Cher's first tattoo was etched on her butt.

The 67-year-old star got her first body art in 1973 as her relationship with first husband Sonny Bono was ending - a butterfly and flowers needled onto her derrière.

Cher was quizzed about the many tattoos she has had over her lifetime during an appearance on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' and joked she actually had a welcoming message for lovers inked onto her cheeks.

She quipped: ''I have a few but I think my first one was on my butt.''

Letterman then asked: ''What did it say?''

Cher responded: ''Hi sailor. That was on one cheek! On one cheek it said, 'Hi sailor,' and on the other it said, 'New in town.' ''

He asked: ''You were a kid then, you were 18/19 years old?''

She replied: ''No, no, I wasn't I was 27. Yeah, I had to leave Sonny to do it.''

Cher proudly displayed her butt tattoo on stage in the 80s and the infamous mesh body stocking she wore for her 'If I Could Turn Back Time' showed it off to the world as well as her other designs.

Her other tattoos have included a flowing necklace done on her left upper arm, a black orchid just above the crease of her right thigh and a chrysanthemum on her left ankle.

Cher - who has just released her new album 'Closer to the Truth' - has since had many of her tattoos removed with laser treatment and she made the decision to get rid of them because they were ''old fashioned''.

She explained: ''I won't like them [when I'm older] and everyone has them and mine are old fashioned. The artwork got so much nicer I mean look I'm going to be ... My ass is still in a nice place but at 87/90 I'm going to have a lower ass too hanging there in the wind!''