2000-2002

The Do You Believe? Tour continued throughout 2000 and became her most successful tour to that time. In May 2000, Cher was presented with the Lifelong Contribution to the Music Industry Award, at the World Music Awards.

She released an independent alternative-rock album entitled Not.com.mercial (pronounced not-dot-com-mercial). This album was written mostly by Cher after attending a songwriting retreat in France in 1994. The album was quickly rejected by record labels for being not commercial. Cher chose instead to sell the recording exclusively through her website. This also marked the first time that Cher had written a majority of the material for one of her albums. In an online review, Rolling Stone magazine called Fit To Fly, a Cher-penned track from the album, the best Cher song ever. The tune was Cher's tribute to American veterans of war.


Tour program booklet cover.In February 2002, still in a dance mode, Cher released the highly anticipated follow-up to Believe: Living Proof entered the Billboard 200 at number nine, making it her highest-charting album debut and extending her album chart span to an excess of 37 years. Unfortunately it couldn't repeat the success of Believe, showing no longevity in the charts. Outside the U.S. things were even worse: in the UK, France and Australia, Living Proof even failed to reach the Top 40, while charting best in Germany by entering at a respective #13. The lack of huge success was caused by the lead-off single (outside U.S.) The Music's No Good Without You, that only became a modest hit in Europe and Australia, apart from reaching #1 in Russia and Poland and the UK Top 10. At least the album included several re-mixed songs which found their way onto the Hot Dance, Maxi-Single Sales, Club Play and Adult Contemporary charts. The album was eventually certified gold in U.S. and Germany, and sold more than six million copies worldwide.

That year, Cher won the Dance/Club Play Artist of the Year and was presented with a special Artist Achievement Award at the Billboard Music Awards.

In May 2002, Cher performed on the VH1 television special VH1 Divas Las Vegas, with Shakira, Celine Dion, The Dixie Chicks, Anastacia, Cyndi Lauper and Mary J. Blige. In June, she announced plans for the Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, which she claimed would be the final live