Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (unsuccessfully) as lead singer for the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Dwight teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin and changed his name to Elton John (merging the names of saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry). The duo wrote songs for Lulu and Roger Cook. In the early 1970s, he recorded the concept album "Tumbleweed Connection." He became the most successful pop artist of the 1970s, and he has survived many different pop fads including punk, the New Romantics and Britpop to remain one of Britain's most internationally acclaimed musicians.



Elton John announced he was a bisexual in 1976, and in 1984, he married Renate Blauel. The marriage lasted four years before he finally came to terms with the fact that he was actually homosexual. In the 1970s and 1980s, he suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and bulimia but came through it. He is well known as a campaigner for AIDS research and he keeps his finger on the pulse of modern music, enjoying artists such as Eminem, Radiohead, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. He was knighted in 1997.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse (2)

Trade Mark (8)

His outrageous costumes and spectacles



The earring on his right ear



The gap between his teeth



His rich falsetto voice



His hair transplant, which is often red



His eccentric glasses



Most of his classic songs prominently feature the piano



His outspoken personality, which has often seen him in conflict with other celebrities



Trivia (100)

In 1979, he was the first Western rock star to perform in Israel and the USSR.



He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1996 and awarded Knighthood of the British Empire in the 1998 Queen's New Years Honors List for his services to music and fundraising for AIDS charities.



He is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter.





On 5 September 1997, he performed a new version of "Candle in the Wind", in tribute to Princess Diana at her funeral, with new lyrics specially written by Bernie Taupin



He changed his name legally to Elton Hercules John. He chose the middle name "Hercules" not after the hero of mythology, but after the horse named Hercules on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962).

In 1995, he was awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award.



In 1992, he decided that all profits from his singles would be donated to AIDS charities and formed the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The foundation has become one of the world's largest nonprofit AIDS organizations.



At age 11, he entered the Royal Academy of Music, but quit just before graduation to pursue a rock career.



He was twice a former Chairman of Watford Football Club.



He was inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994).





He was a close friend of the late rock singer Freddie Mercury and performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness (1992). They were so close, John was one of the first people to be told by Mercury of his AIDS diagnosis in 1987, which was not announced to the public until the day before he died in November 1991.

He is a reformed drug addict, alcoholic and bulimic. He also has epilepsy.



He recorded the Christmas hits "Step into Christmas" (1973) and "Cold as Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)" (1983).





Dusty Springfield sang backing vocals on his song "The Bitch is Back".



His song "Philadelphia Freedom" was a tribute to tennis star Billie Jean King



In 1976, he covered The Who 's "Pinball Wizard", for the film Tommy (1975); in the film, he is shown performing the song while playing a pinball machine integrated with a miniature piano keyboard. To date (2010), this is the only cover of a Who song to break the top 10. As a tongue-in-cheek revenge, on the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album "Two Rooms" (1991), The Who contributed a cover of the song "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", performed as if it were a Who composition.

His hit "Song for Guy" was a tribute to Guy Burchett, Rocket Records messenger who was killed in a motorcycle accident.





His song "Empty Garden" is a tribute to John Lennon



Stevie Wonder played harmonica on his song "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues".

He has played the piano since he was four years old.





In 1974, during one of his concerts at Madison Square Garden, John Lennon joined him on stage to perform three songs. This was part of a bet that if Lennon's song "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" went to #1, he would join Elton on stage. This proved to be Lennon's last on-stage performance.



He started wearing glasses to copy one of his idols, Buddy Holly . After a while, his eyes adjusted to the lenses and he's worn glasses ever since.



His longtime collaborator is lyricist Bernie Taupin



The duets he sang with Kiki Dee are "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "True Love".

He is a co-owner of the chic Sunset Strip restaurant Le Dome in Hollywood.





His song "You Can Make History (Young Again)" was a tribute to fashion designer Gianni Versace



His parents, Stanley Dwight and Sheila Eileen Dwight (née Harris), divorced when he was young. His mother then married Fred Farebrother, whom Elton affectionately dubbed "Derf.".



He covered the Kiki Dee song "Sugar on the Floor".



On 17 January 1997, he performed a cover of the Queen song "The Show Must Go On" at the Theatre National de Chaillot in Paris, for the gala opening night of "Le Presbytere n'a rien perdu de son charme ni le jardin de son eclat", a moving work inspired by the premature deaths of Freddie Mercury and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn . This version appears on Queen s third greatest hits compilation.



He covered the John Lennon song "Give Peace a Chance" on his four-CD boxed set "To Be Continued...".



He gave his friend Rod Stewart the nickname "Phyllis".



He attended the special dinner at Sony Studios in Los Angeles to honor singer and activist Sting as MusiCares 2004's Person of the Year. The evening celebrated Sting's contribution to popular music, honored his charitable work with Amnesty International and the Rainforest Foundation. Other stars in attendance included Kylie Minogue and Dido



His song "On Dark Street" features back-up vocals by Kiki Dee



His song "All the Girls Love Alice" is a tribute to Alice Cooper

He stated once in the 1970s that if he ever had a daughter, he would name her "Umbrella".





