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| CHER AND CHER ALIKE Excerpt from: The New York Times June 10, 1990
...Little did she realize, she said, what her early preoccupation would lead
to. Ms. Cassel, now a 35-year-old, 5 ft. 8 in. willowy blond, makes a living
as a Cher look-alike. " Even though though I'd never dream of Two years ago (1988), Ms. Cassel on the urging of a co-worker, sent her picture to an agency specializing in look-alikes of personalities. "To my surprise, they hired me to appear at a grand opening of a hotel on Long Island," she said. "There I was, in an awful permed black wig, wearing fishnet stockings and trying to act like I thought Cher might. The agent said my personality was entirely too friendly; Cher would be much more haughty." Eventually. Ms. Cassel said, she honed her act, learning to lip sync to a medly of Cher songs by practicing many hours in front of a mirror. She found Greenwich Village to be an excellent place to acquire the leather and chain look favored by the entertainer. Her make-up and wigs became more evocative of the celebrity. And other look-alikes gave her marketing tips.
The National Enquirer, ran acher look-alike contest later that year. Ms.
Cassel's photograph beat out 559 other entrants, who included young Chers,
old Chers, black Chers, Asian Chers, and female impersonator Chers. She
collected $500 in prize money; more importantly, it got her publicity. She gets asked the same questions over and over: Have you ever met Cher? How long have you been doing this? How did you get started? Are you like this in real life? A typical act runs an hour, divided between a stage show in which Ms. Cassel syncs songs and then calls a member of the audience, like a bar mitzvah boy or boss of the host company , to join her on stage. Then she spends the last hour of the party just mingling with the party group and answering peoples questions. One of the problems of being Cher for Ms. Cassel is staying in shape. " I wear a black body stocking as part of the act, so I have to work out to stay really trim, " she said. Looks aside Ms. Cassel doesn't sing or dance like Cher. " My talent is in the personality I bring to the character, " she said. Business has been good lately, Ms. Cassel owns her own agency "Look Twice Productions" , for herself and other look-alikes and impersonators. Unfortunately she has never met the real Cher but she caused Cher's former companion Rob Camilletti, to do a double take a few months ago. "I walked into a cafe' where he was bartending and asked for a drink," she said. " He stared at me and said "What are you doing here? I just laughed, and he threw the vodka down in front of me."
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missing
her TV shows, and I got my hair cut in heavy bangs just like her and had all
of her records, somehow when I went away to college, I forgot all about
her," Ms. Cassel said."But people would always remark that I
looked a lot like her."
Winning
two look-alike contests in 1988 was a big boost to Ms. Cassel's career. On
the television show" People are talking" Cher's mother, Georgia
Holt, picked Ms. Cassel over seven final contestants as the best
personification of Cher. "The producers threw us on stage and ordered
us to do something cute to Georgia, " Ms. Cassel said. " I had no
idea what to do so I just slinked over to her and winked and said "Hi
Mom." 
special
promotions. She attends corporate and private parties, and charity
functions. " At Christmas, it gets really wild," Ms Cassel said,
" I'm doing about 14 jobs a week, sometimes three a night."