Elton John
Encyclopedia
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English
rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin
as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997
" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard
history. He has more than 50 Top 40
hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Award
s, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award
and a Tony Award
. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1994. Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS
since the late 1980s, and In 1992, he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation
and a year later began hosting the annual Academy Award Party
, which has since become one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $200 million. John entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish
on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements
. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (third overall, behind only The Beatles
and Madonna
).
Harris) and was raised in Pinner
, Middlesex in a council house
of his maternal grandparents. His parents did not marry until he was 6 years old, when the family moved to a nearby semi-detached house. He was educated at Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School and Pinner County Grammar School
, until age 17, when he left just prior to his A Level
examinations to pursue a career in the music industry.
When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father, who served as a Flight Lieutenant
in the Royal Air Force
, tried to steer him toward a more conventional career, such as banking. John has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood. Both of John's parents were musically inclined, his father having been a trumpet player with the Bob Millar Band, a semi-professional big band that played at military dances. The Dwights were keen record buyers, exposing John to the popular singers and musicians of the day, and John remembers being immediately hooked on rock and roll when his mother brought home records by Elvis Presley
and Bill Haley & His Comets
in 1956.
John started playing the piano at the age of 3, and within a year, his mother heard him picking out Winifred Atwell
's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. After performing at parties and family gatherings, at the age of 7 he took up formal piano lessons. He showed musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis
at school functions. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
. According to one of his instructors, John promptly played back, like a "gramophone record", a four-page piece by Handel
that he heard for the first time.
For the next five years he attended Saturday classes at the Academy in central London, and has stated that he enjoyed playing Chopin
and Bach
and singing in the choir during Saturday classes, but that he was not otherwise a diligent classical student. "I kind of resented going to the Academy", he says. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practicing and still pass, scrape through the grades." He even claims that he would sometimes skip classes and just ride around on the Tube
. However, several instructors have testified that he was a "model student", and during the last few years he was taking lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the Academy.
John's mother, though also strict with her son, was more vivacious than her husband, and something of a free spirit. With Stanley Dwight uninterested in his son and often physically absent, John was raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother. When his father was home, the Dwights would have terrible arguments that greatly distressed their son. When John was 14, they divorced. His mother then married a local painter, Fred Farebrother, a caring and supportive stepfather who John affectionately referred to as "Derf", his first name in reverse. They moved into flat No. 1A in an eight-unit apartment building called Frome Court, not far from both previous homes. It was there that John would write the songs that would launch his career as a rock star; he would live there until he had four albums simultaneously in the American Top 40.
35 a week and tips. Known simply as "Reggie", he played a range of popular standards, including songs by Jim Reeves
and Ray Charles
, as well as songs he had written himself. A stint with a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time.
In 1964, Dwight and his friends formed a band called Bluesology
. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul
and R&B musicians like The Isley Brothers
, Major Lance
, Billy Stewart
, Doris Troy
and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles
. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry
's supporting band and played 16 times at The Marquee Club.
After failing lead vocalist auditions for King Crimson
and Gentle Giant
, Dwight answered an advertisement in the New Musical Express
placed by Ray Williams
, then the A&R
manager for Liberty Records
. At their first meeting, Williams gave Dwight a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin
, who had answered the same ad. Dwight wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, beginning a partnership that . In 1967, what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Scarecrow", was recorded; when the two first met, six months later, Dwight was going by the name "Elton John", in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean
and Long John Baldry.
The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James
's DJM Records
as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, like Roger Cook
and Lulu
. Taupin would write a batch of lyrics in under an hour and give it to John, who would write music for them in half an hour, disposing of the lyrics if he couldn't come up with anything quickly. For two years, they wrote easy-listening
tunes for James to peddle to singers. Their early output included a contender for the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
in 1969, for Lulu, called "Can't Go On (Living Without You)". It came sixth
of six songs. In 1969, John also provided piano for Roger Hodgson
on his first ever musical recording.
During this period, John was also a session musician for other artists including playing piano on The Hollies
' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
" and singing backing vocals for The Scaffold
.
, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha
", and an album, Empty Sky.
For their follow-up album, Elton John
, John and Taupin enlisted Gus Dudgeon
as producer and Paul Buckmaster
as musical arranger
. Elton John was released in the April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records
in the UK and Uni Records
in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song
", made into the US Top 100
, peaking at Number 92. The second single "Your Song
" made the US Top Ten, peaking at number eight and becoming John's first hit single as a singer. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the Billboard 200
album chart.
Backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group
drummer Nigel Olsson
and bassist Dee Murray
, John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970, and was a success.
The concept album Tumbleweed Connection
was released in October 1970, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200
. The live album 17-11-70
(11-17-70 in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the US when an east coast bootleg
ger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.
John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends
and then the album Madman Across the Water
, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon
", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends". In 1972, Davey Johnstone
joined the Elton John Band on guitar and backing vocals. The band released Honky Chateau
, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie
's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat
".
The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock
" and "Daniel
"; the former became his first US Billboard Hot 100
number one hit. Both the album and "Crocodile Rock
" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records
label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock
star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets
", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
", "Candle in the Wind
", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums
series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.
and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka
("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee
– in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.
In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon
took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night
". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There
" at Madison Square Garden
. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.
Caribou
was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back
" and the lushly orchestrated "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
".
Pete Townshend
of The Who
asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy
, and to perform the song "Pinball Wizard
". Drawing on power chord
s, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the US). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight
" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.
The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium
.
The rock-oriented Rock of the Westies
entered the US albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. Elton John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich
feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty
, Donald Duck
, or Mozart ,among others, at his concerts.
To celebrate five years since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also played piano on Kevin Ayers
' Sweet Deceiver
, and was among the first and few white artists to appear on the black music series Soul Train
on American television.
In 1976, the live album Here and There was released in May, followed by the Blue Moves
album in October, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
". His biggest success in 1976 was "Don't Go Breaking My Heart
", a duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", John stated that he was bisexual.
Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
in Rolling Stonein 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.
During the same period, John made a guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise Show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.
In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. Now only producing one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne
; the album produced no singles that made the Top 20 in the US but the two singles from the album released in the UK, Part-Time Love
and Song for Guy
, both made the Top 20 in the UK with the latter reaching the Top 5. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper
, John became the first Western solo artist to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel
), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the US in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9, 1979), a song originally rejected in 1977 by MCA before being released, recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell
. Elton reported that Thom Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons; Bell encouraged John to sing in a lower register. A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love
, was poorly received. In 1979, John and Taupin
reunited, though they would not collaborate on a full album until 1983's "Too Low For Zero
". 21 at 33
, released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie
" (number 3 US), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne
.
, was recorded in part during the same sessions as 21 at 33
, and also included collaborations with Tom Robinson
and Judie Tzuke
. On 13 September 1980, John, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park
in New York City. His 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
", came from his Jump Up!
album, his second under a new US recording contract with Geffen Records
.
He married his close friend and sound engineer, Renate Blauel
on Valentine's Day 1984 - the marriage lasted three years. The Biography Channel Special detailed the loss of Elton's voice in 1986 while on tour in Australia. Shortly thereafter he underwent throat surgery, which permanently altered his voice. Several non-cancerous polyps were removed from his vocal cords, resulting in a change in his singing voice. In 1987 he won a libel case against The Sun
which published allegations of sex with rent boys.
With original band members Johnstone, Murray and Olsson together again, John was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album Too Low for Zero
, which included "I'm Still Standing
" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder
on harmonica and reached number 4 in the US, giving John his biggest hit there since "Little Jeannie". He placed hits in the US Top Ten throughout the 1980s – "Little Jeannie" (number 3, 1980), "Sad Songs (Say So Much)
" (number 5, 1984), "Nikita
" boosted by a mini-movie pop video directed by Ken Russell (number 7, 1986), a live orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" (number 6, 1987), and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (number 2, 1988). His highest-charting single was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick
, Gladys Knight
, and Stevie Wonder on "That's What Friends Are For
" (number 1, 1985); credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but of the six released in the latter half of the 1980s, only Reg Strikes Back
(number 16, 1988) placed in the Top 20 in the United States.
In 1985, Elton John was one of the many performers at Live Aid
held at Wembley Stadium. John played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man"; then "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Kiki Dee for the first time in years; and introduced his friend George Michael
, still then of Wham!
, to sing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". He enlisted Michael to sing backing vocals on his single "Wrap Her Up
", and also recruited teen idol Nik Kershaw
as an instrumentalist on "Nikita". John also recorded material with Millie Jackson
in 1985. In 1986, he played the piano on two tracks on the heavy metal
band Saxon's
album Rock the Nations
.
In 1988, he performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden
, giving him 26 for his career. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London.
") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past
; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks. The following year, John's "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental
, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael
's cover of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the US and UK.
In 1992 he released the US number 8 album The One, featuring the hit song "The One
". John and Taupin then signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. In April 1992, John appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "The Show Must Go On
" with the remaining members of Queen
, and "Bohemian Rhapsody
" with Axl Rose
of Guns N' Roses
and Queen. The following year, he released Duets
, a collaboration with 15 artists including Tammy Wynette
and RuPaul
. This also included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, entitled "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts.
Along with Tim Rice
, Elton John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney
animated film The Lion King
, which became the 3rd highest-grossing animated feature of all time. At the 67th Academy Awards
ceremony, The Lion King
provided three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song, which John won with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight
". Both that and "Circle of Life
" became hit songs for John. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win Elton John the Grammy Award
for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 37th Grammy Awards. After the release of the The Lion King soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard
's charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.
