happiness is a warm straitjacket

Don’t be deceived by his tough guy looks and tattoos; Paul Cher is part punk and part poet.   

Praised for the haunting hurt he puts into a lyric, there’s a certain musical alchemy that happens when Paul sings, something that meets in the middle of ghostly and groovy. 

 With his independently released EP “In The Stillness of Remembering: The Words and Music of Stevie Nicks”  debut in 2014, Paul along with John Boswell (who arranged, produced and played every instrument on the EP) brought an ethereal and atmospheric update to these Stevie Nicks masterpieces and remains a cult favorite for fans of the Ambient/New Age genre and numerous witch-inspired playlists.   

 In 2023 Paul teamed up with  John Ballinger for a full length album covering the most iconic woman in Pop Music history: CHER. “Uninhibited: The CHER Project” with Paul on vocals, Ballinger as producer, arranger and playing every instrument (with Art Botti on drums) puts a rockabilly-flamenco twist on 10 CHER anthems like “Believe" and "Strong Enough."   2024 found Paul returning with John Ballinger to their CHER roots with “Electric Feathers: The CHER Project, Volume II,” an 11 song album of more CHER  songs, exploring her Sonny & Cher classics up to the 90’s with breathtakingly ethereal covers of “The Gunman” (from Cher’s 1996 “It’s A Man’s World” album) to a gravity defying cosmic ballad version of her disco anthem “Take Me Home.”   

Both of The CHER Project albums are the first and only sound recordings dedicated to celebrating the Cher songbook.    

All of Paul’s music and art was released under the name “Paul Ybarra” up until 2026. It’s the name he was born with and struggled to live up to. Paul recalls “Growing up, I was continually berated for being Gay and not being “Mexican enough." Parents, family, anyone I was blood related to  continually reminded me of the shame I brought to them and that last name.”    

But an Ancestry DNA test in 2024 upended that myth and revealed not only was Paul NOT an “Ybarra”;  he was a completely different ethnicity! "My family Coat of Arms is really a straitjacket! I’m actually French Canadian, Irish and Creole with a sprinkling of various European and Native American” Paul laughs. "It was a relief NOT to be an Ybarra. I chose the last name “Cher” because my biological father’s last name starts with those letters. It’s my real, true last name.”   

“Now people know me as the tattoo guy who sings Cher and wears straitjackets,”Paul laughs. “I have a huge straitjacket fetish”,he admits. “I created a Straitjacket Tarot deck, hand painted all 78 cards and use that in my practice as a Tarot card reader.”   

Paul is currently working on an all-original material album for 2026. He’s also working on a podcast about his own journey of identity, fetish, and what happens when your ethnicity drastically changes. ”It’s a battle between what  Science proves  and where family secrets become damaging lies,” Paul says with a grin. “Like Godzilla vs The Smog Monster."   

 For a man who’s built his musical foundation on covers, it’s a thrilling leap into the future he’s excited to take. “Follow your dreams,” Paul wisely quotes. “Straitjacket and speedo required.”   

Whether it’s Cher or straitjackets that brings you to discover and follow Paul Cher, you can bet it’s going to be fun and sexy. Just like Cher.  And, just like Paul.