Cher is mourning the loss of her mother Georgia Holt, who died Saturday at 96.
“Mom is gone,” the 76-year-old music icon tweeted.
Born Jackie Jean Crouch in Arkansas, Holt learned how to sing and play guitar from her father, baker Roy Crouch. She was still a child when she started singing on the radio and with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.
Holt competed in talent and beauty competitions and had small roles in films and television. She was the subject of the 2013 documentary Dear Mom, Love Cher.
Honky Tonk Woman, an album she recorded in the ‘80s, was released in 2013 and included a duet with Cher.
Holt was married and divorced six times. She had Cher with her first (and fifth) husband John Sarkisian and had a second daughter, Georganne, with John Southall.
Through Cher, Holt had grandsons Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman. She also leaves behind longtime partner Craig Spencer.