In 1995 John released Made in England (number 3, 1995), which featured the single "Believe". John performed "Believe" at the 1995 Brit Awards
, and picked up the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music. A compilation called Love Songs
was released in 1996.
Early in 1997 John held a 50th birthday party, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends. John also performed with the surviving members of Queen
in Paris at the opening night (17 January 1997) of Le Presbytère N'a Rien Perdu De Son Charme Ni Le Jardin De Son Éclat, a work by French ballet legend Maurice Béjart
which draws upon AIDS and the deaths of Freddie Mercury
and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn
. Later in 1997, two close friends died: designer Gianni Versace
was murdered; Diana, Princess of Wales
died in a Paris car crash on 31 August.
In early September, John contacted his writing partner Bernie Taupin
, asking him to revise the lyrics of his 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" to honour Diana, and Taupin rewrote the song accordingly. On 6 September 1997, John performed "Candle in the Wind 1997
" at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales
in Westminster Abbey
. The song became the fastest, and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually selling over 33 million copies worldwide. The best-selling single in UK Chart history, it sold 4.86 million copies in the UK. The best-selling single in Billboard
history, and the only single ever certified Diamond
in the United States, the single sold over 11 million copies in the U.S. The song proceeds of approximately £55 million were donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
. It would win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
at the 40th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1998. John has publicly performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" only once, at Diana's funeral, vowing never to perform it again unless asked by Diana's sons.
In the musical theatre world, in addition to a 1998 adaptation of The Lion King for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of Aida
in 1999 with lyricist Tim Rice
, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score
at the 54th Tony Awards
, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album
at the 43rd Grammy Awards. The musical was given its world premiere in the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. It went on to Chicago and eventually Broadway. He also released a live compilation album called Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits from the show he did at Madison Square Garden
in New York City that same year.
In 2000, John and Tim Rice
teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks
' animated film The Road to El Dorado
. In August 2003, John scored his fifth UK number one single when "Are You Ready for Love
" topped the UK Charts. Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End Theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical
in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall
. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is Lestat: The Musical
, based on the Anne Rice
vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances.
John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works on 9 October 2006, by The Walt Disney Company. In 2006 he told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B/hip-hop genre. "I want to work with Pharrell {Williams}
, Timbaland
, Snoop {Dogg}
, Kanye {West}
, Eminem and just see what happens."
In March 2007 he performed at Madison Square Garden for a record breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday, the concert was broadcast live and a DVD recording was released as Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden
; a greatest-hits compilation CD, Rocket Man – Number Ones, was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo; and his back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download.
In a September 2008 interview with GQ magazine, John said: "I’m going on the road again with Billy Joel
again next year," referring to "Face to Face," a series of concerts featuring both musicians. The tour began in March and will continue for at least two more years.
In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace
on the Las Vegas Strip
. The show, entitled The Red Piano, was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle
. Effectively, he and Celine Dion
share performances at Caesars Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004. On 21 June 2008, he performed his 200th show in Caesars Palace. A DVD/CD package of The Red Piano was released through Best Buy in November 2008. A two year global tour was sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas
, Nevada, some of the venues of which were new to John. The Red Piano Tour
closed in Las Vegas in April 2009.
Elton John performed a piano duet with Lady Gaga
at the 52nd Grammy Awards
. On 6 June 2010, John performed at the fourth wedding of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh
for a reported US$1 million fee. Eleven days later, and 17 years to the day after his last previous performance in Israel
, he performed at the Ramat Gan Stadium; this was significant because of other then-recent cancellations by other performers in the fallout surrounding an Israeli raid
on Gaza Flotilla the month before. In his introduction to that concert, Elton John noted he and other musicians should not "cherry-pick our conscience", in reference to Elvis Costello
, who was to have performed in Israel two weeks after Elton did, but cancelled in the wake of the aforementioned raid, citing his [Costello's] conscience.
John's latest studio album is entitled The Union and was released on 19 October 2010. John says his collaboration with American singer-songwriter and sideman Leon Russell
marks a new chapter in his recording career, saying: "I don't have to make pop records any more."
Elton John began his new show "The Million Dollar Piano
" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
, Las Vegas on 28 September 2011. John will be performing the show at Caesars for the next three years. John performed his 3000th concert on Saturday 8 October 2011 at Caesars.
since 1967 when he answered an advertisement for talent placed in the New Musical Express by Liberty records
A&R
man Ray Williams
. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the writing style that John and Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process.
, it is now baritone
. His piano playing is influenced by classical
and gospel music
. He used Paul Buckmaster
to arrange the music on his studio albums during the 1970s.
". He married German recording engineer Renate Blauel
on 14 February 1984, in Darling Point
, Sydney, with speculation that the marriage was a cover for his homosexuality. John had come out
as bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone
, but after his divorce from Blauel in 1988 he told the magazine that he was "comfortable" being gay.
In 1993, John began a relationship with David Furnish
, a former advertising executive and now filmmaker. John and Furnish entered a civil partnership on 21 December 2005. They held a low-key ceremony at the Windsor Guildhall, followed by a lavish party at their Berkshire
mansion, thought to have cost £1 million. Their son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born to a surrogate mother on 25 December 2010 in California. John and Furnish chose Lady Gaga
, magazine editor Ingrid Sischy, and Sichy's partner Sandy Brant as Zachary's godmothers.
In September 2009, John announced his intention to adopt a 14-month-old boy, Lev, from an AIDS orphanage
in Ukraine, but he was denied due to his age and marital status. Furnish stated they would continue to financially support Lev and his brother and would campaign for a change in Ukrainian law. John has ten known godchildren, including Sean Lennon
, David
and Victoria Beckham
's sons Brooklyn and Romeo, Elizabeth Hurley
's son Damian Charles, and the daughter of Seymour Stein
.
In April 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List
estimated John's wealth to be £175 million (US$265 million), and ranked him as the 322nd richest person in Britain. John was estimated to have a fortune of £195 million in the Sunday Times Rich List
of 2011, making him one of the 10 richest people in the British music industry. Aside from his main home "Woodside" in Old Windsor
, Berkshire, John owns residences in Atlanta, Nice
, London's Holland Park
, and Venice
. John is an art collector, and is believed to have one of the largest private photography collections in the world.
In 2000, John admitted to spending £30 million in just under two years—an average of £1.5 million a month. Between January 1996 and September 1997, he spent more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers. In June 2001 John sold 20 of his cars at Christie's
, saying he didn't get the chance to drive them because he was out of the country so often. The sale, which included a 1993 Jaguar XJ220
, the most expensive at £234,750, and several Ferrari
s, Rolls-Royce
s, and Bentley
s, raised nearly £2 million. In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park home—expected to fetch £800,000 at Sotheby's
—in a bid to create more room for his collection of contemporary art which includes many works of art by Young British Artists
such as Sam Taylor-Wood
and Tracy Emin. Every year since 2004, John has opened a shop called "Elton's Closet" in which he sells his second-hand clothes.
in 2002, King asked if John knew of Diana, Princess of Wales
' eating disorder. John replied, "Yes, I did. We were both bulimic."
A longtime tennis enthusiast, John wrote the song "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to long-time friend Billie Jean King
and her World Team Tennis
franchise of the same name. John and King also co-host an annual pro-am event to benefit AIDS charities, most notably John's own Elton John AIDS Foundation
, for which King is a chairwoman. John, who maintains a part-time residence in Atlanta, Georgia, became a fan of the Atlanta Braves
baseball team when he moved there in 1991.
. The pinnacle of the club's success was finishing runners up in the First Division
and reaching the FA Cup Final a year later. He sold the club to Jack Petchey
in 1987, but remained their life-long president. In 1997 he re-purchased the club from Petchey and once again became chairman. He stepped down in 2002 when the club needed a full-time chairman although he continued as president of the club. Although no longer the majority shareholder, he still holds a significant financial interest. In June 2005 he held a concert at Watford's Vicarage Road
ground, donating the funds to the club, and another concert in May 2010. For a time he was also a part-owner of the Los Angeles Aztecs
of the North American Soccer League
.
and Freddie Mercury
, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick
, Gladys Knight
, and Stevie Wonder
to record the single "That's What Friends Are For
", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
(as well as Song of the Year
for its writers, Burt Bacharach
and Carole Bayer Sager
). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon
" at the funeral of White, a teenage haemophiliac he had befriended.
John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha
pianos from his Las Vegas
, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.
To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé
followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon
with Maine
lobster
tail) and a giant Knickerbocker glory
ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry
. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin
's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah
" with Tom Jones
and "Big Spender
" with Shirley Bassey
. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.
in the launch of her Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination
of the LGBT
community as part of her True Colors Fund. In the advertisement, John states: "Imagine walking down the street and wondering if this is the day you'll get beaten up, or even killed, simply because of who you are". The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg
, Jason Mraz
, Judith Light
, Cynthia Nixon
, Kim Kardashian
, Clay Aiken
, Sharon Osbourne
, Kelly Osbourne
, and Anna Paquin
.
He is an occasional columnist in the Guardian
.
in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1992. John was made a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1995. For his charitable work, John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
on 24 February 1998. In October 1975, John became the 1,662nd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
He became a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, and a Disney Legends
Award in 2006. In 2010, Elton John was awarded with the PRS for Music Heritage Award
, which was erected, on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Watford, where Elton performed his first ever gig.
