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Elton John
Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons30

Elton John

British musician and songwriter

Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, 25 March 1947) is a British singer, composer and pianist. An influential figure in popular culture, he is known for his flamboyant fashion, showmanship and songwriting partnership with the lyricist Bernie Taupin.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Mar 25, 1947.1

About

With over 300 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. An EGOT winner, John's accolades include five Grammy Awards, two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award and the Kennedy Center Honors.

John learnt to play piano at an early age, winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. In the 1960s he formed the blues band Bluesology, wrote songs for other artists alongside Taupin, and worked as a session musician, before releasing his debut album, Empty Sky (1969). Throughout the next six decades, John cemented his status as a cultural icon with 32 studio albums, including Honky Château (1972), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Rock of the Westies (1975), Sleeping with the Past (1989), The One (1992), Songs from the West Coast (2001), The Diving Board (2013) and The Lockdown Sessions (2021). He has also had success in musical films and theatre, composing music for The Lion King (1994), Aida (2000) and Billy Elliot the Musical (2005). John's final tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road (2018–2023), became the highest-grossing tour ever at the time. His life and career were dramatised in the 2019 biographical film Rocketman.

John is an HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser and has been involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised over £300 million since its inception, and a year later he began hosting his annual AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Party, which has since become one of the biggest high-profile Oscars parties in the Hollywood film industry. John was the chairman and director of Watford Football Club from 1976 to 1987, and again from 1997 to 2002, and is an honorary life president of the club. From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, John developed a severe addiction to drugs and alcohol, but has been clean and sober since 1990. In 2005 he entered a civil partnership with his long-term partner, the Canadian filmmaker David Furnish. They married in 2014, when same-sex marriage was legalised in England and Wales.

John has had nine number-one singles on the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums on the US Billboard 200. He is the most successful solo artist in the history of the US Billboard charts, and was the first solo artist with UK top 10 singles across six decades. His tribute single to Diana, Princess of Wales, "Candle in the Wind 1997", a rewritten version of his 1974 single, is the best-selling chart single of all time. John was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of The Ivors Academy. He was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to music and charity in 1998 and was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2020. Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists, greatest singers and greatest songwriters of all time.

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of London3
  • Date not recordedSt. Thomas Aquinas High School3
  • Date not recordedRoyal Academy of Music3

Reginald Kenneth Dwight was born on 25 March 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex (now part of the London Borough of Harrow), the eldest child of Stanley Dwight (1925–1991) and only child of Sheila Eileen (née Harris; 1925–2017), who had married in 1945. He was raised in a council house in Pinner where his maternal grandparents lived. When he was six, 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.

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 Émile 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 garnered attention for 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.

For the next five years, John attended Saturday classes at the academy in Central London, and he has said he enjoyed playing Frédéric Chopin and Johann Sebastian 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 said. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practising and still pass, scrape through the grades." He has said that he would sometimes skip classes and ride around on the London Underground. Several instructors have attested that he was a "model student", and during the last few years he took lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the academy. He left the academy before taking the final exams.

John's mother, though strict with her son, was more outgoing than her husband, and something of a free spirit. With Stanley Dwight uninterested in his son and often absent, John was raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother. When his father was home, the Dwights had vehement arguments that greatly distressed John. When he was 14, they divorced. His mother then married a local painter, Fred Farebrother, a caring and supportive stepfather whom John affectionately called "Derf", "Fred" backward. They moved into flat No. 3A in an eight-unit apartment building called Frome Court, not far from both previous homes. There John wrote the songs that launched his career as a rock star. He lived there until he had four albums, simultaneously, in the American Top 40.

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: musician, lyricist, pianist, film actor, recording artist, HIV/AIDS activist, composer, singer.7

  • Date not recordedFounded Elton John AIDS Foundation4
  • Date not recordedFounded The Rocket Record Company5
  • Date not recordedFounded Rocket Pictures6

Known for: Tiny Dancer, Your Song, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Billy Elliot the Musical.8 9

1962–1969: Pub pianist to staff songwriter

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 1962, John and some friends formed a band named 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 were backing touring American soul and R&B musicians such as the Isley Brothers, Major Lance and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. In 1966 the band became Long John Baldry's supporting band and played 16 times at the Marquee Club.

