John, Sir Elton
Hercules (25th March 1947-Present)
He is a
singer-songwriter and producer born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner,
Middlesex.His father had been
a trumpeter with the band called Bob Miller and the Milkmen and he and his mother
were avid record buyers.He
started to play the piano when he was three and his parents had recognised
his talent by the time he was four.He received a scholarship for the Royal Academy of Music and his
Subprofessor once said, "upon the boy's entrance to the Academy, she played
him a four-page piece by Handel which he promptly played back like a
grammaphone record."He still
attended Grammar School at this time and gained notoriety by playing like
Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions, rather than the classical music he had
been studying at the Academy.He became a pianist at a local pub and he and his friends formed the
band Bluesology.At this
time he had started to wear glasses like Buddy Holly, who had been his
idol. By the mid-1960s the band were backing many of the touring American
musicians such as Patti Labelle and The Isley Brothers and in 1966 they
became the support band for Long John Baldry.He was unsuccessful in an attempt to become the lead
vocalist for King Crimson so answered an advert for Liberty Records,
which was also answered by the lyricist Bernie Taupin, and after the
A&R manager passed the lyrics to him he put the music to them.They released their first single
"Scarecrow" in 1967 but did not meet for the first time until six months
after that.During those
months Reginald Dwight became Elton John in homage to Long John Baldry and
the Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean.The Taupin/John release was the beginning of a winning
collaboration that is still in existence to this day after beginning their
partnership as staff writers for Liberty records and contributing songs
that were sung by Lulu and Roger Cook and even an entry to the Eurovosion
song contest.Elton John also worked as a
session pianist and back singer and could be heard on many single
releases such as The Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother",
several of The Scaffold singles and on many compilation LPs such as
Top of the Pops releases that were not sung by the original
artists. In 1969 he released his first LP Empty Sky
, which did not draw much attention and the
single "Lady Samantha".The
1970s soon came around and this decade would be the making of his and
Bernie Taupin's career, starting with his album Elton John, released
in 1970.After scratching the surface
of the charts in the US with "Border Song" he was catapulted into the
limelight when "Your Song" reached the Top 10 on both sides of the
Atlantic.After having once
again appeared as a pianist and backing singer on the English 1970 World
Cup song "Back Home" he released Tumbleweed Connection which once again
rode high up the UK and US charts and started him on the trend of releasing
two albums per year as well as seeing him making his own outlandish fashion
statements and sporting hundreds of different pairs of glasses.The ensuing years you see the
release of Madman Across the Water, with the theme from the
soundtrack of the movie Friends, Honky Chateau which would
feature the hits "Rocket Man" and "Honky Cat", Don't Shoot Me I'm Only
the Piano Player featuring "Crocodile Rock", his first US No. 1 single,
and "Daniel", the highly acclaimed Goodbye Yellow Brick Road that
produced several memorable hits including the ever-popular "Candle in the
Wind", Caribou which featured "The Bitch is Back" and "Don't Let
the Sun Go Down on Me", Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
which gave us "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", Rock of the
Westies, Here and There and Blue Moves.In 1974 he formed his own label Rocket Records, signed up artists
such as Kiki Dee, Blue and Neil Sedaka, often appearing as a backing
keyboard player and vocalist for them, and collaborated with John Lennon on
his covers of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "One Day at a Time". John
Lennon would then feature him on his "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and
in his last live performance at Madison Square Garden.In 1975 he appeared in the rock
opera Tommy where he performed as the "Pinball Wizard" and released the
single with that title.In
1977 he announced that he wasn't going to perform anymore and he release
just one album a year.He and Bernie
Taupin went their separate ways and he kept himself much to the confines
of his mansions in an almost hermit-like existence, with just visits to
watch Watford Football Club, of who he would later become the owner.However in 1979 he and Bernie
Taupin got back together and he saw success once more with "Little
Jeannie".Not until 1983 did
he see that same success when he released the album Too Low for Zero, which
would produce further hits and he would be seen regularly at many charity
concerts and on charity single releases such as "That's What Friends Are
For" as well as establishing the Elton John AIDS Foundation.Throughout his career he has never
stopped producing albums and singles and has six albums named in the Rolling
Stone 2003 "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".After the death of Princess Diana
in 1997 he performed at her funeral and re-released "Candle in the Wind"
with slightly changed lyrics and this would become the biggest and fastest
selling single of all time.He
has never performed this version again and he says never will, as it would
lessen the significance of it.Using many pseudonyms including Tripe, Redget Buntovan, Dinah Card, Rockaday
Johnny and Nancy Treadlight he has worked with numerous artists over the
years that include Paul Carrack, Tamy Wynette, Sting, Rick Wakeman, George
Michael, Dusty Springfield, Bruce Johnston, Kiki Dee, Carl and Brian
Wilson, Toni Tennille, David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Sanborn, Stevie
Wonder, Nik Kershaw, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Don Henley, Little Richard,
Luciano Pavarotti, Paul Young and Gladys Knight. As well as
being an extremely successful multi-award winning artist with 5 Grammy
Awards, an Oscar and membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he has
edged into music for the film industry in collaboration with the lyricist
Tim Rice and they have seen success in the scores for The Lion King, The Road to El Dorado and the productions of Aida, Billy Elliott the Musical and
Lestat the Musical.