Music awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Song
for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight
" from The Lion King
(award shared with Tim Rice); the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
in 1994 for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); and the Tony Award for Best Original Score
in 2000 for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
(award shared with Tim Rice)
John has six Grammy Awards:
has been the band's lyricist during their classic era and also to this day. In addition, Davey Johnstone
, Nigel Olsson
, and Ray Cooper
are the only returning members of the band's original line-up since 1970 (Olsson), and 1972 (Johnstone and Cooper). Ray Cooper is on and off with the Elton John Band because he is working with other musicians as a session and road-tour percussionist. Furthermore, Elton John has also used a number of session musicians in the time of his career.
Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums
Films
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997
Candle in the Wind 1997
"Candle in the Wind 1997" is a rewritten and rerecorded version of Elton John's own 1973 hit "Candle in the Wind" that was released as a tribute single to the late Diana, Princess of Wales....
" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
history. He has more than 50 Top 40
Top Forty
The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music songs of the previous week...
hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
and a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in 1994. Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
since the late 1980s, and In 1992, he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John AIDS Foundation is one of the world's leading nonprofit organizations that was established by Sir Elton John in 1992 in the US * and 1993 in the UK * supporting innovative HIV/AIDS prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS.EJAF has...
and a year later began hosting the annual Academy Award Party
Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party
The Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party is an annual party held every year in Los Angeles, California since 1993, following the Academy Awards ceremony. The first party was held in February 1993 at Maple Drive Restaurant and raised $300,000...
, which has since become one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $200 million. John entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish
David Furnish
David James Furnish is a Canadian/British filmmaker, former advertising executive, and now a film director and producer most known for his documentary Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras...
on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements
LGBT social movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (third overall, behind only The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
).
Early life
John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947, the eldest child of Stanley and only child of Sheila Eileen Dwight (néeNEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Harris) and was raised in Pinner
Pinner
- Climate :Pinner's geographical position on the far western side of North West London makes it the furthest London suburb from any UK coastline. Hence the lower prevalence of moderating maritime influences make Pinner noticeably warmer in the spring and the summer compared to the rest of the capital...
, Middlesex in a council house
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
of his maternal grandparents. His parents did not marry until he was 6 years old, when the family moved to a nearby semi-detached house. He was educated at Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School and Pinner County Grammar School
Pinner County Grammar School
Pinner County Grammar School was a grammar school in Pinner, London from 1937 to 1982. In its latter years it became a college as Pinner Junior College and Pinner Sixth Form College. Famous pupils include Reg Dwight, otherwise known as Elton John, Simon Le Bon, Ron Goodwin and Gordon Beck all...
, until age 17, when he left just prior to his A Level
GCE Advanced Level
The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...
examinations to pursue a career in the music industry.
When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father, who served as a Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, tried to steer him toward a more conventional career, such as banking. John has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood. Both of John's parents were musically inclined, his father having been a trumpet player with the Bob Millar Band, a semi-professional big band that played at military dances. The Dwights were keen record buyers, exposing John to the popular singers and musicians of the day, and John remembers being immediately hooked on rock and roll when his mother brought home records by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
in 1956.
John started playing the piano at the age of 3, and within a year, his mother heard him picking out Winifred Atwell
Winifred Atwell
Una Winifred Atwell Una Winifred Atwell Una Winifred Atwell (27 February or April 1910 or 1914There is some uncertainty over her date and year of birth. Many sources suggest 27 February 1914, but there is a strong suggestion that her birthday was 27 April. Most sources give her year of birth as...
's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. After performing at parties and family gatherings, at the age of 7 he took up formal piano lessons. He showed musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
at school functions. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. According to one of his instructors, John promptly played back, like a "gramophone record", a four-page piece by Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
that he heard for the first time.
For the next five years he attended Saturday classes at the Academy in central London, and has stated that he enjoyed playing Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
and Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and singing in the choir during Saturday classes, but that he was not otherwise a diligent classical student. "I kind of resented going to the Academy", he says. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practicing and still pass, scrape through the grades." He even claims that he would sometimes skip classes and just ride around on the Tube
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
. However, several instructors have testified that he was a "model student", and during the last few years he was taking lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the Academy.
John's mother, though also strict with her son, was more vivacious than her husband, and something of a free spirit. With Stanley Dwight uninterested in his son and often physically absent, John was raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother. When his father was home, the Dwights would have terrible arguments that greatly distressed their son. When John was 14, they divorced. His mother then married a local painter, Fred Farebrother, a caring and supportive stepfather who John affectionately referred to as "Derf", his first name in reverse. They moved into flat No. 1A in an eight-unit apartment building called Frome Court, not far from both previous homes. It was there that John would write the songs that would launch his career as a rock star; he would live there until he had four albums simultaneously in the American Top 40.
Pub pianist to staff songwriter (1962–1969)
At the age of 15, with the help of his mother and stepfather, Reginald Dwight became a weekend pianist at a nearby pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing Thursday to Sunday nights for £Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
35 a week and tips. Known simply as "Reggie", he played a range of popular standards, including songs by Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
and Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, as well as songs he had written himself. A stint with a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time.
In 1964, Dwight and his friends formed a band called Bluesology
Bluesology
Bluesology was a 1960s English R&B group, best remembered as being the first professional band of which Reggie Dwight - later known as Elton John - was a member.-History:...
. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and R&B musicians like The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...
, Major Lance
Major Lance
Major Lance was an American R&B singer. After a number of US hits in the 1960s, including "The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um", he became an iconic figure in Britain in the 1970s among followers of Northern soul.-Life:Major Lance was born in Winterville, Mississippi...
, Billy Stewart
Billy Stewart
Billy Stewart was an American musical artist, with a highly distinctive scat-singing style, who enjoyed popularity in the 1960s.-Biography:...
, Doris Troy
Doris Troy
Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles
Labelle
Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry
Long John Baldry
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No...
's supporting band and played 16 times at The Marquee Club.
After failing lead vocalist auditions for King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
and Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
, Dwight answered an advertisement in the New Musical Express
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
placed by Ray Williams
Ray Williams (producer)
Ray Williams, , is an A&R music producer/ publisher. He is best known as the man who discovered Elton John and introduced him to lyric writer Bernie Taupin...
, then the A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
manager for Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
. At their first meeting, Williams gave Dwight a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
, who had answered the same ad. Dwight wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, beginning a partnership that . In 1967, what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Scarecrow", was recorded; when the two first met, six months later, Dwight was going by the name "Elton John", in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
and Long John Baldry.
The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James
Dick James
Dick James , born Reginald Leon Isaac Vapnick, was a music publisher and the founder of the DJM record label and recording studios, as well as The Beatles' publisher Northern Songs.-Early life:...
's DJM Records
DJM Records
DJM Records was the record label set up in the 1970s by British music publisher, Dick James, distributed by Pye Records in the UK and various other companies around the world, including the USA...
as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, like Roger Cook
Roger Cook (songwriter)
Roger Cook is an English songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.-Early life:Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England...
and Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
. Taupin would write a batch of lyrics in under an hour and give it to John, who would write music for them in half an hour, disposing of the lyrics if he couldn't come up with anything quickly. For two years, they wrote easy-listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
tunes for James to peddle to singers. Their early output included a contender for the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
in 1969, for Lulu, called "Can't Go On (Living Without You)". It came sixth
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969
The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. It was held on February 22, 1969 and presented by Michael Aspel...
of six songs. In 1969, John also provided piano for Roger Hodgson
Roger Hodgson
Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson is a British musician and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman, and founding member, of progressive rock band Supertramp....
on his first ever musical recording.
During this period, John was also a session musician for other artists including playing piano on The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
"He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother" is a popular music ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies later that year and again for Neil Diamond in 1970....
" and singing backing vocals for The Scaffold
The Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear , Roger McGough and John Gorman.-Career:...
.
Debut album to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1969–1973)
On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb QuayeCaleb Quaye
Caleb Quaye , is an English Afro-European rock guitarist and studio musician best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with Elton John, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney and Hall & Oates...
, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha
Lady Samantha
"Lady Samantha" is a song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It was released on January 17, 1969, six months before his first album, Empty Sky came out...
", and an album, Empty Sky.
For their follow-up album, Elton John
Elton John (album)
Elton John is the eponymous second album by English singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1970. It was his first album, however, released in America, thus commonly assumed by many as his debut, as Empty Sky would not be released in the U.S. until 1975...
, John and Taupin enlisted Gus Dudgeon
Gus Dudgeon
Angus Boyd Dudgeon , most commonly known as Gus Dudgeon was an English record producer, most notable for production of many of Elton John's recordings.-Early career:...
as producer and Paul Buckmaster
Paul Buckmaster
Paul John Buckmaster is a Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger and composer.He began learning the cello at the age of 4 and graduated from the Royal College of Music at age 16....
as musical arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
. Elton John was released in the April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
in the UK and Uni Records
Uni Records
Uni Records was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinct UNi logo, was established in 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen and developed by music industry veteran Russ Regan...
in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song
Border Song
"Border Song" is a gospel ballad originally performed by British musician Elton John. Lyrics are credited to Bernie Taupin . The music was composed by John....
", made into the US Top 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, peaking at Number 92. The second single "Your Song
Your Song
"Your Song" is a ballad composed and performed by English musician Elton John with lyrics by his long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin. It appeared on John's self-titled second album in 1970....
" made the US Top Ten, peaking at number eight and becoming John's first hit single as a singer. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
album chart.
Backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
drummer Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson is an English rock drummer, who is best known for his work with Elton John. Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as one of the first members of John's band, on drums, percussion and backing vocals. When not working with Elton, Olsson has taken up the role of a session musician...
and bassist Dee Murray
Dee Murray
Dee Murray was an English bassist, best known as a member of Elton John's original rock band.-Biography:Murray was born David Murray Oates in Southgate, London in 1946...
