Elton John | My Camden

Elton John

Profession: Musician
Place/Date of Birth: Pinner, England, 25 March 2020
Associated with: David Furnish

Elton’s local record shop opens early just for him - Sept 05
Elton John’s local record shop opens early just for him. The singer revealed he religiously goes record shopping once a week in Atlanta and splashes out on tons of albums. He said: "I go in there at 9.30am on Tuesday morning, before it opens. All the new albums are on a cart, and I can go through them, one by one, because I know what I want. It’s one of my things I look forward to every week. "Those guys open up and have a cup of coffee there now, and it’s just brilliant."

Meanwhile, prolific songsmith Elton admitted he the longest time he ever spent writing a song was three-and-a-half hours. The musician confessed to Billboard magazine: "One of my new songs is called ’Paris’, a conversational song in three parts. It’s the longest song I ever took to write - it took three-and-a-half-hours. "I thought I was going to go nuts."

Sir Elton John gets chased by 60-year-old women - Sept 05
Sir Elton John gets chased around Las Vegas by 60-year-old women. The flamboyant singer has revealed he has been getting mobbed by older fans since he started doing his regular shows at Caesar’s Palace Casino. The 58-year-old star told Billboard magazine: "Before Caesar’s I’d never stayed the night in Vegas. I don’t go out much, but you do get stir crazy. So I’ll go see what’s in the shops now. "But my operations manager, Bob Hailey, and I got chased through the mall. We were laughing so hard. "Bob said, ’We’re being chased by 60-year-old women!’ And, I said, ’Bob, we are 60!’"

Elton signed his lucrative Las Vegas deal - thought to be worth 36millionGBP - two years ago. He plays at the specially-built Colosseum Theatre when Celine Dion, who has a 70millionGBP three-year deal at Caesar’s Palace, has days off.

Meanwhile, Elton recently vowed to keep his big mouth shut after offending a string of fellow celebrities - including Madonna, George Michael and Victoria Beckham - with his candid comments. He said at the time: "I had a hell of a time last year and this is the end of it."

Elton was left fuming - Sept 05
Sir Elton John was reportedly left fuming after his luxurious silk curtains were snatched from his dressing room. The pop legend was performing in Mijas on the Costa del Sol - and had insisted his room backstage was kitted out in style, according to a report in the Daily Star newspaper. Show organisers splashed out to get the room ready for the ’Rocket Man’ singer, but thieves sneaked in during the show and stole the drapes.

Earlier this year, it was revealed Sir Elton performed for a group of students who had broken into his home thirty years ago - and they only paid him with a crate of beer. The singer was reminded of the event at a charity concert he performed at Watford Football Club - the soccer team he once chaired. The students had raided the singer’s nearby home after a band failed to turn up to their graduation ball. A source revealed: "The lads had to show him how they had got through security, and provide him with a crate of brown ale as payment."

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Biography

When you think of Elton John what comes to mind? Probably his flamboyant personality and dress sense that have made him an icon for three decades, his parties attended by Posh ’n’Becks, documented by OK! and Hello!, and his ever-present ’partner David Furnish’.

Then there is his seemingly endless love affair with shopping, as revealed in that recent court case, where the world found out that Elton spent about ?250,000 a year on flowers, and didn’t even notice that ?10million was missing from his account. He even takes the mickey out of own spending habits in a new advert for the Post Office.

So what if Elton doesn’t believe in saving and hoarding money, he has no children or family, so he spends. Big deal. He spends on himself, yes, but also huge amounts are showered on others and on charities, particularly his AIDS charity. He recently told Heat magazine that he’d leave everything to David, his partner of nine years.

Amongst the tantrums and tiaras it’s too easy to forget that the fact that he’s got so much money to throw around in the first place, is that he’s one of the world’s most commercially successful entertainers of the last 30 years, and writes a cracking good tune to boot.

Elton John was born Reginald Dwight (!) on March 25, 2020 to a middle-class family living in Pinner, England. He won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music but dropped out shortly before graduation, to tour England with Bluesology who were backing bigger-name blues performers.

In 1967 Elton met lyricist Bernard Taupin through a newspaper ad, and the duo became a professional song writing team and went on to have million selling worldwide hits. Working with producer Gus Dudgeon, Elton and Taupin released a new album for MCA Records in 1970, Elton John, with which he first found fame. His 1971 follow-up, the concept album Tumbleweed Connection, was another big hit, reaching the Top 10.

The prolific pair put together several more albums during 1971-72, culminating in 1972’s Honky Chateau, John’s first No.1 album. Its big single, "Rocket Man", inaugurated a string of hits for the singer-pianist, who scored 16 consecutive Top 20 hits between late 1972 and mid-1976, releasing up to three albums a year. Hits like "The Bitch Is Back," "Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting," "Bennie and the Jets," "Yellow Brick Road," "Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and "Crocodile Rock" became pop classics, turning Elton John into a bona fide superstar. 1975’s Captain Fantastic became the first album ever to debut at No.1.

In 1977 John announced that he would no longer perform live, due to ’exhaustion’, and would limit his record output. In the light of recent revelations from Elton about this period of his life, it’s probably closer to the truth to say he was close to killing himself, through drugs or other means. Also, he and Bernard Taupin had fallen out and had ceased working together, with Elton bringing in other songwriters and Taupin penning lyrics for other artists.

In the 80’s Elton continued to have hits such as "I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues" and 1984’s "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," but moved from rock/pop to a more mellow adult contemporary sound. He also took an interest in AIDS research, forming the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1991; he also announced that he would donate all future royalties from his singles to AIDS charities. John mounted another comeback with 1992’s The One, which went double platinum. That same year he and Taupin signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappel Music for nearly $40 million.

In 1994 Elton John scored his biggest hit in years with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King soundtrack, winning five Grammy nominations and three Oscar nominations. That same year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Elton John released the album The Big Picture in September 1997. Earlier that month, he captured the hearts of millions when he sang a re-written version of "Candle in the Wind" at the funeral of Princess Diana. A recording of the song, released as "Candle in the Wind 1997" became the first single to outsell Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas." All proceeds from the sale of the single were donated to the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

His latest, Songs From The West Coast, came out in 2001, and has widely been seen as a return to form, back to the Elton of old, an album full with really, really good tunes. He too seems to be happier than ever, touring, performing, collecting art, clothes, cd’s and shoes, buying flowers, appearing in ads for the Post Office, getting teen idols like Justin Timberlake to play him in his videos, and of course spending time with David. Bless.
Biography by Liz McGrath 04/02
October 2007