He auditioned for the lead vocalist spot in the band King Crimson but was turned down.



In 2000, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (1999 season) for Best New Musical for "The Lion King" at the Lyceum Theatre.

In July 1999, he had a pacemaker fitted to correct an irregular heartbeat following an episode of angina on an airplane.



In January 1987, he underwent laser surgery to remove nodules from his vocal chords in Australia. This followed a televised concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in which his voice sounded noticeably rough. In 2004, he admitted this problem had been caused by smoking too many drugs, including marijuana.



In 2001, he declared that "Songs from the West Coast" would be his final studio album, and thereafter he would concentrate on just live performances. In 2004, however, he released a new album, "Peachtree Road", which despite some favorable reviews flopped in every country it was released in.



His 1976 song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was about his real life suicide attempt. It happened when he was engaged to a woman and he was so severely conflicted with that commitment and his closeted homosexuality that he contemplated suicide. Fortunately, he mentioned this to his friend, singer Long John Baldry, and he successfully persuaded Elton to break off the engagement and focus on his music instead. As such, Elton John found considerable success and personal fulfillment and expressed his deep appreciation to Baldry for caring by explicitly conveying his thanks by addressing Baldry in the song by his nickname, Sugar Bear.



He was voted the 49th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.





He sang a duet with Luciano Pavarotti called "Live Like Horses".



He came up with the name Elton John from Soft Machine saxophone player Elton Dean and Long John Baldry

In 1991, he was the winner of the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist. In 1995, he was the winner of the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution. Having previously won the award in 1986, he became the first person to win the award twice as a solo artist, a record which still stands in 2008.





In 2002, he was presented (along with musical partner Bernie Taupin ) with the Music Industry Trusts' Award for his outstanding contribution to the British music industry.

As of March 2006, he has 10 godchildren.



He was estimated in 2006 to have sold 250 million albums during his career.



In the Independent of Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came No. 2, down from No. 1.



His album "The Lion King" (1994) sold 15 million copies in the United States.





He sang a song with Tupac Shakur called "Ghetto Gospel".

He helped compose the single 'I Don't Like Dancin' with 'Scissor Sisters'.



In 2004, he was the winner of the Q Classic Songwriter Award.





He is one of the few artists such as Madonna and Kylie Minogue with #1 hits in both 1980s, 1090s and 2000s.

He showed promise as a musician at an early age and started piano lessons at the age of four.



He performed his first and only concert in Puerto Rico in the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot on April 28, 2007.



He plays Yamaha concert grand pianos. Yamaha have also produced the Elton John Limited Edition Signature Series Red Piano, based on his Vegas show, The Red Piano.





He names The Beatles as a major musical inspiration and became friends with all the members of the band.

He ranked #17 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.



In 2007, Forbes magazine reported his earnings to be approximately $53 million for the year.





He raised $2.5m for Hillary Clinton 's US presidential campaign with a concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 23, 1975.





He won Broadway's Tony Award for Best Musical "Billy Elliot" for which he composed the music and Lee Hall wrote the Book and Lyrics.



He collaborated with Kiki Dee at Cherokee Studios for a duet "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in 1976. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was also his first No. 1 single in the United Kingdom, topping the chart for six weeks in mid 1976. This also became his sixth No. 1 single in the United States, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.

In 2009, The Sunday Times List estimated his net worth at $287 million.



He has had at least one charted Billboard hit every year from 1970-2009.



He lives in London, United Kingdom, Nice, France and Atlanta, Georgia.





In May 10, 2010, merited a position in Time magazine's - The 100 Most Influential People in the World ("Artists" category) - with an homage penned by Stephen Daldry



His son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, with David Furnish , was born via surrogate on December 25, 2010. The identity of the mother is a secret.



John and David Furnish welcomed their second son Elijah Joseph Daniel John on January 11, 2013. The identity of the mother is a secret.

He was a guest at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert.





When he was still a session musician, Elton played piano on British band The Hollies ' 1969 smash hit, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", for which he was paid £12.



In February 2004, he performed 75 shows at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada over the next three years. His show was called "The Red Piano" and was directed and created by photographer David LaChapelle

Sting,

Listening to his third album "Tumbleweed Connection" inspired Hugh Padgham to become a record producer. He would go on to become one of the most successful and award-winning producers of the 1980s and beyond, producing or co-producing many hits by The Police Phil Collins and Genesis , among others.



He was lifelong friends with George Harrison . John made a cameo appearance on Harrison's, "When We Was Fab", dropping a coin in the cup.

His musical, "Billy Elliott The Musical" at the Drury Lane Productions in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Best Large Musical Production.





The godmother of his sons Zachary and Elijah is Lady Gaga

He performed co-vocals on the song "The Rumour" by 'Olivia Newton-John', the title track from her album of the same name.



He owns over a thousand pairs of glasses.



In April 2017, he contracted a bacterial infection after his South American tour and canceled all of his Vegas performances through the next month due to the illness, which had forced him to be hospitalized.