, John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970, and was a success.
The concept album Tumbleweed Connection
Tumbleweed Connection
Tumbleweed Connection is the third album by English international recording artist Elton John. It is a concept album based on the Country and Western/Americana themes. All songs are written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John with the exception of "Love Song" by Lesley Duncan. It was recorded at...
was released in October 1970, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. The live album 17-11-70
17-11-70
17-11-70 is a live album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1971. The recording was taken from a live radio broadcast on 17 November 1970, hence the album's title. The US release was renamed 11-17-70 in keeping with the standard US format of listing the month before the day in...
(11-17-70 in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the US when an east coast bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
ger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.
John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends
Friends (1971 film)
Friends is a 1971 film directed by Lewis Gilbert and written by Gilbert, Vernon Harris and Jack Russell. The soundtrack by Elton John and Bernie Taupin was released as the Friends album. The film was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film at the 1972 Golden Globe...
and then the album Madman Across the Water
Madman Across the Water
Madman Across the Water is the fourth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1971 through DJM/Uni Records. The title song, "Madman Across the Water", was set to be released on Elton John's previous album Tumbleweed Connection. However, it was set aside and would...
, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon
Levon
"Levon" is a song written and recorded by Sir Elton John with lyrics written by Bernie Taupin. It is from John's fourth album Madman Across the Water and was recorded on February 27, 1971...
", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends". In 1972, Davey Johnstone
Davey Johnstone
Davey Johnstone , is a Scottish rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his work with Elton John.-Career:...
joined the Elton John Band on guitar and backing vocals. The band released Honky Chateau
Honky Château
Honky Château is the fifth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1972. In 2003, the album was ranked number 357 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was certified Gold on 7/24/1972 and Platinum on 10/11/1995 by the R.I.A.A...
, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat
Honky Cat
"Honky Cat" is a song from the 1972 Elton John album Honky Château, the album's lead-off track.A fast, spirited number played without any guitar, with Davey Johnstone playing banjo instead, "Honky Cat" is essentially about the illusion created by city life...
".
The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is the sixth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John. It was released by DJM Records....
came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock
Crocodile Rock
"Crocodile Rock" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and recorded in June 1972 at the Strawberry Studios, Château d'Hérouville in France. It was released on 27 October 1972 in the UK and 20 November 1972 in the US, as a pre-release single from his forthcoming 1973 album Don't Shoot...
" and "Daniel
Daniel (song)
"Daniel" was a major hit song by Elton John. It appeared on the 1973 album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. It was written by John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. In the United States the song reached #2 on the pop charts and #1 on the adult contemporary charts for two weeks in the spring...
"; the former became his first US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
number one hit. Both the album and "Crocodile Rock
Crocodile Rock
"Crocodile Rock" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and recorded in June 1972 at the Strawberry Studios, Château d'Hérouville in France. It was released on 27 October 1972 in the UK and 20 November 1972 in the US, as a pre-release single from his forthcoming 1973 album Don't Shoot...
" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, released in 1973, is the seventh studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John. It has come to be regarded as Elton John's best and most popular album, and is his best selling studio album with worldwide sales of at least 15 million copies.Recorded at the Château...
gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets
Bennie and the Jets
"Bennie and the Jets" is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The song is written in the key of G major and first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973. "Bennie and the Jets" has been one of John's most popular songs....
", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (song)
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is a ballad performed by musician Elton John. The song was written by Bernie Taupin and composed by John for his album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Its musical style and production is heavily influenced by 1970s soft rock...
", "Candle in the Wind
Candle in the Wind
"Candle in the Wind" is a song with music by Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It was originally written in 1973, in honour of Marilyn Monroe, who had died 11 years earlier....
", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is a rock song performed by musician Elton John and covered by W.A.S.P., Flotsam and Jetsam, Nickelback , Queen and The Who...
", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" is the opening song on the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. The first part, "Funeral for a Friend", is an instrumental created by John while thinking of what kind of music he would like at his funeral...
" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums
Classic Albums
Classic Albums is a documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.-Format:...
series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.
Rocket Records to 21 at 33 (1974–1979)
John formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket RecordsRocket Records
The Rocket Record Company was a record label founded by Elton John, with Bernie Taupin, Gus Dudgeon and Steve Brown among others, in 1972. The name is from the hit, "Rocket Man"...
and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....
– in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.
In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...
" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night
Whatever Gets You thru the Night
"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1974 on Apple Records, catalogue Apple 1874 in the United States and Apple R5998 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #36 on the British singles chart...
". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There
I Saw Her Standing There
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and is the opening track on The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963....
" at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.
Caribou
Caribou (album)
Caribou is the 8th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1974 . It was John's 4th chart-topping album in the U.S. and his 3rd in the U.K. The album contains the singles, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", which reached # 16 in the UK Singles Chart and # 2 in the U.S.,...
was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back
The Bitch Is Back
"The Bitch Is Back" is a rock song by Elton John, written with Bernie Taupin. It was the second single released from his 1974 album Caribou, and reached number 1 in Canada , number 4 in the United States and number 15 in the United Kingdom. The song has been identified as is one of Elton John's...
" and the lushly orchestrated "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is the first single from British musician Elton John's 1974 album Caribou; it was released that year during the latter half of May in the United Kingdom, and on 10 June in the United States.-Lyrics and music:...
".
Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
, and to perform the song "Pinball Wizard
Pinball Wizard
"Pinball Wizard" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band The Who, and featured on their 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S...
". Drawing on power chord
Power chord
In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
s, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the US). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975. It debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart, the first album ever to do so, and stayed there for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on 5/21/1975 and was...
, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. John originally wrote and recorded it in A-flat, though after having vocal cord surgery in 1987 that resulted in the loss of his falsetto range, John began performing the song in a...
" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.
The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
.
The rock-oriented Rock of the Westies
Rock of the Westies
Rock of the Westies is the tenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975 .Like Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock of the Westies also debuted on the United States Billboard charts at # 1, the only two albums at that time to have done so...
entered the US albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. Elton John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
, Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
, or Mozart ,among others, at his concerts.
To celebrate five years since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also played piano on Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers is an English singer-songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...
' Sweet Deceiver
Sweet Deceiver
Sweet Deceiver is the sixth studio album by Kevin Ayers and his last for Island Records. By 1975, Kevin Ayers had joined the roster of Elton John’s manager and partner John Reid, who put considerable energy into turning him into a mainstream artist, booking him appearances on early morning...
, and was among the first and few white artists to appear on the black music series Soul Train
Soul Train
Soul Train is an American musical variety show that aired in syndication from October 1971 to March 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists, although funk, jazz, disco, and gospel artists have also appeared.As a nod to Soul Trains...
on American television.
In 1976, the live album Here and There was released in May, followed by the Blue Moves
Blue Moves
Blue Moves is the eleventh studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1976. It was also his second double album , and his first album released by his own Rocket Records Ltd...
album in October, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the Blue Moves album. It was his second single on Rocket Records. The song is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship...
". His biggest success in 1976 was "Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is a duet by Elton John and Kiki Dee. It was written by Elton John with Bernie Taupin under the pseudonym "Ann Orson" and "Carte Blanche" , and intended as an affectionate pastiche of the Tamla Motown style, notably the various duets recorded by Marvin Gaye and singers...
", a duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", John stated that he was bisexual.
Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
in Rolling Stonein 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.
During the same period, John made a guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise Show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.
In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. Now only producing one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne is an English singer and songwriter from the United Kingdom.-Career:Osborne was born in London, educated in Switzerland, and followed his father into the music industry at the age of fifteen....
; the album produced no singles that made the Top 20 in the US but the two singles from the album released in the UK, Part-Time Love
Part-Time Love
"Part-Time Love" is a song written by Elton John with lyrics by Gary Osborne. It is the sixth track off his 1978 album, A Single Man. It is also the opening track of side two. It proved to be one of the most popular singles the couple wrote, along with 1982's "Blue Eyes". It was banned in the...
and Song for Guy
Song for Guy
"Song for Guy" is a mainly instrumental piece of music by Elton John. It is the closing track of his 1978 album, A Single Man.-Musical structure:Elton said this in the sleeve notes of the 7" single:...
, both made the Top 20 in the UK with the latter reaching the Top 5. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper is an English musician. He is a session and road-tour percussionist, and occasional actor, who has worked with several musically diverse bands and artists including George Harrison, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, and Elton John. Cooper is commonly regarded by music fans, critics and fellow...
, John became the first Western solo artist to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the US in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9, 1979), a song originally rejected in 1977 by MCA before being released, recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell
Thom Bell
Thomas Randolph "Thom" Bell is an American songwriter and producer, best known as one of the creators of the Philadelphia style of soul music in the 1970s. He moved to Philadelphia as a child.-Biography:...
. Elton reported that Thom Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons; Bell encouraged John to sing in a lower register. A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love
Victim of Love (album)
Victim of Love is the thirteenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1979. Recorded at Musicland, Munich and Rusk Sound Studios, Hollywood, it was not critically or commercially well-received, and is his second lowest charting album to date. This is also the shortest...
, was poorly received. In 1979, John and Taupin
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
reunited, though they would not collaborate on a full album until 1983's "Too Low For Zero
Too Low for Zero
Too Low for Zero is the 17th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1983. For the first time since Blue Moves in 1976, all lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, who has continued in this role to the present day. At the insistence of Taupin, John decided to go back to...