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: the saxophonist Elton Dean and the 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.

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, among them 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 each of them in half an hour, disposing of the lyrics if he could not 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 UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, for Lulu, called "I Can't Go On (Living Without You)". It came sixth of six songs. In 1969, John provided piano for Roger Hodgson on his first released single, "Mr. Boyd" by Argosy, a quartet that was completed by Caleb Quaye and Nigel Olsson.

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1969–1973: Empty Sky to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

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, the drummer Roger Pope and the 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.

Backed by the former Spencer Davis Group rhythm section, drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, John's first American concert took place at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California, on 25 August 1970, and was a success. The concept album Tumbleweed Connection was released in October 1970 and reached number two in the UK and number five in the US. The live album 17-11-70 (titled 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 took a blow in the US when an east-coast bootlegger 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 wrote the soundtrack to the 1971 film Friends and the album Madman Across the Water, which reached number eight in the US and included the hit songs "Levon" and the album's opening track, "Tiny Dancer". In 1972 Davey Johnstone joined the Elton John Band on guitar and backing vocals. Released in 1972, Honky Château became John's first US number-one album, spending five weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, and began a streak of seven consecutive US number-one albums. The album reached number two in the UK, and spawned the hit singles "Rocket Man" and "Honky Cat".

In 1972 John performed at the Royal Variety Performance, where he was upstaged by the dancing of Larry Smith, the drummer with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Smith was invited to join John's second US tour; Smith later said: "I suggested adding in various other bizarre elements like me doing "Singin' in the Rain" as a song and dance act with Elton playing piano. Kubrick's Clockwork Orange film had recently featured that song. Plus I designed crazy, over-the-top costumes and giant stage sets – known as 'Legstravaganzas'. Elton loved all of it."

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973 and reached number one in the UK, the US, and Australia, among other countries. The album produced the hits "Crocodile Rock", his first US Billboard Hot 100 number one, and "Daniel", which reached number two in the US and number four in the UK. The album and "Crocodile Rock" were respectively the first album and single on the consolidated MCA Records label in the US, replacing MCA's other labels, including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a double-album released in October 1973, gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at number one for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the US number 1 "Bennie and the Jets", along with the hits "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", as well as live favourites "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Harmony".

1974–1980: The Rocket Record Company to 21 at 33

John formed his own record label, The Rocket Record Company (distributed in the US by MCA and initially by Island in the UK), and signed acts to it—notably Neil Sedaka (John sang background vocals on Sedaka's "Bad Blood") and Kiki Dee, in whom he took a personal interest. Rather than releasing his own records through The Rocket Record Company, John signed an US$8 million contract with MCA Records. Upon the signing of the deal in 1974, MCA reportedly secured a $25 million insurance policy on his 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.

In 1974 John collaborated with John Lennon on his cover of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", the B-side of which was Lennon's "One Day at a Time". It was number 1 for two weeks in the US. In return, John was featured on "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" on Lennon's album Walls and Bridges. Later that year, in Lennon's last major live performance, the pair performed these two number-one hits, along with the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There", at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lennon made the rare stage appearance with John and his band to keep the promise he had made that he would appear on stage with him if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a US number-one single. Caribou was released in 1974, becoming John's third number one in the UK and topping the charts in the US, Canada and Australia. Reportedly recorded in two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". "Step into Christmas" was released as a stand-alone single in November 1973, and appears in the album's 1995 remastered reissue.

Pete Townshend of the Who asked John to play the "Local Lad" in the 1975 film adaptation of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform the song "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used in the movie. The song charted at number 7 in the UK. John, who had adopted a glam aesthetic on stage, would later state glam rock icon Marc Bolan "had a great effect on me."

The 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy debuted at number one in the US, the first album to do so, and stayed there for seven weeks. John revealed his previously ambiguous personality on the album, 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 his music. The hit single from this album, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", 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.

According to Circus, a spokesman for John's manager John Reid said the decision was reached mutually via phone while John was in Australia promoting Tommy. Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier backbeat. James Newton Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. In June 1975 John introduced the line-up at Wembley Stadium in London.

The rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the US albums chart at number 1, as had Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, a previously unattained feat. John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and costumes such as the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1975 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The album features his fifth US number-one single, "Island Girl". To celebrate five years since he had first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at the Troubadour. With seating limited to fewer than 500 attendees per show, tickets were distributed through a postcard lottery system, with each selected individual eligible to purchase two tickets. All attendees received a hardbound "yearbook" documenting the band's history. That year, he also played piano on Kevin Ayers's Sweet Deceiver and was among the first and few white artists to appear on the African-American television series Soul Train.

On 9 August 1975 John was named the outstanding rock personality of the year at the first annual Rock Music Awards in Santa Monica, California, US. After a botched suicide attempt the day before, John performed at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for two nights in a row on October 25 and 26. These shows are considered among the most successful of his career, and featured his most enduring stage costume; a sequined Dodger baseball uniform designed by Bob Mackie.

In May 1976 the live album Here and There was released, followed in October by the album Blue Moves, 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 a number of charts, including the UK, the US, Australia, France and Canada.

In addition to being the most commercially successful period of John's career, the years 1970 to 1976 are also widely regarded as his critical peak. Between 1972 and 1975, he achieved seven consecutive number-one albums in the United States, a feat that had not been accomplished prior to that time. All six of his albums to make Rolling Stone's 2003 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91. Between 1972 and 1976 he also had six singles reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

In November 1977, John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. Now producing only one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, with 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 there, with the latter reaching the top 5. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became one of the first Western artists to tour the Soviet Union and Israel. John returned to the US top ten with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9), a song MCA rejected in 1977, recorded with the American soul producer Thom Bell. John said Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons and encouraged him to sing in a lower register.

A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love, was poorly received. In 1979 John and Taupin reunited, although they did not collaborate on a full album until 1983's Too Low For Zero. 21 at 33, released in 1980, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number 3 US), with the lyrics by Gary Osborne. In May 1979 John played eight concerts in the Soviet Union; four dates in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and four in Moscow. At the same time, John collaborated with the French couple France Gall and Michel Berger on the songs "Donner pour donner" and "Les Aveux", released together in 1980 as a single.

1981–1989: The Fox to Sleeping with the Past

John's 1981 album The Fox was recorded during the same sessions as 21 at 33 and included collaborations with Tom Robinson and Judie Tzuke. On 13 September 1980, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, and joined by Richie Zito on lead guitar, Tim Renwick on rhythm guitar, and James Newton Howard on keyboards, John performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City. He played part of the set dressed as Donald Duck. The album Jump Up! was released in 1982, the biggest hit from which was "Blue Eyes". Also on that album is “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)”, written in the wake of John Lennon’s 1980 murder.

With the original band members Johnstone, Murray and Olsson together again, John returned to the charts with the 1983 album Too Low for Zero, which included the singles "I'm Still Standing" (No. 4 UK) and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and reached number four in the US and number five in the UK. In October 1983 John caused controversy when he broke the United Nations' cultural boycott on apartheid-era South Africa by performing at Sun City. He married his close friend and sound engineer, Renate Blauel, on Valentine's Day 1984; the marriage lasted three years. In 1984 he released Breaking Hearts, which featured the song "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", a number five hit in the US and number seven in the UK.

In 1985 John was one of the many performers at Live Aid, held at Wembley Stadium. John performed "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man" at Live Aid before performing with Kiki Dee for the first time since 1982. He concluded by introducing George Michael (then of Wham!) for "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". John also recorded material with Millie Jackson in 1985. Towards the end of the year, John released "Nikita" from the album Ice on Fire, which had a music video directed by Ken Russell. The song reached number three in the UK and number seven in the US.

John's highest-charting single of the decade was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder called "That's What Friends Are For". It reached number one in the US at the beginning of 1986; credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for HIV/AIDS research. In the same year, a live orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" reached number six in the US. He also played piano on two tracks on the heavy metal band Saxon's album Rock the Nations.

In 1988 John performed five sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City, 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. He also released "I Don't Wanna Go On with You Like That" from the album Reg Strikes Back, the single reaching number two in the US in 1988. His albums continued to sell, but of those released in the latter half of the 1980s, only Reg Strikes Back (number 16, 1988) placed in the top 20 in the US.

