RELEASES: 29 studio albums / 4 live albums / 17 compilation albums / 128 singles / 5 soundtracks / 3 tribute & cover albums
Your SongLevonTiny DancerRocket ManHonky CatMona Lisas and Mad HattersCrocodile RockGoodbye Yellow Brick RoadBenny and the JetsDanielDon't Let the Sun Go Down on MeLucy in the Sky with DiamondsPhiladelphia FreedomSomeone Saved My Life TonightIsland GirlPinball Wizard (see
The Who)
Don't Go Breaking My Heart(w/Kiki Dee)
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest WordSong for GuyMama Can't Buy You LoveLittle JeannieEmpty Garden(dedicated to John Lennon)
I'm Still StandingI Guess That's Why They Call it the BluesSad Songs (Say So Much)NikitaI Don't Wanna Go On With You Like ThatSacrificeThe OneRunaway TrainCan You Feel the Love Tonight(Lion King)
BelieveCandle in the Wind(Princess Diana's funeral)
Something About the Way You Look TonightBlessedSir Elton Hercules John (born
Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.
In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
Some of the characteristics of John's musical talent include an ability to quickly craft melodies for the lyrics of songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, his former rich tenor (now baritone) voice, his classical and gospel-influenced piano, the aggressive orchestral arrangements of Paul Buckmaster among others and the on-stage showmanship, especially evident during the 1970s.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998. He entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements. On 9 April 2008, John held a benefit concert for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, raising $2.5 million. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list on which are present Hot 100's top 100 artists and Elton John reached #3, preceded by Madonna and The Beatles.
FYI
When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father tried to steer him toward a more conventional career such as banking.
He has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood.
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 three, and within a year, his mother heard him picking out "The Skater's Waltz" by ear.
It wasn’t long before the boy was being pressed into service as a performer at parties and family gatherings. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. He showed great 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. One of his instructors reports that, when he entered the Academy, she played a four-page piece by Handel, which he promptly played back like a "gramophone record."
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 and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry's supporting band and began touring cabarets in England.
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, and thus began a partnership that continues to this day. 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.
(1968-70) 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. During this period, John also played on sessions for other artists including playing piano on The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".
Elton John was released in the spring of 1970 and established the formula for subsequent albums: gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. After the second single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles (his introduction was provided by Neil Diamond). Kicking over his piano bench Jerry Lee Lewis-style and performing handstands on the keyboards, John left the critics raving, and drew praise from fellow artists such as Quincy Jones and Bob Dylan.
(1970) A frenetic pace of releasing two albums a year was now established.
Dee Murray (bassist), Nigel Olsson (drummer), and Davey Johnstone (guitar and backing vocals) came together with John and Taupin's writing, John's flamboyant performance style, and producer Gus Dudgeon to create a hit-making chemistry for the next five Elton John albums. Known for their instrumental playing, the members of the band were also strong backing vocalists who worked out and recorded many of their vocal harmonies themselves, usually in John's absence.
(1973) John formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records 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.
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 a song named "Pinball Wizard".
The 1975 release of
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy signaled 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.
Commercially, John owed much of his success during the mid-1970s to his concert performances. He filled arenas and stadiums worldwide, and was arguably the hottest act in the rock world. John was an unlikely rock idol to begin with, as he was short of stature at 5'7" (1.70 m), chubby, and gradually losing his hair. But he made up for it with impassioned performances and over-the-top fashion sense. Also known for his glasses (he started wearing them as a youth to copy his idol Buddy Holly), his flamboyant 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 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others at his concerts made them a success and created interest for his music.
In an interview with
Rolling Stone that year (1976) entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", a stressed John stated that he was bisexual.
Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically.
John's career took a hit after 1976. In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. John secluded himself in any of his three mansions, appearing publicly only to attend the matches of Watford, an English football team of whom he was a lifelong devotee, and that he later bought. Some speculated that John's retreat from stardom was prompted by adverse reactions to the
Rolling Stone article.
Elton reported that Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons; Bell encouraged John to sing in a lower register.
On 13 September 1980, John performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, and within hearing distance of his friend John Lennon's apartment building. Elton sang and dedicated "Imagine" to his friend, Lennon, at this concert. Three months later Lennon would be murdered in front of that same building. John mourned the loss in his 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)", from his
Jump Up! album. He performed the tribute at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in August 1982, joined on stage by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, Elton John's godchild.
The 1980s were years of personal upheaval for John. In 1984 he surprised many by marrying sound engineer Renate Blauel. In 1986 he lost his voice while touring Australia and shortly thereafter underwent throat surgery. Several non-cancerous polyps were removed from his vocal cords, and John lost his famous falsetto, and he sang with a new voice. John continued recording prolifically, but years of cocaine and alcohol abuse, initiated in earnest around the time of
Rock of the Westies' 1975 release, were beginning to take their toll. In 1987 he won a libel case against The Sun who had written about his allegedly having underaged sex; afterwards he said, "You can call me a fat, balding, talentless old queen who can't sing — but you can't tell lies about me."