". 21 at 33
21 at 33
-Side two:...
, released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie
Little Jeannie
"Little Jeannie" is a song by Elton John and Gary Osborne, recorded by John and released as a single in 1980 from John's album 21 at 33. It was written for Jeannie Bonds, who was in the Miss. Sumter pageant in 1979...
" (number 3 US), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne is an English singer and songwriter from the United Kingdom.-Career:Osborne was born in London, educated in Switzerland, and followed his father into the music industry at the age of fifteen....
.
The 80s:The Fox to Sleeping with the Past (1981–1989)
His 1981 album, The FoxThe Fox (album)
The Fox is the 15th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1981. The track "Elton's Song" was banned from radio play in some countries due to its content, which included references to homosexuality...
, was recorded in part during the same sessions as 21 at 33
21 at 33
-Side two:...
, and also included collaborations with Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...
and Judie Tzuke
Judie Tzuke
Judie Tzuke is an English singer/songwriter. She is most well known for her 1979 hit "Stay With Me Till Dawn", which reached no.16 on the UK Singles Chart.-Early life:...
. On 13 September 1980, John, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
in New York City. His 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
"Empty Garden " is a hit ballad from British pop-rock performer Elton John's 1982 album Jump Up!. It reached number 13 in the US singles chart. He dedicated the song in memory of the late Beatle, John Lennon, who had been murdered by an obsessed fan in front of his New York City apartment on...
", came from his Jump Up!
Jump Up!
Jump Up! is the 16th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1982 on Rocket Records except in the US and Canada, where it was released on Geffen Records. It features such songs as "Empty Garden ", a tribute to John Lennon...
album, his second under a new US recording contract with Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
.
He married his close friend and sound engineer, Renate Blauel
Renate Blauel
Renate Ruth Margot John is a German music engineer.-Career:Already a sound engineer, she had engineered albums including Hysteria for the Human League and Croatia Records. She met Elton John whilst she was working as a recording engineer on his 1983 album Too Low for Zero in Sydney, Australia...
on Valentine's Day 1984 - the marriage lasted three years. The Biography Channel Special detailed the loss of Elton's voice in 1986 while on tour in Australia. Shortly thereafter he underwent throat surgery, which permanently altered his voice. Several non-cancerous polyps were removed from his vocal cords, resulting in a change in his singing voice. In 1987 he won a libel case against The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
which published allegations of sex with rent boys.
With original band members Johnstone, Murray and Olsson together again, John was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album Too Low for Zero
Too Low for Zero
Too Low for Zero is the 17th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1983. For the first time since Blue Moves in 1976, all lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, who has continued in this role to the present day. At the insistence of Taupin, John decided to go back to...
, which included "I'm Still Standing
I'm Still Standing
"I'm Still Standing" is a song on English pop rock performer Elton John's 1983 album, Too Low for Zero. He sings about making a comeback despite problems in daily life. The video, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was shot in Cannes and Nice on the Côte d'Azur in France and features the colours of the...
" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
"I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" is a song by British singer Elton John featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica...
", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
on harmonica and reached number 4 in the US, giving John his biggest hit there since "Little Jeannie". He placed hits in the US Top Ten throughout the 1980s – "Little Jeannie" (number 3, 1980), "Sad Songs (Say So Much)
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
"Sad Songs " is a song by Elton John from the 1984 album Breaking Hearts. It is the closing track. It reached the number 5 position on the U.S. chart. The lyrics describe how you sometimes need to listen to old radio blues classics when you're feeling down, or when someone beloved has left you...
" (number 5, 1984), "Nikita
Nikita (song)
"Nikita" is a song by English singer Elton John about the Cold War from his 1985 album Ice on Fire. Released in late 1985, the song achieved success in many countries, becoming a top ten hit in almost all of them.-Song synopsis:...
" boosted by a mini-movie pop video directed by Ken Russell (number 7, 1986), a live orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" (number 6, 1987), and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (number 2, 1988). His highest-charting single was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, and Stevie Wonder on "That's What Friends Are For
That's What Friends Are For
"That's What Friends Are For" is a 1982 song written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and introduced by Rod Stewart for the soundtrack of the film Night Shift.-Dionne Warwick cover:...
" (number 1, 1985); credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but of the six released in the latter half of the 1980s, only Reg Strikes Back
Reg Strikes Back
Reg Strikes Back is the twenty-first studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1988. It was his self-proclaimed comeback album, and his own way of fighting back against bad press. The "Reg" in Reg Strikes Back refers to Elton John's birth name, Reginald Kenneth Dwight. This...
(number 16, 1988) placed in the Top 20 in the United States.
In 1985, Elton John was one of the many performers at Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
held at Wembley Stadium. John played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man"; then "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Kiki Dee for the first time in years; and introduced his friend George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
, still then of Wham!
WHAM!
Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....
, to sing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". He enlisted Michael to sing backing vocals on his single "Wrap Her Up
Wrap Her Up
"Wrap Her Up" is a song on English pop-rock performer Elton John's 1985 album, Ice on Fire. George Michael duets on the song. The song reached number twenty....
", and also recruited teen idol Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists...
as an instrumentalist on "Nikita". John also recorded material with Millie Jackson
Millie Jackson
Mildred "Millie" Jackson is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and comedienne. Three of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies....
in 1985. In 1986, he played the piano on two tracks on the heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Saxon's
Saxon (band)
Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire. As front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart...
album Rock the Nations
Rock the Nations
Rock the Nations is the eighth studio album by heavy metal band Saxon released in 1986 . Elton John, who was recording the tracks for his album Leather Jackets in the same studio, is featured on the songs "Party Til You Puke" and "Northern Lady".-Track listing:-Personnel:*Biff Byford - vocals,...
.
In 1988, he performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, giving him 26 for his career. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London.
The 90s: "Sacrifice" to Aida (1990–1999)
In 1990, John would finally achieve his first UK number one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing HandsHealing Hands (song)
"Healing Hands" was the final hit single of the 1980s for British pop-star Elton John, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and recorded on his million-selling 1989 album Sleeping with the Past. The single was released during the late-summer of 1989, and was a top-twenty hit in the US...
") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past
Sleeping with the Past
Sleeping with the Past is the twenty-second studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released on 29 August 1989. It is his best-selling album in Denmark and is dedicated to his longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin...
; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks. The following year, John's "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition
The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of the music.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...
, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
's cover of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is the first single from British musician Elton John's 1974 album Caribou; it was released that year during the latter half of May in the United Kingdom, and on 10 June in the United States.-Lyrics and music:...
" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the US and UK.
In 1992 he released the US number 8 album The One, featuring the hit song "The One
The One (Elton John song)
"The One" is the first single from Elton John's 1992 album, also called The One. The song came a year after "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", his live collaboration with George Michael, which topped the charts in his native UK, in the US and Canada. This single also did well, peaking at #10 on the...
". John and Taupin then signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. In April 1992, John appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "The Show Must Go On
The Show Must Go On (Queen song)
"The Show Must Go On" is a song by English rock band Queen, featured as the twelfth and final track on their 1991 album Innuendo. It is credited to Queen, but written primarily by Brian May. The song chronicles the effort of Freddie Mercury continuing to perform despite approaching the end of his...
" with the remaining members of Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
, and "Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
" with Axl Rose
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
and Queen. The following year, he released Duets
Duets (Elton John album)
Duets is the twenty-fourth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1993. Duets was released on a single CD and also as a double vinyl LP in the UK, with a slightly different running order. It was initially a Christmas project of Elton John's, but that soon grew into an...
, a collaboration with 15 artists including Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....
and RuPaul
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...
. This also included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, entitled "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts.
Along with Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
, Elton John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
animated film The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
, which became the 3rd highest-grossing animated feature of all time. At the 67th Academy Awards
67th Academy Awards
The 67th Academy Awards, honoring the best films of 1994, were held on March 27, 1995 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by well-known comedian and talk show host David Letterman....
ceremony, The Lion King
The Lion King (soundtrack)
The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the original motion picture soundtrack for Walt Disney's 1994, 32nd animated feature The Lion King. It contains songs from the film written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and a score composed by Hans Zimmer. Elton John has a dual role of performer...
provided three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song, which John won with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
250px|thumb|right|Simba and Nala embrace during the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" sequence."Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is a song from Disney's 1994 animated film, The Lion King, composed by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. It was described by Don Hahn , Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff as...
". Both that and "Circle of Life
Circle of Life
The song was re-recorded in 2003 by the Disney Channel Circle of Stars, a group of actors and actresses who have appeared in Disney Channel television series and original movies...
" became hit songs for John. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win Elton John the Grammy Award
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was awarded between 1966 and 2011...
for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 37th Grammy Awards. After the release of the The Lion King soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
's charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.
In 1995 John released Made in England (number 3, 1995), which featured the single "Believe". John performed "Believe" at the 1995 Brit Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
, and picked up the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music. A compilation called Love Songs
Love Songs (Elton John album)
Love Songs is a compilation album by British singer-songwriter Elton John. The album was first released on 6 November 1995 on the Rocket Records label, in conjunction with Mercury Records. The album was released in North America by MCA Records almost a year after the European release, on 24...
was released in 1996.
Early in 1997 John held a 50th birthday party, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends. John also performed with the surviving members of Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
in Paris at the opening night (17 January 1997) of Le Presbytère N'a Rien Perdu De Son Charme Ni Le Jardin De Son Éclat, a work by French ballet legend Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart was a French born, Swiss choreographer who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He was the son of the French philosopher Gaston Berger.- Biography :...
which draws upon AIDS and the deaths of Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn
Jorge Donn
Jorge Donn, born in El Palomar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 25 February 1947, was an internationally-known ballet dancer, he was best known for his work with the Maurice Béjart's Ballet company, and his participation as lead dancer in Claude Lelouch's film Les Uns et les Autres. He died of AIDS on...