1990–1999: "Sacrifice" to Aida

In 1990 John achieved his first solo UK number one hit single, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it stayed at the top spot for five weeks. The following year, "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental, and a guest concert appearance at Wembley Arena John 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 UK and the US. At the 1991 Brit Awards in London, John won Best British Male.

In 1992 John released the US number 8 album The One, featuring the hit song "The One". It was his first album recorded entirely sober. As John recalled in 2020, "I was used to making records under the haze of alcohol or drugs, and here I was, 100% sober, so it was tough. But I managed to come up with a good song, which was the title of the record." He also released "Runaway Train", a duet he recorded with his longtime friend Eric Clapton, with whom he played on Clapton's World Tour. John and Taupin then signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, including 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's remaining members. In September John performed "The One" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and closed the ceremony performing "November Rain" with Guns N' Roses. In 1993 he released Duets, which featured collaborations with 15 artists, including Tammy Wynette and RuPaul. This included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts. In the same year, The Bunbury Tails, a multi-artist charity album, was released, which was the soundtrack to the British animated television series of the same name. "Up The Revolution" was John's track, alongside contributions from George Harrison, the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton. The album was issued briefly, and only in the UK.

Along with Tim Rice, John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. At the 67th Academy Awards, three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song were from The Lion King soundtrack. John won the award for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Both that and "Circle of Life" became hits. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" also won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. The soundtrack for The Lion King remained at the top of the Billboard 200 for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.

In 1994, John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Guns N' Roses' frontman Axl Rose. In 1995 he released the album Made in England (number 3). The title track is an autobiographical recounting of parts of his life. The album also featured the single "Believe". John performed "Believe" at the 1995 Brit Awards and won the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize. In September 1995, he appeared as Angel Rick on the original studio album of Randy Newman's musical Faust.

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornMar 25, 1947, Pinner10
  • CitizenshipUnited Kingdom11
  • SpousesRenate Blauel 1984 to 198812; David Furnish married 201412
  • Children213

Sexuality and 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 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 to 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, at the age of 23, 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 Renate Blauel, his friend and a German recording engineer, on 14 February 1984, 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. John had come out as bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone. In 1992 he told Rolling Stone in another interview that he was "quite comfortable about being gay".

In 1987 John won a libel case against The Sun newspaper, which published false allegations that he had had sex with rent boys, specifically an escort named Stephen Hardy who alleged he engaged in an orgy with John at the home of Rod Stewart's manager. 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 England and Wales in March 2014, John and Furnish married in Windsor, Berkshire, on 21 December 2014, the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership. In 2009 John expressed his wish to adopt an HIV-positive boy from a Ukrainian orphanage, but officials refused, saying that John was too old for the child and that adoption by unmarried couples was not allowed (specifying that same-sex marriages were not legally recognised by Ukraine).

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.

The Los Angeles Times described John as a "self-declared atheist". In 2000 John characterised the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church on homosexuality as "ignorance" after a priest stated homosexuals engage in "a lifestyle that can never respond to the deepest longings of the human heart". He further stated, in a 2006 interview with The Observer, that he would "ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it" and that "religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people" and "turns people into hateful lemmings and it is not really compassionate". Reuters reported John admired the teachings of Jesus Christ, but was critical of organised religion.

In 2010 some Christian groups in the US criticised John after he described Jesus as a "compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems". Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and opponent of gay marriage, responded: "To call Jesus a homosexual is to label him a sexual deviant. But what else would we expect from a man who previously said, 'From my point of view, I would ban religion completely.'" John stated in his 2019 autobiography, Me, that he had received many death threats as a result of his statements. Neal Horsley, a Christian Reconstructionist from Bremen, Georgia, US, was arrested for making terrorist threats, after posting a YouTube video stating: "We're here today to remind Elton John that he has to die". The charges were subsequently dropped. In 2008 John said he preferred civil partnerships to marriage for gay people, but by 2012 he had changed his position and become a supporter of same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom. John said:"There is a world of difference between calling someone your 'partner' and calling them your 'husband'. 'Partner' is a word that should be preserved for people you play tennis with, or work alongside in business. It doesn't come close to describing the love that I have for David, and he for me. In contrast, 'husband' does".

