Over her six-decade career, Cher has proven that she is strong enough to do it all.
And on Thursday night at the 9th annual Love Rocks NYC benefit for God’s Love We Deliver, that included dressing in male drag as the King.
After an introduction by Whoopi Goldberg, the 78-year-old icon shocked the audience at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre as she took the stage in an Elvis getup to “Walking in Memphis” — just as she had done in the video for her 1995 single.
A pompadoured Cher rocked a gray pinstriped jacket, black pants and a pink and black shirt as she strutted to her cover of Marc Cohn’s 1991 hit — which, ironically enough, was featured on her album “It’s a Man’s World.”
It was a far cry from the sheer bodysuit from her “If I Could Turn Back Time” video that she wore the last time she performed in New York, at “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” a few weeks ago.
But although she may have been a drag king, Cher was the queen of this night. And as such, she was the only act whose set included any outfit changes — one for each of her three numbers — in true diva fashion.
Before “(This Is) A Song for the Lonely” — which was released in March 1992, six months after 9/11 — Cher reminisced about her connection to the Big Apple.
“The first time I moved to New York, I was 14,” she said. “And I’ve lived here off and on my whole life. And so I’m a New Yorker. And when I heard this song, I immediately knew what kind of video I had to make of what I felt in my heart.”
And Cher re-created the look she wore in the “A Song for the Lonely” video — a puffer coat with a fur-trimmed hood, topped off with a ski cap — as she walked the streets of New York.
Then the new Rock & Roll Hall of Famer donned a pink shirt and black pants to perform her biggest hit, 1996’s “Believe,” with a troupe of dancers.
The ageless wonder was the highlight of a night that began with New York native Alicia Keys paying tribute to what Roberta Flack, who passed away on Feb. 24, with a rendition of “Killing Me Softly with His Song” that owed a lot to the Fugees’ 1996 version.
Michael McDonald also dedicated the 1979 chart-topper “What Fool Believes” to Flack before delivering a rousing, righteous rendition of another Doobie Brothers classic, “Takin’ It to the Streets.”
The blue-eyed soul man also had the honor of taking it to church with Mavis Staples, a Love Rocks NYC stalwart, on the Staples Singles gospel gem “I’ll Take You There.”
“My family, the Staples Singers, we been taking y’all the for more than 70 years,” the 85-year-old singer told the hand-clapping crowd.
Another feel-good moment was D Generation’s Jessie Malin returning from a spinal stroke in 2023 that left him paralyzed below the waist to honor David Johansen — the New York Dolls legend who died last week — on the Rolling Stones’ Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker).”
Malin got an assist from Ivan Neville, and another special collab saw Peter Frampton joined by Trey Anastasio and Grace Bowers for an epic guitar jam on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Other performers included actress-turned-singer Kate Hudson, who displayed surprisingly soulful vocals on “Gonna Find Out”; Bill Murray, who joyously jammed on Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With”; and Beck, who followed up his slacker anthem “Loser” with a festive cover of Prince’s “1999.”
Meanwhile, comedians Tracy Morgan, Amy Schumer, Susie Essman and Alex Edelman brought the laughs at the event executive-produced by Greg Williamson, John Varvatos and Nicole Rechter.
And the night, which also benefited Project Angel Food to aid victims of the Los Angeles wildfires, ended with the all-star finale “Higher Ground” — which is exactly where Love Rocks NYC took us.
