Elton Hercules John Reginald Kenneth Dwight
In 1970, Elton John released Your Song, a track he claims to have written in 15 minutes, launching a career that made him one of the best-selling pop artists of all time with 250 million albums sold by 2006. He also performed Candle in the Wind at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 and founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. Knighted in 1997, he survived addiction and has continued to record and tour.
Elton John by the numbers — life, work, and family.
The relatives of Elton John — parents, partners, children, and siblings.
Elton John — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
At age 11, Reginald Kenneth Dwight won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied but left just before graduation to pursue rock music. Born in 1947 in Pinner, London, he started playing piano at four and formed his first band Bluesology. After unsuccessful auditions for King Crimson and Gentle Giant, he merged the names of saxophonist Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry to become Elton John, teaming up with lyricist Bernie Taupin.
Elton John’s breakthrough came in 1970 with Your Song, a top-ten hit. In 1971 he released the concept album Tumbleweed Connection, and through the 1970s he dominated pop charts with albums like Honky Château and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. In 1974, John Lennon joined him on stage at Madison Square Garden after a bet, performing three songs. John continued to have hits into the 2000s, surviving the punk era and later fads.
In 1976, Elton John announced he was bisexual, and in 1984 he married Renate Blauel, a union that lasted four years before he acknowledged his homosexuality. He struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and bulimia but overcame them. Since 2005, he has been married to David Furnish, with whom he has sons Zachary born 2010 via surrogacy and Elijah. He is godfather to children of John Lennon, David Beckham, and Elizabeth Hurley.
Elton John’s influence extends beyond music: his Elton John AIDS Foundation, founded in 1992, is one of the largest nonprofit AIDS organizations. Knighted in 1997, he also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. His collaboration with Bernie Taupin is notable; they won a Tony Award for Aida in 2000 and a Golden Globe for I’m Gonna Love Me Again in 2020. He achieved international success, with a career spanning six decades.
Browse the complete filmography of Elton John — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Elton John's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Elton John — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Elton John — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Haven’t Made a Good Album in a Long While. Not Since 1976 and Blue Moves.
If There Is a Better Singer in England Than Craig David, Then I Am Margaret Thatcher.
Nowadays, Record Companies Want the Quick Buck from the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, S Club 7, Steps. They’ve Always Been Around, I’m Not Knocking the Music Perhaps, but It’s Like Packets of Cereal. There Are Too Many of Them, Too Many of Them Are Just Mediocre. and I Think It Damages Real People’s Chance, Real Talent, of Getting Airplay. It’s Just Fodder.
There’s so Much You’re Expected to Do and You Follow a Pattern. You Make a Record, You Do a Video. I Like to Break the Rules a Little Bit More and I Did in the 1970S, I Should Try a Little Bit More Now.
I’ve Always Wanted to Smash a Guitar Over Someone’s Head. You Just Can’t Do That with a Piano.
The Great Thing About Rock and Roll Is That Someone Like Me Can Be a Star.
My Voice Has Gotten Deeper and It’s All Down to When I Was Living in Australia. I Could Speak and Only Barely Sing. Deep Down I Knew That Something Was Chronically Wrong with My Voice. It Was Polyps. the First Thing the Doctor Said to Me, You Smoke a Lot of Dope, Don’t You? I Gasped and Said, How Do You Know? the Doctor Said, I Can Tell by the Way You’re Talking. If You’re a Singer, the Worse Thing You Can Do Is Smoke Dope. We Did the Operation in Australia and It Lowered the Timbre of My Voice. It’s Deeper, Has More Resonance and It’s Stronger. I Used to Be a Piano Player Who Sang and Now I’m a Singer Who Plays Piano.
Every Artist Who Makes It Goes Through a Period Where It Seems They’re Invincible. We’ve Seen It with Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and Prince. It Just Seems Like They Can’t Fail. and Then Suddenly Everything Levels Off. I Knew It When It Started Happening to Me. I Was Really Tired, I Knew I Was Peaking. I Knew It Was Time for Someone Else to Take Over. You Have to Be Realistic About These Things.
I Want to Bring My Songs and Melodies to Hip Hop Beats. It May Be a Disaster, It Could Be Fantastic, but You Don’t Know Until You Try.
I’ve Dodged so Many Bullets. Not Just Because of Unsafe Sex, but Because of the Amount of Drugs I Did, the Amount of Alcohol, the Amount of Work I Was Doing. I Started the Elton John AIDS Foundation Because I Got so Lucky.