In 2014, John expressed his opinion that Jesus would have been in favour of same-sex marriage.

In July 2026, John and Furnish were among seven individuals who lost a High Court privacy case against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday. They had alleged that details were published about the birth of their surrogate son, including his birth certificate before the couple had received their own copy.

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Wealth

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 Woodside, his main home in Old Windsor, Berkshire, John owns residences in London, Nice, and Venice, as well as in Atlanta and Los Angeles in the US. 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 having spent £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 he 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 2002, he declared bankruptcy. In 2003 he 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 he 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.

Other

A longtime tennis enthusiast, in 1975, he released the song "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to his friend Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis team, the Philadelphia Freedoms. King was a player-coach for the team at the time. John and King remain friends and co-host an annual pro-am event to benefit AIDS charities, most notably the Elton John AIDS Foundation, of which King is a chairperson. John, who maintains a part-time residence in Atlanta, Georgia, US, became a fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, when he moved there in 1991.

John has appeared in commercials for Diet Coke (beginning in 1990), the Royal Mail, Snickers and John Lewis & Partners department store, among others. The authors Roger Blackwell and Tina Stephan wrote, "the relationship of Elton John and Diet Coke is one of the classic success stories in the role of sponsorship in brand building." His 2018 John Lewis & Partners Christmas advert shown in the UK, titled "The Boy & The Piano", sees him reminisce about his life and career in reverse, culminating with Christmas Day in the 1950s when he received a piano for Christmas from his mother.

An admirer of Monty Python, he was among a group of musicians who helped to finance their film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). At the 2nd Empire Awards, in 1997, John presented the comedy group the Empire Inspiration Award. John performed "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," at the memorial service for the Australian cricketer Shane Warne on 30 March 2022. John is among the people interviewed for the documentary film If These Walls Could Sing directed by Mary McCartney about the recording studios at Abbey Road which premiered in November 2022.

On 20 June 2023 John said the reaction to Phillip Schofield's secret affair with a younger colleague was "totally homophobic", stating: "If it was a straight guy in a fling with a young woman, it wouldn't even make the papers." On 17 July 2023 John gave evidence as a defence witness at Kevin Spacey's sexual assault trial. In December 2024 Madame Tussauds revealed a new wax work of John, with it being their most structurally ambitious figure ever. The statue features John in his 1970s heyday as he defies gravity as and is suspended mid-air over his rhinestone piano in his signature handstand move from the era.

Football

John became the chairman and director of Watford Football Club in 1976, having supported the team since his youth. John appointed Graham Taylor as manager and invested large sums of money as the club rose three divisions into the English First Division. At their height, the club finished runners up in the First Division, in 1983, and reached the FA Cup Final, at Wembley Stadium, in 1984. John sold the club to Jack Petchey in 1987, but remained president.

Ten years later, John repurchased the club from Petchey and once again became chairman. He stepped down in 2002, when the club needed a full-time chairman, but continued as president. Although no longer the majority shareholder, John still holds a significant financial interest. In 2005 and 2010 John held a concert at Watford's home stadium, Vicarage Road, and donated proceeds to the club.

John has remained friends with a number of high-profile football-players, including Pelé and David Beckham. From late 1975 to 1976, John was a part-owner of the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League. On 13 December 2014 he appeared at Watford's Vicarage Road with his husband and sons for the opening of the "Sir Elton John stand". He called the occasion "one of the greatest days of my life". John's paternal cousin Roy Dwight was a professional footballer, who scored for Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final before breaking his leg later in the same match.

Friendship with the British royal family

John has performed at a number of events involving the British royal family, such as the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey in 1997, the Party at the Palace in 2002 and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in 2012. On 4 June 2022 John was projected on to the facade of Buckingham Palace playing "Your Song" (pre-recorded at Windsor Castle) at the Platinum Party at the Palace to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. After the death of Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, John paid tribute to her during a show by saying "She led the country through some of our greatest and darkest moments with grace, decency and a genuine caring warmth." John was close friends with Diana, and has remained close with her sons, William and Harry.