. Later in 1997, two close friends died: designer Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...
was murdered; Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
died in a Paris car crash on 31 August.
In early September, John contacted his writing partner Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
, asking him to revise the lyrics of his 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" to honour Diana, and Taupin rewrote the song accordingly. On 6 September 1997, John performed "Candle in the Wind 1997
Candle in the Wind 1997
"Candle in the Wind 1997" is a rewritten and rerecorded version of Elton John's own 1973 hit "Candle in the Wind" that was released as a tribute single to the late Diana, Princess of Wales....
" at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales
Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales
The public funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales started on September 6, 1997 at 9:08 am in London, when the tenor bell sounded to signal the departure of the cortege from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried from the palace on a gun carriage, along Hyde Park to St. James' Palace, where...
in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. The song became the fastest, and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually selling over 33 million copies worldwide. The best-selling single in UK Chart history, it sold 4.86 million copies in the UK. The best-selling single in Billboard
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
history, and the only single ever certified Diamond
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in the United States, the single sold over 11 million copies in the U.S. The song proceeds of approximately £55 million were donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund is an independent grant-giving foundation established in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to continue her humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas...
. It would win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was awarded between 1966 and 2011...
at the 40th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1998. John has publicly performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" only once, at Diana's funeral, vowing never to perform it again unless asked by Diana's sons.
In the musical theatre world, in addition to a 1998 adaptation of The Lion King for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of Aida
Aida (musical)
Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical....
in 1999 with lyricist Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score
Tony Award for Best Original Score
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...
at the 54th Tony Awards
54th Tony Awards
The 54th Annual Tony Awards was held at Radio City Music Hall on June 4, 2000 and broadcast by CBS. "The First Ten" awards ceremony was telecast on PBS television. The event was hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, with special guest Nathan Lane...
, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album
Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album
The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award was given only to the album producer, and to the composer and lyricist who wrote at least 51% of the music which had not been recorded previously....
at the 43rd Grammy Awards. The musical was given its world premiere in the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. It went on to Chicago and eventually Broadway. He also released a live compilation album called Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits from the show he did at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in New York City that same year.
2000 to present
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
' animated film The Road to El Dorado
The Road to El Dorado
The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 American animated adventure comedy film by DreamWorks. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, the music team from Disney's The Lion King....
. In August 2003, John scored his fifth UK number one single when "Are You Ready for Love
Are You Ready for Love
"Are You Ready for Love" is a song recorded by Elton John in 1977, and was first released in the UK in 1979 on the EP The Thom Bell Sessions. It was written by Leroy Bell, Thom Bell and Casey James, and was originally produced in Philadelphia by Thom Bell...
" topped the UK Charts. Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End Theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical
Billy Elliot the Musical
Billy Elliot the Musical is a musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music is by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes...
in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall
Lee Hall (playwright)
Lee Hall is an English playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the 2000 film Billy Elliot.-Early life:...
. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is Lestat: The Musical
Lestat (musical)
Lestat is a Broadway musical inspired by Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. The score is by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, book by Linda Woolverton and directed by Robert Jess Roth with musical staging by Matt West...
, based on the Anne Rice
Anne Rice
Anne Rice is a best-selling Southern American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history...
vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances.
John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works on 9 October 2006, by The Walt Disney Company. In 2006 he told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B/hip-hop genre. "I want to work with Pharrell {Williams}
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams , commonly known simply as Pharrell, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, composer, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo The Neptunes, producing hip hop and R&B music...
, Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
, Snoop {Dogg}
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
, Kanye {West}
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, Eminem and just see what happens."
In March 2007 he performed at Madison Square Garden for a record breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday, the concert was broadcast live and a DVD recording was released as Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden
Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden
Elton 60 – Live at Madison Square Garden is a 2-disc DVD release, starring Elton John performing some of his biggest hits and even several fan favorites. The release features appearances onstage by comedians Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as special remarks to the audience by lyricist...
; a greatest-hits compilation CD, Rocket Man – Number Ones, was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo; and his back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download.
In a September 2008 interview with GQ magazine, John said: "I’m going on the road again with Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
again next year," referring to "Face to Face," a series of concerts featuring both musicians. The tour began in March and will continue for at least two more years.
In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
on the Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
. The show, entitled The Red Piano, was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.-Early life:...
. Effectively, he and Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
share performances at Caesars Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004. On 21 June 2008, he performed his 200th show in Caesars Palace. A DVD/CD package of The Red Piano was released through Best Buy in November 2008. A two year global tour was sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada, some of the venues of which were new to John. The Red Piano Tour
The Red Piano Tour
The Red Piano Tour was a concert tour by English singer-songwriter Sir Elton John. The tour originated at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The idea for the show originated in 2004 by Elton John and David LaChapelle.-The Show:...
closed in Las Vegas in April 2009.
Elton John performed a piano duet with Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
at the 52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
. On 6 June 2010, John performed at the fourth wedding of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
for a reported US$1 million fee. Eleven days later, and 17 years to the day after his last previous performance in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, he performed at the Ramat Gan Stadium; this was significant because of other then-recent cancellations by other performers in the fallout surrounding an Israeli raid
Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea...
on Gaza Flotilla the month before. In his introduction to that concert, Elton John noted he and other musicians should not "cherry-pick our conscience", in reference to Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, who was to have performed in Israel two weeks after Elton did, but cancelled in the wake of the aforementioned raid, citing his [Costello's] conscience.
John's latest studio album is entitled The Union and was released on 19 October 2010. John says his collaboration with American singer-songwriter and sideman Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
marks a new chapter in his recording career, saying: "I don't have to make pop records any more."
Elton John began his new show "The Million Dollar Piano
The Million Dollar Piano
The Million Dollar Piano is a residency show by English musician Elton John. The events will take place at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.-Setlist:#"The Bitch Is Back"#"Bennie and the Jets"#"Rocket Man"#"Levon"#"Tiny Dancer"#"Your Song"...
" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
, Las Vegas on 28 September 2011. John will be performing the show at Caesars for the next three years. John performed his 3000th concert on Saturday 8 October 2011 at Caesars.
Songwriting
John has written with his song-writing partner Bernie TaupinBernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
since 1967 when he answered an advertisement for talent placed in the New Musical Express by Liberty records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
man Ray Williams
Ray Williams (producer)
Ray Williams, , is an A&R music producer/ publisher. He is best known as the man who discovered Elton John and introduced him to lyric writer Bernie Taupin...
. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the writing style that John and Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process.
Music style
John's voice was once classed as tenorTenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, it is now baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
. His piano playing is influenced by classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. He used Paul Buckmaster
Paul Buckmaster
Paul John Buckmaster is a Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger and composer.He began learning the cello at the age of 4 and graduated from the Royal College of Music at age 16....
to arrange the music on his studio albums during the 1970s.
Family
In the late 1960s, John was engaged to be married to his first lover, secretary Linda Woodrow, who is mentioned in the song "Someone Saved My Life TonightSomeone Saved My Life Tonight
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. John originally wrote and recorded it in A-flat, though after having vocal cord surgery in 1987 that resulted in the loss of his falsetto range, John began performing the song in a...
". He married German recording engineer Renate Blauel
Renate Blauel
Renate Ruth Margot John is a German music engineer.-Career:Already a sound engineer, she had engineered albums including Hysteria for the Human League and Croatia Records. She met Elton John whilst she was working as a recording engineer on his 1983 album Too Low for Zero in Sydney, Australia...
on 14 February 1984, in Darling Point
Darling Point, New South Wales
Darling Point is a harbourside, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darling Point is located 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Woollahra Council....
, Sydney, with speculation that the marriage was a cover for his homosexuality. John had come out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, but after his divorce from Blauel in 1988 he told the magazine that he was "comfortable" being gay.
In 1993, John began a relationship with David Furnish
David Furnish
David James Furnish is a Canadian/British filmmaker, former advertising executive, and now a film director and producer most known for his documentary Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras...
, a former advertising executive and now filmmaker. John and Furnish entered a civil partnership on 21 December 2005. They held a low-key ceremony at the Windsor Guildhall, followed by a lavish party at their Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
mansion, thought to have cost £1 million. Their son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born to a surrogate mother on 25 December 2010 in California. John and Furnish chose Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, magazine editor Ingrid Sischy, and Sichy's partner Sandy Brant as Zachary's godmothers.
In September 2009, John announced his intention to adopt a 14-month-old boy, Lev, from an AIDS orphanage
HIV/AIDS in Ukraine
Ukraine has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. Experts estimated in August 2010 that 1.3 percent of the adult population of Ukraine was infected with HIV, the highest in all of Europe...
in Ukraine, but he was denied due to his age and marital status. Furnish stated they would continue to financially support Lev and his brother and would campaign for a change in Ukrainian law. John has ten known godchildren, including Sean Lennon
Sean Lennon
is an American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist and actor. He is the only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. His godfather is Sir Elton John.-Early life and education:...
, David
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
and Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
's sons Brooklyn and Romeo, Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Jane Hurley is an English model and actress who became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant in the 1990s. In 1994, as Grant became the focus of worldwide media attention due to the global box office success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hurley accompanied him to the film's Los...
's son Damian Charles, and the daughter of Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
.
