Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John CH CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. Acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his work during the 1970s, his music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry. His songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin is one of the most successful in history.

Crocodile Rock

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex, the eldest child of Stanley Dwight and only child of Sheila Eileen. He was raised in a council house in Pinner by his maternal grandparents. His parents married in 1945, 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 he was 17, when he left just before his A-Level examinations to pursue a career in music. The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational authorities of British Crown dependencies to students completing secondary or pre-university education.

When John began to consider a career in music seriously, his father, who served in the Royal Air Force, tried to steer him toward a more conventional career, such as banking. John has said that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after a restrictive childhood. Both his 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. John started playing his grandmother's piano as a young boy, and within a year his mother heard him picking out Waldteufel's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. After performing at parties and family gatherings, at age seven he began 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 age 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 George Frideric Handel after hearing it for the first time.

At age 15, with his mother's and stepfather's help, John was hired as a pianist at a nearby pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing Thursday to Sunday nights. Known simply as "Reggie", he played a range of popular standards, including songs by Jim Reeves and Ray Charles, as well as his own songs. A stint with a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time. Although normal-sighted as a teenager, John began wearing horn-rimmed glasses to imitate Buddy Holly. In 1967, John answered an advertisement in the British music paper New Musical Express, placed by Ray Williams, then the A&R manager for Liberty Records. At their first meeting, Williams gave John an unopened envelope of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had answered the same ad. John wrote music for the lyrics and then sent it to Taupin, which began their decades-long partnership that still continues. When the two first met in 1967, they recorded the first John/Taupin song, "Scarecrow". Six months later, John began going by the name Elton John in homage to two members of Bluesology: saxophonist Elton Dean and vocalist Long John Baldry. He legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John on 7 January 1972. "Hercules" came from the name of a horse in British sitcom Steptoe and Son, of which John was a big fan.

On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin began writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, Bluesology's former 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 April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the US, and established the formula for subsequent albums: gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The album's first single, "Border Song", peaked at 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second, "Your Song", reached number seven in the UK Singles Chart and number eight in the US, becoming John's first hit single as a singer. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the US Billboard 200 and number five on the UK Albums Chart.

Your Song

John formed his own label, The Rocket Record Company, and signed acts to it—notably Neil Sedaka and Kiki Dee, in whom he took a personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he signed an $8 million contract with MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life. In 1974, MCA released Elton John's Greatest Hits, a UK and US number one that is certified Diamond by the RIAA for US sales of 17 million copies. Returning to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall. John had been moved to write the musical after seeing the 2000 British coming-of-age film Billy Elliot, saying of the titular character, "he's like me". Opening to strong reviews, the show won four Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. The 12th-longest-running musical in West End history, the London production, which featured Tom Holland as Billy for two years, ran through April 2016, with 4,566 performances. As of December 2015, Billy Elliot has been seen by over 5.25 million people in London and nearly 11 million people worldwide, grossed over $800 million worldwide and won over 80 theatre awards internationally. John's only theatrical project with Taupin is Lestat, based on Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. It received negative reviews from critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances. John featured on rapper Tupac Shakur's posthumous single "Ghetto Gospel", which topped the UK charts in July 2005.

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 Tonight". Woodrow provided financial assistance to John and Taupin at the time. John ended the relationship two weeks before their intended wedding, after being advised by Taupin and Long John Baldry. In 2020, John helped pay for Woodrow's medical fees upon her request, despite having lost contact with her 50 years previously. In 1970, right after his first US shows in Los Angeles, California, John lost his virginity to and started his first gay relationship with John Reid, the Tamla Motown label manager for the UK, who later became John's manager. The relationship ended five years later, although Reid remained his manager until 1998. John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on 14 February 1984, in an extravagant wedding ceremony at St Mark's Church, Darling Point, Sydney, Australia. Blauel said she attempted suicide during their honeymoon in St-Tropez after John told her that he wanted to end the union. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1988. John stated: "She was the classiest woman I've ever met, but it wasn't meant to be. I was living a lie." In 2020, Blauel sued John for writing about their relationship in his 2019 Me: Elton John Official Autobiography, which she claimed broke the terms of their divorce agreement. The case was settled later the same year.

In 1993, John began a relationship with David Furnish, a former advertising executive and now filmmaker originally from Toronto, Canada. On 21 December 2005 (the day the Civil Partnership Act came into force), John and Furnish were among the first couples to form a civil partnership in the United Kingdom, which was held at the Windsor Guildhall. After same-sex marriage became legal in the United Kingdom in March 2014, John and Furnish married in Windsor, Berkshire, on 21 December 2014, the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership. John and Furnish have two sons. The elder, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born via surrogacy on 25 December 2010 in California. The younger, Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, was born on 11 January 2013 via the same surrogate. John also has ten godchildren, including Sean Lennon, David and Victoria Beckham's sons Brooklyn and Romeo, Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Hurley, and Seymour Stein's daughter.