I Think Religion Has Always Tried to Turn Hatred Towards Gay People. Religion Promotes the Hatred and Spite Against Gays. but There Are so Many People I Know Who Are Gay and Love Their Religion. from My Point of View I Would Ban Religion Completely. Organised Religion Doesn’t Seem to Work. It Turns People into Really Hateful Lemmings and It’s Not Really Compassionate … the World Is near Escalating to World War Three and Where Are the Leaders of Each Religion? Why Aren’t They Having a Conclave? Why Aren’t They Coming Together? I Said This After 9/11 and People Thought I Was Nuts. Instead of More Violence Why Isn’t There a Meeting of Religious Leaders? It’s Like the Peace Movement in the Sixties. Musicians Got Through to People by Getting Out There and Doing Peace Concerts but We Don’t Seem to Do Them Any More. If John Lennon Were Alive Today He’d Be Leading It with a Vengeance. They Seem to Do Their Protesting on Line and That’s Not Good Enough. You Have to Get Out There and Be Seen to Be Vocal, and You’ve Got to Do It Time and Time Again. There Was a Big March in London When Britain Decided to Join the War Against Iraq and Tony Blair Is on the Record as Saying ‘the People Who March Today Will Have Blood on Their Hands’. That’s Returned to Bite Him on the Ass. People Come to Me and I’m a Bit Like the Queen Mother. I Never Get Those Problems. I Don’t Know What It Is with Me, People Treat Me Very Reverently. It Was the Same When Dave and I Had Our Civil Union I Was Expecting the Odd Flour Bomb and There Wasn’t. Dave and I as a Couple Seem to Be the Acceptable Face of Gayness, and That’s Great. I’m Going to Fight for Them Whether I Do It Silently Behind the Scenes or so Vocally That I Get Locked Up. I Can’t Just Sit Back It’s Not in My Nature Any More. I’m Nearly Sixty Years Old After All. I Can’t Sit Back and Blindly Ignore It and I Won’t.
I Have No One to Leave the Money To. I’m a Single Man. I Like Spending My Money.
I Am Such a Luddite When It Comes to Making Music. All I Can Do Is Write at the Piano.
I Didn’t Have Sex Until I Was 23 and That Was with a Man. I Made up for Lost Time After That in a Hurry. I Wish I Could Have Had Sex When I Was, Like, 14, 15 or 16 Because That’s Such an Exciting Age to Have Sex.
There’s a Lot of Liberace in Me and as a Gay Artist as Such, but I Am an Openly Gay Man. a Lot of My Audience Is the Same Kind of Audience That Liberace Would Have Had and They Didn’t Seem to Give a Shit. I Think That’s so Great.
Some People Don’t Get Hyped Enough, People Like David Ackles, Who Could Well Be Hyped as Much as I’ve Been. but Once You’re Successful, They’re Going to Try to Get as Much Hype Going as Possible.
I Tried to Commit Suicide One Day. It Was a Very Woody Allen Type Suicide. I Turned on the Gas and Left All the Windows Open.
An Overview of My Career Is Usually … Glasses … Homosexuality … Watford Football Club … Tantrums … Flowers. but the Music Was Pretty Phenomenal, You Know.
Fame Attracts Lunatics. Princess Diana, Gianni Versace, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, All Dead. Two of Them Shot Outside Their Houses. None of This Would Have Happened If They Hadn’t Been Famous. I Never Had a Bodyguard, Ever, Until Gianni Died.
There Was No Question: I Was Going to Change, or I Was Going to Die. and I Desperately Wanted to Change. I Remember Many Days When I Would Sit Alone in My Room, Drinking, Using, Binging, Listening to Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush Sing Don’t Give Up Over and Over, Weeping at the Chorus. I Was Falling Further Down the Rabbit Hole with Every Gram of Cocaine. but I Couldn’t Or, I Should Say, Wouldn’t Ask for Help. Many People in My Life Suffered Through My Rage, My Denial, My Refusal to Listen. I Was an Asshole and Knew I Had a Problem.
I Like Simon Cowell, but What He Does Is Television Entertainment. There Have Been Some Good Acts, but the Only Way to Sustain a Career Is to Pay Your Dues in Small, Shit Clubs.
Queen Were One of the Bands to Come Out of the Seventies That Were so Innovative. I Mean, When You Look at Videos Today, Queen Started Videos off Really. They Were the People That Had All the Ideas to Begin With.