In 1988, John performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden, giving him 26 for his career, breaking the Grateful Dead's house record. But that year also marked the end of an era. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London, as John bade symbolic farewell to his excessive theatrical persona. (Among the items withheld from the auction were the tens of thousands of records John had been carefully collecting and cataloguing throughout his life.) In later interviews, he deemed 1989 the worst period of his life, comparing his mental and physical deterioration to Elvis Presley's last years.
The 1991 film documentary
Two Rooms described the unusual writing style that John and Bernie 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.
In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, intending to direct 90 percent of the funds it raised to direct care, and 10 percent to AIDS prevention education. He also announced his intention to donate all future royalties from sales of his singles in the U.S. and UK to AIDS research.
Along with Tim Rice, John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film
The Lion King. (Rice was reportedly stunned by the rapidity with which John was able to set his words to music.)
The Lion King went on to become the highest-grossing traditionally-animated feature of all time, with the songs playing a key part. Three of the five songs nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song that year were John and Rice songs from
The Lion King, with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" winning. (John acknowledged his domestic partner, Canadian film-maker David Furnish, at the ceremonies.) In versions sung by John, both that and "Circle of Life" became big hits, while the other songs such as "Hakuna Matata" achieved popularity with all ages as well. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. After the release of the soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA announced that the album
The Lion King had sold 15 million copies and therefore was certified as a diamond record with room to spare.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 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 Order of the British Empire in 1995. John has also been awarded the honour of Knight Bachelor. This award entitles him to use the prefix "Sir".
In early September, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest- and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually going on to sell 5 million copies in the United Kingdom , 11 million in the U.S., and around 33 million worldwide, with the proceeds of approximately £55 million going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It would later win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, an achievement he has yet to repeat. He hasn't performed the song since Princess Diana's funeral, as John stated it would only be played once to lend it significance and make it special.
In the musical theatre world, 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 and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
The single, "Electricity", which John wrote for the 2005 West End production of
Billy Elliot the Musical, benefited from some clever marketing. Over 75% of the sales were downloads, thanks to an Elton John competition where fans could send a text message including an answer to a question and then receive a download of the track. "Electricity" remains one of his biggest solo hits of the 2000s.
John's string of UK #1 duets continued later that year (2006) when the Scissor Sisters released "I Don't Feel Like Dancin' ", which John co-wrote. Recorded in Las Vegas, it featured John on piano and was included on their album
Ta-Dah. "I Don't Feel Like Dancin
'" became the fourth best selling single in the UK in 2006 and it stayed in the UK top 40 for 27 weeks.
On 26 March, 2007, John's back catalog - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download. "I knew that the entire catalog - not just the hits - needed care and attention to be released in this way," he said in a statement. "Now that it's happening, I'm pleased for the fans' sake."
In interviews, John has listed a number of other projects of his in various stages, including an adaptation of
Romeo and Juliet. He also 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. It may be a disaster, it could be fantastic, but you don't know until you try." John claims to be a big fan of Blackstreet's 1996 hit,
No Diggity. He is currently working on the upcoming album.
Other memorable concert projects in the decade have so far included Face-to-Face tours with fellow pianist Billy Joel which have been a fan favourite throughout the world since the mid-1990s.
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 Caesar's 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.
In a September 2008 interview with GQ magazine, Elton John said: "I’m going on the road again with Billy Joel again next year" -- confirming that the two piano-playing legends would be reuniting for more Face to Face concerts in 2009.
In 2007, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated John's wealth to be £225 million and ranked him as the 319th richest British person.
John does not have any children, but does have ten godchildren as of March 2006. Besides the aforementioned Sean Ono Lennon, these include Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Charles and David and Victoria Beckham's sons Brooklyn and Romeo.
Within the music industry, John is sometimes known as "Sharon", a nickname originally given to him by good friend Rod Stewart. In return, Elton calls Rod "Phyllis."
Aside from his main home, 'Woodside' at Old Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, John splits his time in his various residences in Atlanta, Nice, Holland Park in London and Venice.
John is an art collector, and is believed to have one of the largest private photography collections in the world.
During a 2000 court case, in which John sued both his former manager John Reid, the CEO of Reid's company and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, he admitted spending £30 million in just under two years — an average of £1.5 million a month, the High Court in London heard. The singer's lavish lifestyle saw him spend more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers between January 1996 and September 1997. John accused the pair of being negligent, and PwC of failing in their duties. After losing the case, he faced an £8 million bill for legal fees.
Every year since 2004, he has opened a shop, selling his second hand clothes. Called "Elton's Closet" the sale this year of 10,000 items was expected to raise $400,000.
Elton John said he would ban religion. In 2006 he told the Observer newspaper's Music Monthly Magazine:
| “ | From my point of view, I would ban religion completely. Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.
|
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