THE BEAT GOES ON.

Sonny Bono, 62, who died Monday in a California skiing accident, was the man who put a smiley face on the counterculture. If the late 1960s is recalled as a time of turbulence and strife, racial tension and antiwar protests, Sonny and his partner Cher gave America an antidote to all that cultural upheaval. A lot of people thought he was lucky, that Cher was the talented one. But the truth was that Sonny had it all figured out. ``I made a living as a singer, and I'm not a singer,'' he once said. But, he also noted, speaking as a congressman a few years ago, ``If anybody really thinks for a minute, I couldn't possibly have done the things I've done and be where I am today if I was a dope. I've had three careers. I've come off the mat three times when I was supposed to be down. To think that could possibly be an accident, you would have not to be very bright.''

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8 Photos

Photo: (1--3) Sonny and Cher on a 1966 ``Danny Thomas Special''; reuniting in 1979 on ``The Mike Douglas Show''; and getting together again to sing their signature hit, ``I Got You, Babe,'' in 1987 on ``Late Night With David Letterman.''

Associated Press

(4) Sonny Bono at the Heavenly Ski Resort during a celebrity contest in 1979. Bono was killed Monday in an apparent skiing accident at the same resort.

(5) Bono with third wife Mary Whitaker and their first child together, Chesare (now 9), in 1989.

(6) Then-Mayor Bono cruising through Palm Springs on his Harley-Davidson in 1990.

(7--8) Bono's many TV guest appearances included a shot on ``The Six Million Dollar Man,'' with Lee Majors in 1975, and with Bea Arthur on ``The Golden Girls'' in 1990.