In 1973, Cher was already a television star, a hitmaker and one-half of one of entertainment’s most famous couples. But at 27 years old, she was about to add another No. 1 song to her growing list of accomplishments.
On Oct. 6, 1973, Cher’s “Half-Breed” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning a two-week stay at the top of the chart.
The song became Cher’s second solo No. 1, following “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” in 1971. She had also previously reached the top of the chart alongside Sonny Bono with Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” in 1965.
Written by Mary Dean and Al Capps and produced by Snuff Garrett, “Half-Breed” was recorded on May 21, 1973, at Larrabee Sound in Los Angeles. Cher had turned 27 just one day earlier.
The recording featured an extensive group of Los Angeles session musicians, including famed Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine.
According to music historian Fred Bronson’s “Billboard Book of Number One Hits,” Garrett had already helped engineer a major career resurgence for Cher. After producing her 1971 No. 1 “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” he gave her another Top 10 hit with “The Way of Love.”
Garrett and Sonny Bono later disagreed over the direction of Cher’s solo material, but “Half-Breed” eventually found its way to Garrett.
Dean recalled that she immediately thought of Cher when she brought the song to the producer.
“I said from the lyrics it’s a smash for Cher and for nobody else,” Dean recalled, according to Bronson’s book.
Bronson writes that Garrett told Rolling Stone in 1973 that he initially wasn’t sure Cher would record the song. It sat on his desk for several months before Cher ultimately returned to record it.
“Half-Breed” entered the Hot 100 at No. 89 on Aug. 4, 1973. Nine weeks later, it was No. 1.
The song tells the story of a woman whose White father and Cherokee mother leave her facing prejudice and rejection from both communities. Its depiction of Native American identity, however, has drawn criticism in the decades since its release.
The song’s famous television performance on “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” featured Cher in a Bob Mackie-designed costume and surrounded by imagery drawn from several different Indigenous cultures rather than specifically Cherokee traditions.
Cher eventually stopped performing the song. “Half-Breed” was also notably absent from her personally curated 2024 career retrospective, “Forever.” Rolling Stone pointed to the omission in a story examining how veteran artists have reconsidered material that has become controversial with changing cultural attitudes.
Despite that complicated legacy, “Half-Breed” remains one of the biggest hits of Cher’s early solo career.
It was also a major international success, reaching No. 1 in Canada and New Zealand and the Top 10 in Australia. In the United States, the single was certified Gold for sales of more than 1 million copies.
Decades later, The Guardian placed “Half-Breed” at No. 6 on its ranking of Cher’s 30 greatest songs, praising its forceful early-’70s production and describing the song as an “angry rebuke of racial intolerance.”
The No. 1 helped cement a remarkable early-’70s run for Cher. Her next chart-topper wasn’t far away, either: “Dark Lady” gave her a third solo No. 1 in 1974.
More than five decades later, Cher’s career would encompass everything from an Academy Award for “Moonstruck” to the worldwide phenomenon “Believe.” But 53 years ago today, it was a 27-year-old Cher sitting at No. 1 with one of the most recognizable—and now most debated—songs of her early career.
Related: 1965 Hit, Sung by a 19-Year-Old in Response to Bob Dylan, Began Its 3-Week Run at No. 1 61 Years Ago Today
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