By 1988, Sonny Bono had officially and successfully reinvented himself. After spending the 1960s and '70s on-stage with then-wife Cher, he found himself in the restaurant business and then in politics. First a mayor then a member of the House of Representatives, he kicked off his second term in 1996, and died in 1998 (via The New York Times).
Bono was on a skiing holiday in Lake Tahoe with his fourth wife, Mary Whitaker, when the tragic accident occurred. Whitaker spoke to the Desert Sun to recount the day that her life changed forever: "The kids were so cold, they were crying. I said, 'OK. He had to have skied to the very bottom. That's what happened. He'll be there waiting for us.'"
He was. Bono hadn't been wearing a helmet, but according to those who had recovered his body, he had collided with a tree with such force that even a helmet likely wouldn't have allowed him to walk away. His wife was taken to the scene: "The minute I got there, I saw his feet and his legs, and I knew it was him."
Bono was 62 years old at the time of his death, and during an interview after his election to Congress, he had addressed how he would like to be remembered: "As someone who is his own man, a maverick, and really, a person of substance like other people. Not necessarily the brilliant person, but recognize that there is substance there, you know."
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