The Historic Fight for Equality Must Go On. Let’s Get on and Legalise Same Sex Marriage. I Know a Lot of People Will Say We Should Count Ourselves Lucky to Live in a Country That Allows Civil Partnerships, and Call It Quits There. I Don’t Accept That.
Little-known facts about Elton John — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Elton John was joined on stage by John Lennon at a 1974 Madison Square Garden concert after a bet that if Lennon’s song Whatever Gets You Through the Night hit number one, Lennon would perform. This proved to be Lennon’s last on-stage performance.
He is a reformed drug addict, alcoholic and bulimic, and also has epilepsy.
He began wearing glasses to copy one of his idols, Buddy Holly, and now owns a thousand pairs of glasses.
Stevie Wonder played harmonica on his song I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.
His song Empty Garden is a tribute to John Lennon.
His 1976 song Someone Saved My Life Tonight is about his real-life suicide attempt, thwarted by Long John Baldry, who is addressed as Sugar Bear in the lyrics.
He was close friends with Freddie Mercury and performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute in 1992; Mercury told John of his AIDS diagnosis in 1987.
On 5 September 1997, he performed a new version of Candle in the Wind at Princess Diana’s funeral, with lyrics rewritten by Bernie Taupin.
In 1992, he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has become one of the world’s largest nonprofit AIDS organizations.
A 2017 ITV poll named Your Song as Britain’s favorite Elton John composition; he claims to have completed the song in 15 minutes.
Dusty Springfield sang backing vocals on his song The Bitch is Back.
Elton and Bernie Taupin’s collaborative process is unique: Taupin writes lyrics alone, then John composes music alone, never in the same space. They used pseudonyms Ann Orson and Carte Blanche for Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
His son Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John was born via surrogacy on December 25, 2010; the biological mother’s identity is secret.
In 2019, Dan Levy revealed he was named after Elton’s song Daniel, meeting John backstage in Italy.
Elton’s father Stanley never saw him perform, and his mother Sheila never met Elton’s children and disliked David Furnish.
His song Song for Guy is a tribute to Rocket Records messenger Guy Burchett, who died in a motorcycle accident.
In January 1987, he underwent laser surgery to remove vocal cord nodules in Australia, following a rough-sounding concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; he later admitted the problem was caused by smoking marijuana.
He resides in multiple homes including London, Nice, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Venice, and his main home Woodside in Old Windsor.
He has had at least one charted Billboard hit every year from 1970 to 2009.
His 1976 cover of The Who’s Pinball Wizard for the film Tommy is the only Who cover to break the top ten; The Who later covered John’s Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting on the tribute album Two Rooms.
He collaborated with Kiki Dee on Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, which became his first UK number one in 1976.
His longtime collaborator is lyricist Bernie Taupin.
He plays Yamaha concert grand pianos, including the Elton John Limited Edition Signature Series Red Piano.
Lady Gaga is the godmother of his sons Zachary and Elijah.
His Golden Globe win for I’m Gonna Love Me Again from Rocketman in 2020 is his first award won with Bernie Taupin.
As of March 2006, he has ten godchildren, including Sean Lennon and Brooklyn Beckham.
As a session musician, he played piano on The Hollies’ 1969 hit He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, for which he was paid 12 pounds.
He gave Rod Stewart the nickname Phyllis.
He changed his legal name to Elton Hercules John, taking the middle name from a horse on the sitcom Steptoe and Son.
He won the Tony Award for Original Musical Score in 2000 for Aida and was nominated for The Lion King and Billy Elliot.
In 1979, he was the first Western rock star to perform in Israel and the USSR.
He covered The Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds in 1974, featuring John Lennon as Dr. Winston O’Boogie.
His song All the Girls Love Alice is a tribute to Alice Cooper.
He was inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
He does not own a cellphone but uses an iPad to FaceTime his children when on tour.
He sang a song with Tupac Shakur called Ghetto Gospel.
The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his net worth at $287 million in 2009.
He is one of the few artists with number-one hits in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
In April 2017, he contracted a bacterial infection after a South American tour and canceled Vegas performances.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 23, 1975.
He was a guest at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert.
He is close friends with David Beckham, Billy Connolly, and Billy Joel.
He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
He is a co-owner of the Sunset Strip restaurant Le Dome in Hollywood.
His stage name Elton John is a reverse of the name of British shipbuilder John Elton.
He names The Beatles as a major musical inspiration and became friends with all members.
At age 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music but quit before graduation.
His song Philadelphia Freedom is a tribute to tennis star Billie Jean King.
He covered John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance on his boxed set To Be Continued…
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Elton John.
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