Health

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, US, 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."

On 22 April 2017 John was discharged from hospital after two nights of intensive care for contracting "a harmful and unusual" bacterial infection during his return flight home from a South American tour in Santiago, Chile, and was forced to cancel all his shows scheduled for April and May 2017. In October 2021 John required hip surgery after "falling awkwardly on a hard surface". On 16 February 2020 his first show at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland was cut short. He had been diagnosed with walking pneumonia, and lost his voice during the show. He was cleared to perform the next show on 19 February.

In January 2022 John had to temporarily postpone two shows of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Dallas, Texas, US, after testing positive for COVID-19 and experiencing mild symptoms, and resumed the tour again after making a full recovery. On 1 December 2024 John revealed that he had partially lost his eyesight. In September he had said that a severe eye infection he contracted in July, while spending the summer in the South of France, had left him blind in his right eye and with "only limited vision" in his left.

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Philanthropy

John is well known for his philanthropic efforts, being involved in charity fundraising events since 1986. In 1992, after losing two friends – (the HIV/AIDS spokesman Ryan White and his 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 programmes in 55 countries. John was recognised for his services to charity twice, receiving a knighthood from Elizabeth II in 1998 and being appointed by her to be a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2020.

AIDS foundation

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 Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder in recording 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 Awards Party, which has become one of the highest-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry and has raised over US$200 million.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John annually hosts a White Tie & Tiara Ball on the grounds of his home in Old Windsor in Berkshire, to which many celebrities are invited. The ninth annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place on 28 June 2007. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by surf and turf and a giant knickerbocker glory ice cream. An auction followed, emceed 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, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey. The 2011 guests included Prince Andrew's former wife Sarah Ferguson, Elizabeth Hurley and George Michael; the auction raised £5 million, adding to the £45 million the balls have raised for John's foundation. On 23 February 2023 The Elton John AIDS Foundation donated $125,000 via United24 to purchase ten biochemistry analysers, to help assure that all Ukrainians living with HIV can continue to access high-quality care and treatment.

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Other charity work

John and Furnish founded the Elton John Charitable Trust in 2007, which has supported over 100 charities. In 2014 John launched the Elton John Sports Fund to help citizens with training and competition costs for over 50 sports. John performed "I'm Still Standing" during the One World: Together at Home television special, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga for Global Citizen to raise funds for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Politics

Political views

In 2006, regarding his political views, John said: "If I was to say what I am, I'd be a Labour man. I like Tony Blair a lot, I think he's a good man. And in America I'd definitely be a Democrat; I'd never be a Republican." John met Blair at the Brit Awards 1998, where Blair awarded him the Freddie Mercury Award for his charitable work with the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Although John was still fond of Blair as a person, his opinions about Blair's leadership qualities declined over time, and by 2006 he planned to withdraw his support from the Labour Party, saying: "I think it's very hard to be in power for a long time. I think you lose touch. It's that goldfish bowl mentality."

John was also a friend of Blair's successor Gordon Brown, but despite being called "one of the Labour Party's most stalwart supporters" by The Daily Telegraph, the newspaper described him as a "floating voter" in 2009. John announced his intention to vote Remain during the UK's 2016 European Union referendum on Instagram, sharing an image with the words "build bridges not walls", along with the caption "I'm voting to remain. #StrongerInEurope". In 2019 he said the Brexit vote and the way it had been handled had made him ashamed. In 2021 John said that his requests to meet with Boris Johnson regarding Brexit and touring visas for musicians were ignored. In 2023 John addressed a cross-party gathering of politicians at Westminster and said that the winner of the next general election could help to eradicate AIDS worldwide by the end of the decade. He returned to publicly supporting Labour at the 2024 general election, endorsing its leader, Keir Starmer, to become prime minister. In 2025 John said he felt "incredibly betrayed" by the Labour government over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws, saying Starmer needed to "wise up" and describing Technology Secretary Peter Kyle as "a bit of a moron".

