Elton John

Elton John is an English singer, songwriter, pianist and composer from Pinner, United Kingdom, born in 1947. Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he is known for a career built around pop, rock and piano-led songwriting, and for a long-running collaboration with lyricist Bernie Taupin.

Career

He records as a solo artist and has also been associated with Bluesology, Elton John Band, Eric Clapton & His All Star Band, Dionne & Friends, Bread and Beer Band, Simon Dupree & the Big Sound, Sol en si, Top of the Poppers and Argosy. His work appears on labels including William A. Bong Ltd., Big Pig Music Ltd., The Rocket Record Company and Mercury Records Ltd.

John releases 32 studio albums. They include Empty Sky (1969), Elton John (1970), Tumbleweed Connection (1970), Madman Across the Water (1971), Honky Château (1972), Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Caribou (1974), Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975), Rock of the Westies (1975), Blue Moves (1976), A Single Man (1978), Victim of Love (1979), 21 at 33 (1980), The Fox (1981), Jump Up! (1982), Too Low for Zero (1983), Breaking Hearts (1984), Ice on Fire (1985), Leather Jackets (1986), Reg Strikes Back (1988), Sleeping with the Past (1989), The One (1992), Made in England (1995), The Big Picture (1997), Songs from the West Coast (2001), Peachtree Road (2004), The Captain & the Kid (2006), The Diving Board (2013), Wonderful Crazy Night (2016), Regimental Sgt. Zippo (2021) and The Lockdown Sessions (2021).

Key songs and stage works

His singles include Your Song, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man, Crocodile Rock, Bennie and the Jets, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, I'm Still Standing, Sacrifice, Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Cold Heart. He also contributes music to The Lion King (1994), Aida (2000) and Billy Elliot the Musical (2005).

Achievements and honours

John has more than fifty top-40 hits on the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. These include nine number-one singles in both countries and seven consecutive number-one albums in the United States. Candle in the Wind 1997, a rewritten version of his 1974 single, is among the best-selling singles worldwide. In 2021, he becomes the first solo artist with UK top-10 singles across six decades.

His awards include a Primetime Emmy Award, five Grammy Awards, two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award and the Kennedy Center Honor. He is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, becomes a fellow of The Ivors Academy, is knighted in 1998, and is appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2020.

Other activities

John establishes the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. It raises over £300 million, and he hosts annual AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Parties from 1993. He serves as chairman and director of Watford Football Club from 1976 to 1987 and again from 1997 to 2002, and later becomes honorary life president of the club.

He experiences addiction to drugs and alcohol from the late 1970s to the late 1980s and is sober from 1990. He enters a civil partnership with Canadian filmmaker David Furnish in 2005 and marries in 2014.

His life and career are depicted in the film Rocketman (2019).