Palm Springs, where he began his political career as mayor, people left flowers
on his star on the town's ''Walk of Stars''. One card said simply: ''We'll miss you
Sonny. The beat goes on,'' a reference to the 1960s hit song he had with Cher.
The sheriff's department in Douglas County, Nev., said Bono did not return from a
final ski run on Monday and was reported missing by his third wife, Mary. He was
found about two hours later on the slopes of the Heavenly Ski Resort. Officials said
he suffered massive head and neck injuries when he hit a tree.
The area along the California-Nevada border where Bono died has long been a
favorite spot for skiers. Bono often skied there with his family.
Born Salvatore Bono to an impoverished family of Sicilian immigrants in Detroit on
Feb. 16, 1935, he began his career as a singer and song writer in the 1960s. He
borrowed $175 in 1964 to record ''Baby Don't Go'' with Cherilyn LaPiere Sarkisian.
They called themselves Sonny and Cher and later married, going on to record a
series of hits, including ''I Got You Babe.''
As their recording career declined, Sonny and Cher became stars of their own top
rated television show ''The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'' from 1971 to 1974 in
which they built a routine of Sonny being a straight man to Cher's caustic
put-downs. But many of their TV-screen arguments reflected the real tensions in
their marriage.
Although the show's viewers saw him as a good-natured bumbler, Bono was a
sharp businessman and opened several restaurants after his marriage to Cher ended
in 1974.
After a term as mayor of Palm Springs, he began to look at bigger races. He lost
the Republican primary for the special 1992 election for the U.S. Senate, finishing a
distant third.
In 1994, he successfully won a Congressional seat and won reelection in 1996.
Marshall Gilbert, who managed Bono's Palm Springs mayoral campaign, told NBC's
Today program, ''When he ran for mayor people said he was a laughing stock. He
won people over, he was one of them.''
As a conservative, Bono often spurned his Hollywood roots. He was among the
critics of the National Endowment for the Arts, and also voted against same-sex
marriages -- to the chagrin of his daughter, Chastity.
Bono was married to his third wife, Mary, with whom he had two young children.
Besides Chastity, he had a daughter, Christine, from a marriage prior to his union
with Cher.
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