John called President George W. Bush "the worst thing that ever happened to America" and was "very against the Iraq War", but later praised Bush as the president who had done the most to combat AIDS. After the senator Barack Obama won the 2008 United States presidential election, John called Obama's victory "incredibly moving." He would later meet Obama in the White House on 6 May 2015. During the 2016 US presidential election, John supported Hillary Clinton's campaign, and performed alongside Katy Perry and Andra Day at Clinton's fundraiser concert at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. After his performance, John praised Clinton as "the only choice" America had.

John was among 27 artists to have opposed Donald Trump's use of their music at his campaign rallies, and declined an invitation to attend Trump's inauguration as US president in January 2017, stating: "I have given it a lot of thought, and as a British National I don't feel that it's appropriate for me to play at the inauguration of an American President, please accept my apologies." He also exhorted Trump to continue the global fight against HIV/AIDS, and closed his letter by wishing Trump "every success with your presidency." Trump, a fan of John's music, has referenced John on numerous instances, including referring to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man" during Trump's first address to the United Nations in September 2017. He also said he had given Kim a CD of the song "Rocket Man" that was signed by John, and said he had taken piano lessons from John. In an interview with Variety, John was asked about Trump's use of term to describe Kim, and he responded, "I laughed, I thought it was brilliant."

In 2022, after John performed at the White House, US President Joe Biden surprised him by presenting him with the National Humanities Medal. Biden said of John: "Like so many Americans, our family loves his music. It's clear Elton John's music has changed our lives." Biden said in his 2017 book Promise Me, Dad that he sang "Crocodile Rock" to his son Beau when he was a child, and again when he was dying of cancer. During the 2024 US presidential election, John assisted Biden at the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center in New York City, the first LGBTQ centre in the National Park Service's network.

In 2013 John resisted calls to boycott Russia in protest at the Russian gay propaganda law, but told fans at a Moscow concert that the laws were "inhumane and isolating", and he was "deeply saddened and shocked over the current legislation". In a January 2014 interview Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of John in an attempt to show that there was no discrimination against gays in Russia, saying: "Elton John – he's an extraordinary person, a distinguished musician, and millions of our people sincerely love him, regardless of his sexual orientation." John responded by offering to introduce Putin to Russians abused under Russian legislation banning "homosexual propaganda". On 24 September 2015 the Associated Press reported that Putin called John and invited him to meet in the future to discuss LGBT rights in Russia.

In October 2020 John called attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He said in his Instagram post: "In May 2018, I visited [Armenia] and was overwhelmed with the kindness and humanity shown to me by the Armenian people. Now Armenia and Artsakh are under attack from unprovoked Azeri/Turkish aggression. Civilians are being targeted and there are needless deaths on both sides."

On 9 December 2022 John left Twitter, following changes to its rules made by new owner, Elon Musk, stating: "All my life I've tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world. I've decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked." Musk replied to the post saying: "I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you're concerned about?" In December 2024 John made public his opposition to cannabis legalization, noting, among other things, his own past drug use. John described its legalization in Canada and parts of the United States as "one of the greatest mistakes of our time".

From Wikipedia’s article on Elton John (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 2024Gershwin Prize14 20
  • 2024Primetime Emmy Award14
  • 2021National Humanities Medal14 19
  • 2020Academy Award for Best Original Song for (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again14 18
  • 2020Companion of Honour14
  • 2018Crystal Award14 17
  • 2013Johnny Mercer Award14
  • 2006Disney Legends14 16
  • 2000MusiCares Person of the Year14
  • 2000Tony Award for Best Original Score for Aida14
More awards (17)
  • 2000Tony Awards14
  • 1999Grammy Legend Award14
  • 1998Knight Bachelor14
  • 1995Academy Award for Best Original Song for Can You Feel the Love Tonight14 15
  • 1995Academy Awards14
  • 1995Commander of the Order of the British Empire14
  • 1995Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for Can You Feel the Love Tonight14
  • 1995Golden Globes14
  • 1994Rock and Roll Hall of Fame14
  • 1993Officer of Arts and Letters14
  • 1987Grammy Awards14
  • Date not recordedDrama League Award14
  • Date not recordedKennedy Center Honors14
  • Date not recordedKnight of the Legion of Honour14
  • Date not recordedLegion of Honour14
  • Date not recordedSilver Clef Award14
  • Date not recordedstar on Hollywood Walk of Fame14

Sources

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