Georgia Holt, Cher’s Mom, Releases First Album At 86

Georgia Holt, Cher’s mom, has released her first album. The news shouldn’t come as a surprise given her daughter’s musical success — after all, the talent had to come from somewhere.

But given Holt’s 86 years and the age of the recordings themselves, this release stands out. Appropriately titled Honky Tonk Woman for the famous mom’s country roots, each song was originally recorded in 1980 along with the musicians, who played with Elvis Presley.

According to a Tuesday press release, the country/pop album was never released with the tapes sitting in Holt’s garage for more than 30 years before being rediscovered, restored and mixed by The Voice‘s Musical Director Paul Mirkovich, who is also Cher’s musical director along with Ollie Marland and Jorge Velasco.

The album will feature 10 songs from the original sessions including “I’m Just Your Yesterday,” a duet with Cher, and original compositions from Holt. Additionally, there will be covers of “Love Me Tender,” “Cryin’ Time,” and “I’m Movin’ On.”

From the sound of things, Georgia Holt has not recorded any new tracks for the release. She was around age 53 at the time of the sessions, but had forged a career of her own with turns in beauty pageants as well as acting and modeling jobs during her youth.

Her daughter Cher, mother to transgender celebrity Chaz Bono, has found success on both stage and screen, first as part of a musical act with the late Sonny Bono and then in the 1980s and 1990s with a successful solo act and acclaimed performances in films like Mask and Moonstruck.

Recently, she’s stayed more active politically, feuding with Donald Trump and speaking out against Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign.

Her next project will be a Lifetime documentary on the life of her mother. She and sister Georganne will be making the promotional rounds in anticipation of the documentary’s May 6 airdate.

Watch for her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight and then Good Morning America and The Ellen Show on May 1.

Will you be picking up the first CD release of Georgia Holt?

[Image via Liz Rosenberg Media]