Star Facts
- Elton spent £293,000 on flowers in the space of 2 years
- He has notched up more than 50 Top 40 hits
- His single, Candle in the Wind 1997, is the biggest-selling single in Billboard history
- Elton lived with his mum until he had 4 albums simultaneously in the American Top 40
Elton John Quotes
An overview of my career is usually ... glasses ... homosexuality ... Watford Football Club ... tantrums ... flowers. But the music was pretty phenomenal, y'know
Biography:
Flamboyantly be-spectacled superstar pianoman and the bitchiest diva in pop, Elton John grew up on a council estate in Pinner, raised by his mum and grandma. He started playing the piano at age 3 and by 11 had been awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.
Stunning his tutors, he was branded a musical prodigy and worked as a pub pianist from 15. His first big break came in 1964, forming the R&B band Bluesology, backing up touring American acts like The Isley Brothers and Patti LaBelle.
Answering an NME ad looking for songwriters, he began putting tunes to Bernie Taupin’s lyrics in 1967 and he has been Elton’s lyricist ever since. His 1970 debut album reached number 4 in the US with his follow-up, the critically-lauded classic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, topping the US charts for two months, establishing Elton as a global glam-rock superstar.
He’s since notched up a staggering fifty Top-40 albums, seven of them consecutive US chart-toppers, has sold more than 250 million records, having hits with Rocket Man, Your Song and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, his outfits and stage shows growing more lavish each time. He’s famously dressed as Mozart, Donald Duck and the Statue of Liberty, had more bust-ups with Madonna than we’ve had hot dinners, battled booze and coke addiction, and set up the renowned Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Elton married his long-term partner David Furnish in a civil partnership in 2010 and has a son, Zachary, via a surrogate.