Wealth
Sunday Times Rich List
The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989...
estimated John's wealth to be £175 million (US$265 million), and ranked him as the 322nd richest person in Britain. John was estimated to have a fortune of £195 million in the Sunday Times Rich List
Sunday Times Rich List
The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989...
of 2011, making him one of the 10 richest people in the British music industry. Aside from his main home "Woodside" in Old Windsor
Old Windsor
Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.-Location:...
, Berkshire, John owns residences in Atlanta, Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, London's Holland Park
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
, and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. John is an art collector, and is believed to have one of the largest private photography collections in the world.
In 2000, John admitted to spending £30 million in just under two years—an average of £1.5 million a month. Between January 1996 and September 1997, he spent more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers. In June 2001 John sold 20 of his cars at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
, saying he didn't get the chance to drive them because he was out of the country so often. The sale, which included a 1993 Jaguar XJ220
Jaguar XJ220
The Jaguar XJ220 is a mid-engined supercar produced by Jaguar in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing as Jaguar Sport between 1992 and 1994. It held the record for the highest top speed of a production car , until the arrival of the McLaren F1 in 1994...
, the most expensive at £234,750, and several Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
s, Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
s, and Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
s, raised nearly £2 million. In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park home—expected to fetch £800,000 at Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
—in a bid to create more room for his collection of contemporary art which includes many works of art by Young British Artists
Young British Artists
Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
such as Sam Taylor-Wood
Sam Taylor-Wood
Samantha "Sam" Taylor-Wood OBE , born Samantha Taylor, is an English filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. Her directorial feature film debut came in 2009 with Nowhere Boy, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer John Lennon...
and Tracy Emin. Every year since 2004, John has opened a shop called "Elton's Closet" in which he sells his second-hand clothes.
Other
Throughout his career, John has battled addictions to alcohol and cocaine. By 1975, the pressures of stardom had begun to take a serious toll on him. During "Elton Week" in Los Angeles that year, John suffered a drug overdose. He also battled the eating disorder bulimia. In a CNN interview with Larry KingLarry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
in 2002, King asked if John knew of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
' eating disorder. John replied, "Yes, I did. We were both bulimic."
A longtime tennis enthusiast, John wrote the song "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to long-time friend Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
and her World Team Tennis
World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis is a coed professional tennis league played with a unique team format in the United States. Each match consists of five sets. Each set features a different configuration . Coaches, before the match, decide the order in which the sets will be played...
franchise of the same name. John and King also co-host an annual pro-am event to benefit AIDS charities, most notably John's own Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John AIDS Foundation is one of the world's leading nonprofit organizations that was established by Sir Elton John in 1992 in the US * and 1993 in the UK * supporting innovative HIV/AIDS prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS.EJAF has...
, for which King is a chairwoman. John, who maintains a part-time residence in Atlanta, Georgia, became a fan of the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
baseball team when he moved there in 1991.
Watford Football Club
John became chairman and director of Watford Football Club in 1976, appointing Graham Taylor as manager and investing large sums of money as the club rose three divisions into the First DivisionFootball League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
. The pinnacle of the club's success was finishing runners up in the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
and reaching the FA Cup Final a year later. He sold the club to Jack Petchey
Jack Petchey
Jack Petchey CBE is a businessman, now involved in many charitable enterprises. He was born and brought up in the East End of London. During the second world war, he served in the Royal Navy, and used his Navy discharge pay to start a car hire and car sales business. This grew into a business...
in 1987, but remained their life-long president. In 1997 he re-purchased the club from Petchey and once again became chairman. He stepped down in 2002 when the club needed a full-time chairman although he continued as president of the club. Although no longer the majority shareholder, he still holds a significant financial interest. In June 2005 he held a concert at Watford's Vicarage Road
Vicarage Road
Vicarage Road, a stadium in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, is the home of the football club Watford and their tenants, the Saracens rugby union club. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 17,477.-History:...
ground, donating the funds to the club, and another concert in May 2010. For a time he was also a part-owner of the Los Angeles Aztecs
Los Angeles Aztecs
The Los Angeles Aztecs were a soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League from 1974-81. The team was based in Los Angeles, California and part-owned by Elton John.-History:...
of the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
.
AIDS Foundation
John has been associated with AIDS charities since the deaths of his friends Ryan WhiteRyan White
Ryan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed...
and Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, and Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
to record the single "That's What Friends Are For
That's What Friends Are For
"That's What Friends Are For" is a 1982 song written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and introduced by Rod Stewart for the soundtrack of the film Night Shift.-Dionne Warwick cover:...
", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011...
(as well as Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...
for its writers, Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
and Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.-Introduction:Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech...
). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon
Skyline Pigeon
"Skyline Pigeon" is a song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It is the eighth track off his first album, Empty Sky. John performed the song at the funeral of AIDS victim and friend Ryan White in 1990 on a grand piano although he played Roland Piano on tour and in the studio at the time...
" at the funeral of White, a teenage haemophiliac he had befriended.
John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha
Yamaha (manufacturer)
is a multinational corporation and conglomerate based in Japan with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments, electronics, motorcycles and power sports equipment.-History:...
pianos from his Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.
To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé
Soufflé
A soufflé is a light baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert...
followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon
Filet mignon
Filet mignon is a steak cut of beef taken from the smaller end of the tenderloin, or psoas major of the beef carcass, usually a steer or heifer...
with Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
tail) and a giant Knickerbocker glory
Knickerbocker glory
A knickerbocker glory is an ice cream sundae that is served in a large tall glass, particularly in the United Kingdom.The knickerbocker glory was first described in the 1930s and contains ice cream, gelatin, and cream. Layers of these different sweet tastes are alternated in a tall glass and topped...
ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah
Delilah (1968 song)
"Delilah" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Tom Jones in 1968. It was written by Barry Mason, with music by Les Reed.-Success:It reached No 1 in the charts of several countries including Germany and Switzerland. It reached No 2 in the British charts in March 1968 and was the sixth best selling...
" with Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
and "Big Spender
Big Spender
"Big Spender" is a song written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields for the musical Sweet Charity, first performed in 1966. It is sung, in the musical, by the dance hostess "girls"; it was choreographed by Bob Fosse for the Broadway musical and the film...
" with Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.
Activism
On 1 April 2010, John joined Cyndi LauperCyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
in the launch of her Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
of the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community as part of her True Colors Fund. In the advertisement, John states: "Imagine walking down the street and wondering if this is the day you'll get beaten up, or even killed, simply because of who you are". The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz , also known as Mr. AZ and Mr. Raz, is an American singer-songwriter. Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy ", in 2002, but it was not until the release of his second album, "Mr. A-Z", in 2005, that Mraz achieved...
, Judith Light
Judith Light
Judith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...
, Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City . She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award....
, Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian
Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian is an American socialite, television personality, model, actress and businesswoman. She is known for the E! reality series that she shares with her family—Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York...
, Clay Aiken
Clay Aiken
Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released...
, Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....
, Kelly Osbourne
Kelly Osbourne
Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne is an English media personality, television personality, host, judge, fashion designer, singer, and actress, best known for being the daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne...
, and Anna Paquin
Anna Paquin
Anna Helene Paquin is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. Paquin's first critically successful film was The Piano, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1994 at the age of 11 – the second youngest winner in history...
.
He is an occasional columnist in the Guardian
Guardian
-In the United Kingdom:* The Guardian, founded in 1821 as the Manchester Guardian and renamed in 1959* The Guardian , founded in 1713 and running only briefly...
.
Awards
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of FameRock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
in 1992. John was made a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in 1995. For his charitable work, John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
on 24 February 1998. In October 1975, John became the 1,662nd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
He became a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, and a Disney Legends
Disney Legends
Established in 1987, the Disney Legends program recognizes people who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. The honor is awarded annually during a special ceremony....
Award in 2006. In 2010, Elton John was awarded with the PRS for Music Heritage Award
Heritage Award
The Heritage Award is a ceremonial plaque installed in a public place to commemorate a link between a famous musician or music band and the location they performed their first live gig...
, which was erected, on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Watford, where Elton performed his first ever gig.
Music awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
250px|thumb|right|Simba and Nala embrace during the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" sequence."Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is a song from Disney's 1994 animated film, The Lion King, composed by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. It was described by Don Hahn , Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff as...
" from The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
(award shared with Tim Rice); the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
in 1994 for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); and the Tony Award for Best Original Score
Tony Award for Best Original Score
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...
in 2000 for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
Aida (musical)
Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical....
(award shared with Tim Rice)
John has six Grammy Awards:
- 1987: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "That's What Friends Are For", performed by Dionne Warwick & Friends (award shared with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
- 1991: Best Instrumental Composition for "Basque", performed by James Galway
- 1994: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"
- 1997: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Candle In The Wind" 1997
- 1999: Grammy Legend AwardGrammy Legend AwardThe Grammy Legend Award, or the Grammy Living Legend Award, is a special award of merit given to recording artists by the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
- 2001: Best Musical Show Album for Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Guy BabylonGuy BabylonGuy Babylon was a keyboardist/composer, most noted for his work with Elton John.Babylon was born in New Windsor, Maryland. Growing up listening to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Yes and Gentle Giant, he attended Francis Scott Key High School and then moved on to the University of South Florida,...
, Paul Bogaev & Chris Montan (producers), Tim RiceTim RiceSir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
(lyricist) and the original Broadway cast with Heather HeadleyHeather HeadleyHeather Headley is a Trinidadian-American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She has won one Tony Award and one Grammy Award.-Personal life:...
, Adam PascalAdam PascalAdam Pascal is an American actor and singer known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway 1996, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009...