Don't Go breaking my heart

In April 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated John's wealth at £175 million (US$265 million) and ranked him the 322nd wealthiest person in Britain. A decade later, John was estimated to have a fortune of £320 million in the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List, making him one of the 10 wealthiest people in the British music industry. Aside from his main home, Woodside, in Old Windsor, Berkshire, John owns residences in: Atlanta, Georgia (US); London, England; Los Angeles, California; Nice, France and Venice, Italy. His property in Nice is on Mont Boron. 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 twenty of his cars at Christie's auction house, saying he never had 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 Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys, raised nearly £2 million. In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park home – expected to fetch £800,000 at Sotheby's — to modernise the decoration and to display some of his contemporary art collection. Every year since 2004, John has opened a shop called "Elton's Closet", in which he sells his secondhand clothes. In October 2021, John was named in the Pandora Papers, which allege a secret financial deal of politicians and celebrities using tax havens in an effort to avoid the payment of owed taxes.

By 1975, the pressures of stardom had begun to take a serious toll on John. During "Elton Week" in Los Angeles that year, he had a cocaine overdose. He also developed the eating disorder bulimia. In a 2002 CNN interview with Larry King, King asked if John knew of Diana, Princess of Wales's eating disorder; John replied: "Yes, I did. We were both bulimic." In a July 2019 Instagram post, John stated he had been sober for 29 years. At a 2022 concert in Indianapolis, John said he cleaned himself up after spending time with the family of Ryan White. "I knew that my lifestyle was crazy and out of order. ... I cannot thank them enough, because without them, I'd probably be dead." In a 2014 interview, he also attributed his sobriety to the Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel duet "Don't Give Up" from 1986, in particular the lyric from Bush, "Rest your head. You worry too much. It's going to be all right. When times get rough you can fall back on us. Don't give up." He states, "she [Bush] played a big part in my rebirth. That record helped me so much."

I'm Still Standing

John is well known for his philanthropic efforts, being involved in charity fundraising events since 1986. In 1992, after losing two friends – (HIV/AIDS spokesperson Ryan White and fellow musician Freddie Mercury) to AIDS in the span of a year – John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation, an organisation which has raised over $600 million to support HIV-related programs in 55 countries. John was recognised for his services to charity twice, receiving a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 and being appointed by her to be a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2020. John has said that he took risks with unprotected sex during the 1980s and considers himself lucky to have avoided contracting HIV. In 1985, he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with profits donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song went to number one in the United States the following year and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. In April 1990, John travelled to Indianapolis, Indiana, to be by the side of Ryan White, a teenage haemophiliac whom he had befriended and whose health was deteriorating. On the eve of White's death, he performed at Farm Aid IV, dedicating "Candle in the Wind" to White. He performed his 1968 ballad "Skyline Pigeon" at White's funeral. John became more closely associated with AIDS charities following the deaths of his friends Ryan White in 1990 and Freddie Mercury in 1991, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. He 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 to provide services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This continues to be one of his passions. In 1993, he began hosting his annual Academy Award Party, which has become one of the highest-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry and has raised over US$200 million.

On 24 January 2018, it was announced that John was retiring from touring and would soon embark on a three-year farewell tour. The first concert took place in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on 8 September 2018. John cited spending time with his family as the reason for his retirement: "Ten years ago if you asked me if I would stop touring I would have said no. But we had children and that changed our lives. I have had an amazing life and career but my life has changed. My priorities are now my children and my husband and my family." Consisting of more than 300 concerts worldwide, the tour ended in Stockholm, Sweden on 8 July 2023 following rescheduled shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic and health issues. In September 2018, John reportedly signed an agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) to represent his new music "for the rest of his career" in addition to his work from the last 50 years. On 8 July 2023, John performed the final concert of the tour in Stockholm, Sweden at the Tele2 Arena. Upon opening the show, John said: "Good evening Stockholm, well this is it". At the time, the tour was the highest-grossing tour ever; it has since been surpassed by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. Though retired from touring, John has said that he will continue to "do the odd show" and is also in the early planning stages of recording a new album.

Rocket Man

A biopic about John's life from his childhood to the 1980s, Rocketman, was produced by Paramount Pictures and released in May 2019. It was directed by Dexter Fletcher, who had also co-directed the film Bohemian Rhapsody, and stars Taron Egerton as John; John had previously appeared as a fictionalised version of himself alongside Egerton in the film Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). John and Egerton performed a new song written for Rocketman, "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again", which premiered on BBC Radio 2 in 2019. The song would see John win the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the second time.[199] In October 2019, John released what he described as his "first and only autobiography", Me. The audiobook of Me was narrated by Egerton, with John reading the prologue and epilogue.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Taupin had already been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995. In October 1975, John received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

John was knighted by Elizabeth II on 24 February 1998 for services to music and to charity. In the 2020 New Year Honours, he was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music and to charity. John after being awarded the National Humanities Medal in September 2022, pictured with Furnish, President Biden and Jill Biden John was awarded Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004 and a Disney Legends Award in 2006. In 2000, he was named the MusiCares Person of the Year for his artistic achievement in the music industry and dedication to philanthropy. In 2010, he received the PRS for Music Heritage Award, which was erected on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Northwood, London, where John performed his first gig. In 2019, President Emmanuel Macron appointed John a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 2019, John was featured on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail. In 2022, after John performed at the White House, President Joe Biden surprised him by presenting him with the National Humanities Medal.

Music today

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