Cher dedicates 2024 Rock Hall of Fame induction to women watching: 'We keep going'

With her induction into the annals of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night (October 19), Cher made sure to set expectations early: “This speech is going to be so crazy — I wrote it the other day and then I wrote it again tonight and I'm dyslexic,” she declared.

It wasn't crazy — during her performance at the annual ceremony, Cher wowed the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse crowd with renditions of “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Believe” — the latter with special guest Dua Lipa — before conceding the scene to Zendaya, who introduced her idol with wonder. “Where do I start?” said the actress, dressed in an outfit inspired by one of Cher's many Bob Mackie appearances. “There isn't a single person in this room, in this country and pretty much in this world who doesn't know the name of the artist I'm here to honor tonight. It's so iconic it only needs a name.”

In a video tribute, stars appeared to pay tribute to Cher, including Cyndi Lauper, Shania Twain and P!nk, with the latter making it clear that the self-titled singer was a “f-king rockstar”.

But once she got into her speech, Cher made it clear that her induction was never guaranteed: “It was easier to break up with two men than it was to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” she said. “I want to thank my guardian David Geffen, because he wrote a letter and sent it to the directors and now, ha ha, here I am!”

While the singer made sure to poke fun at herself from time to time (“I'm a good singer, not a large singer,” she said), didn't hesitate to acknowledge her impact throughout her decades-long career. In one particular highlight, the star looked back at how her biggest songs almost didn't happen.

“[With] “Believe”, I changed the sound of music forever, and it was an accident. My producer and I were fighting, with my producer saying, 'Sir, do it better,'” he recalls. “I said, 'man, if you want it better, get a different singer.' He called me later and said, “Sir, I was playing with the field machine and I think I have something.” I turned back and listened to it, and when it was over, we both jumped up and high-fived each other. And then the head of my record company said 'we can't do that because no one will know it was you'. And I said, “Yeah, that's the deal! That's the great part!'”

Cher also recalled the advice her mother gave her from a young age that led her career to where it is today. “He told me, 'You may not be the prettiest, you may not be the smartest, you may not be the most talented, but you are special,'” she said. “He kept instilling that in me: 'If you're down and you're out, you get back up.'

Smiling into the crowd, Cher made sure the women in the audience heard her. “The one thing I've never done is never give up. And I'm talking to the women, okay — you're on your own,” he said with a smile. “We've been down and out, but we keep trying and keep going and we're somebody. We are special, as my mother would say.”

Cher was just one of the icons honored at Saturday night's event — fellow inductees included Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Kool & the Gang, A Tribe Called Quest, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner and Peter Frampton.