, and Sherie Rene ScottSherie Rene ScottSherie Rene Scott is an American actress, singer and writer. She is a co-founder of Grammy winning Sh-K-Boom Records and Ghostlight Records and has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway musicals and plays appears on numerous solo and original cast recordings.-Life and career:Scott was...
)
Elton John Band
Since 1970, John has been the pianist and lead singer, as well as writer of music of the Elton John Band. The band had multiple line-up changes. Bernie TaupinBernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
has been the band's lyricist during their classic era and also to this day. In addition, Davey Johnstone
Davey Johnstone
Davey Johnstone , is a Scottish rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his work with Elton John.-Career:...
, Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson
Nigel Olsson is an English rock drummer, who is best known for his work with Elton John. Olsson helped establish the Elton John sound as one of the first members of John's band, on drums, percussion and backing vocals. When not working with Elton, Olsson has taken up the role of a session musician...
, and Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper is an English musician. He is a session and road-tour percussionist, and occasional actor, who has worked with several musically diverse bands and artists including George Harrison, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, and Elton John. Cooper is commonly regarded by music fans, critics and fellow...
are the only returning members of the band's original line-up since 1970 (Olsson), and 1972 (Johnstone and Cooper). Ray Cooper is on and off with the Elton John Band because he is working with other musicians as a session and road-tour percussionist. Furthermore, Elton John has also used a number of session musicians in the time of his career.
Discography
Studio albums- Empty SkyEmpty SkyEmpty Sky is the debut album of British singer/songwriter Elton John, released on June 3, 1969. It was finally released in the United States in January 1975, with a different cover photograph, well after John's fame had been established internationally...
(1969) - Elton JohnElton John (album)Elton John is the eponymous second album by English singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1970. It was his first album, however, released in America, thus commonly assumed by many as his debut, as Empty Sky would not be released in the U.S. until 1975...
(1970) - Tumbleweed ConnectionTumbleweed ConnectionTumbleweed Connection is the third album by English international recording artist Elton John. It is a concept album based on the Country and Western/Americana themes. All songs are written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John with the exception of "Love Song" by Lesley Duncan. It was recorded at...
(1970) - Madman Across the WaterMadman Across the WaterMadman Across the Water is the fourth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1971 through DJM/Uni Records. The title song, "Madman Across the Water", was set to be released on Elton John's previous album Tumbleweed Connection. However, it was set aside and would...
(1971) - Honky ChâteauHonky ChâteauHonky Château is the fifth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1972. In 2003, the album was ranked number 357 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was certified Gold on 7/24/1972 and Platinum on 10/11/1995 by the R.I.A.A...
(1972) - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano PlayerDon't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano PlayerDon't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is the sixth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John. It was released by DJM Records....
(1973) - Goodbye Yellow Brick RoadGoodbye Yellow Brick RoadGoodbye Yellow Brick Road, released in 1973, is the seventh studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John. It has come to be regarded as Elton John's best and most popular album, and is his best selling studio album with worldwide sales of at least 15 million copies.Recorded at the Château...
(1973) - CaribouCaribou (album)Caribou is the 8th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1974 . It was John's 4th chart-topping album in the U.S. and his 3rd in the U.K. The album contains the singles, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", which reached # 16 in the UK Singles Chart and # 2 in the U.S.,...
(1974) - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt CowboyCaptain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt CowboyCaptain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975. It debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart, the first album ever to do so, and stayed there for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on 5/21/1975 and was...
(1975) - Rock of the WestiesRock of the WestiesRock of the Westies is the tenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975 .Like Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock of the Westies also debuted on the United States Billboard charts at # 1, the only two albums at that time to have done so...
(1975) - Blue MovesBlue MovesBlue Moves is the eleventh studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1976. It was also his second double album , and his first album released by his own Rocket Records Ltd...
(1976) - A Single Man (1978)
- Victim of LoveVictim of Love (album)Victim of Love is the thirteenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1979. Recorded at Musicland, Munich and Rusk Sound Studios, Hollywood, it was not critically or commercially well-received, and is his second lowest charting album to date. This is also the shortest...
(1979) - 21 at 3321 at 33-Side two:...
(1980) - The FoxThe Fox (album)The Fox is the 15th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1981. The track "Elton's Song" was banned from radio play in some countries due to its content, which included references to homosexuality...
(1981) - Jump Up!Jump Up!Jump Up! is the 16th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1982 on Rocket Records except in the US and Canada, where it was released on Geffen Records. It features such songs as "Empty Garden ", a tribute to John Lennon...
(1982) - Too Low for ZeroToo Low for ZeroToo Low for Zero is the 17th studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1983. For the first time since Blue Moves in 1976, all lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, who has continued in this role to the present day. At the insistence of Taupin, John decided to go back to...
(1983) - Breaking HeartsBreaking HeartsBreaking Hearts is the eighteenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1984. It features the quartet of John, Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson. There were two hit singles on this album, the U.S...
(1984) - Ice on FireIce on FireIce on Fire is the nineteenth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, recorded at Sol Studios and released in 1985. It was the first album since Blue Moves produced by John's original longtime producer, Gus Dudgeon. But it was met with little praise, and only reached number 48 on the...
(1985) - Leather JacketsLeather Jackets (album)Leather Jackets is the twentieth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, recorded at Sol Studios in England and Wisseloord Studios in The Netherlands. and released in 1986. It was his first album to not create any top 40 singles in either the US or the UK since 1970's Tumbleweed...
(1986) - Reg Strikes BackReg Strikes BackReg Strikes Back is the twenty-first studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1988. It was his self-proclaimed comeback album, and his own way of fighting back against bad press. The "Reg" in Reg Strikes Back refers to Elton John's birth name, Reginald Kenneth Dwight. This...
(1988) - Sleeping with the PastSleeping with the PastSleeping with the Past is the twenty-second studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released on 29 August 1989. It is his best-selling album in Denmark and is dedicated to his longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin...
(1989) - The One (1992)
- DuetsDuets (Elton John album)Duets is the twenty-fourth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1993. Duets was released on a single CD and also as a double vinyl LP in the UK, with a slightly different running order. It was initially a Christmas project of Elton John's, but that soon grew into an...
(1993) - Made in England (1995)
- The Big PictureThe Big Picture (Elton John album)-Outtakes:The original single version of "Live Like Horses" was a duet with Luciano Pavarotti in 1996, but was performed solo for this album. "Past Imperfect" and an alternate version of "Recover Your Soul" were completed by Elton John for inclusion on The Big Picture...
(1997) - Songs from the West CoastSongs from the West CoastSongs from the West Coast is the twenty-seventh studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released worldwide on 1 October 2001. Many critics have said that this album brought John back to his piano-based musical roots. He once again collaborated with long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin....
(2001) - Peachtree RoadPeachtree Road (album)Peachtree Road is the twenty-eighth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 2004. It was named after Peachtree Road, the northern part of Peachtree Street in Atlanta, where one of the singer's four homes is located. This is the only album during his long career on which...
(2004) - The Captain & the KidThe Captain & the KidThe Captain & the Kid is the twenty-ninth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 2006. It is his second autobiographical album with lyricist Bernie Taupin, picking up where 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy left off...
(2006) - The Union (with Leon Russell) (2010)
- TBA (2012)
Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums
- FriendsFriends (soundtrack)Friends is a project Elton John and Bernie Taupin took on before their breakout success in the United States. Recorded as the soundtrack to the film Friends, it was certified gold on its release on April 6, 1971 in the U.S...
(1971) - The Lion KingThe Lion King (soundtrack)The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the original motion picture soundtrack for Walt Disney's 1994, 32nd animated feature The Lion King. It contains songs from the film written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and a score composed by Hans Zimmer. Elton John has a dual role of performer...
(1994) - AidaAida (musical)Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical....
(1998) - The Muse (1999)
- The Road to El Dorado (soundtrack)The Road to El Dorado (Soundtrack)The Road to El Dorado was the soundtrack released by singer Elton John and lyricst Tim Rice, with contributions by Hans Zimmer, for the animated motion picture The Road to El Dorado....
(2000) - Billy ElliotBilly Elliot the MusicalBilly Elliot the Musical is a musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music is by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes...
(2005) - LestatLestat (musical)Lestat is a Broadway musical inspired by Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. The score is by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, book by Linda Woolverton and directed by Robert Jess Roth with musical staging by Matt West...
(2005) - Gnomeo & JulietGnomeo & Juliet (soundtrack)The soundtrack for the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet was released on February 8, 2011, three days before the film's initial release. It features music by Elton John, Nelly Furtado, Kiki Dee, and selections from the score composed by Chris P. Bacon and James Newton Howard...
(2011)
Films
- Elton John: Me, Myself & IElton John: Me, Myself & IElton John: Me, Myself & I is a 2007 documentary filmed after the death of Elton John's good friend Diana and other soul shaking events that caused him to reassess his life. It is a candid appraisal by Elton John of his fame, drug use, sexuality, and mistakenly taking his life for granted. It was...
(2007) autobiography as himself - The Country BearsThe Country BearsThe Country Bears is a 2002 American live-action comedy film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures, based on the Disney attraction Country Bear Jamboree, and released July 26, 2002...
, US (2002) as himself - Spice World, UK (1997) as himself
- TommyTommy (film)Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...
, UK (1975) as Pinball Wizard - Born to BoogieBorn to BoogieBorn to Boogie is a 1972 concert film based around a concert at Wembley Empire Pool starring Marc Bolan and T. Rex. Directed by Ringo Starr, the movie was released on The Beatles' Apple Films label...
, US playing as himself with Marc Bolan and Ringo Starr