He revealed to the Evening Standard in 2016 that he fell out with David Bowie in the 1970s due to comments Bowie made about him to Rolling Stone magazine. They were never close again after that. Nevertheless, John paid tribute to Bowie as an artist following his death and performed a live version of "Space Oddity" during one of his concerts.



He is a fan of the American metal/grunge band Alice in Chains and played the piano in the song "Black Gives Way to Blue", a tribute to the band's late lead singer, Layne Staley . The first concert that Staley attended was an Elton John gig when he was a child. Alice in Chains 's guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell is a also a fan of John and told that his first album was his Greatest Hits.



In a 2017 poll conducted by Britain's ITV Network, it was determined that the nation's favorite Elton composition was "Your Song" (1970). With lyrics by Bernie Taupin , Elton claims to have completed the song in 15 minutes.



The collaborative process between Elton and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin is unique in that Bernie writes the song lyrics alone, presents them to Elton who then proceeds to compose the music to the words alone. They never collaborate in the same space. When they wrote the smash hit "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in 1976, they used the pseudonyms Ann Orson (Elton) and Carte Blanche (Bernie).

Elton's father Stanley had never in his life seen him perform.



Honored by a set of 12 commemorative postage stamps issued by Royal Mail (the British post office) on 3 September 2019. Eight nondenominated, first class stamps feature the picture on the sleeve of one of his albums. The album covers featured are Honky Tonk Chateau (1972), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Caribou (1974); Captain Fantastic And The Brown Shirt Cowboys (1975), Sleeping With The Past (1989), The One (1992), Made In England (1995), and Songs From The West Coast (2002). Price on day of issue for each stamp was 70 pence. The four other stamps were issued on a single souvenir sheet and feature pictures from various concerts. Two of the stamps are nondenominated, first class stamps (70 pence); the others are denominated £1.55, the rate for letters to Europe weighing up to 20 grams. The four concerts featured are the 1973 Christmas show at the Hammersmith Odeon, London; the 1975 concert at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles; the 2012 Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, London; and a 2018 concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City.



He was awarded the CH (Member of the Companion of Honour) in the 2020 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Music and Charity in Berkshire, England.





Elton's Golden Globe win for Best Original Song "I'm Gonna Love Me Again" from Rocketman (2019), is the first time he has ever won an award with writing partner Bernie Taupin (Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles / Jan. 5, 2020).

Personal Quotes (69)

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

[after being asked about his sexuality in the 1970s] I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats, though.



Britney Spears, S Club 7,

Nowadays, record companies want the quick buck from the Backstreet Boys 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.





[on Madonna ] Anyone who lip syncs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot. That's me off her Christmas card list. But do I give a toss? No.

[after breaking his fingernails by playing so hard] If I had one finger left, I'd play for you.





[on Live 8 (2005)] I thought it was a bit of an anti-climax, to be honest. The thought behind it was fantastic, but Hyde Park is a charisma-free zone. There was no sense of occasion and from a musical point, I didn't think there were too many highlights. I was very pleased to be a part of it, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as the first one ( Live Aid (1985)). How could it be?

[on his unsuccessful album, "Peachtree Road" (2004)]: It is probably one of my lowest-selling albums of all time. It was disappointing everywhere in the world, so I have to hold my hands up and accept that the songs just didn't connect. I'm proud of "Peachtree", but, if I think about it logically, people may have ten or twelve Elton John albums in their collection already. Do they need another one?





I had a hell of a time last year [2004] and this is the end of it. I haven't spoken to Madonna since. She's been in Kabbalah meetings ever since. I don't think I'll ever be forgiven for that one. Then I had the George Michael -thing and the Victoria Beckham -thing. I will keep my mouth shut now.

[on performing at the Colosseum in 2005]: I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life, I love the food, I love the people, I love the attitudes of Italians.



[on his marriage to Renate Blauel] I regret it to this day because I was not honest with Renate. I married her while I knew that my truth was different. I find her a beautiful woman, she could have ruined me financially but she hasn't done that. That is what I call true friendship.



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.





[November 2004] I've never lived in a time so vexing. I just want to scream. It's a nightmare. Bush [ George W. Bush ] and this administration are the worst thing that's ever happened to America. I'm just as angry at Tony Blair . You lied to us, Tony. It was like - these idiots think they can get away with anything! I voted for Tony. He's basically a nice guy. What happened? Is it because power does that thing to you, that you isolate yourself? It enrages me that people can just smirk their way through it.



[on politics] If I was to say what I am, I'd be a Labour man. I like Tony Blair a lot, I think he's a good man. And in America I'd definitely be a Democrat; I'd never be a Republican. One government all the time isn't great for a country. I think it's very hard to be in power for a long time, I think you lose touch. If Cameron [ David Cameron ] can bring a strong opposition to the Labour Party, then I think it's healthy and I'm all for it.

Bruce Springsteen,

Every artist who makes it goes through a period where it seems they're invincible. We've seen it with Phil Collins 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.



[on Dusty Springfield ] Hers was the first fan club I belonged to. I had pictures of Dusty all over my walls.

I have no one to leave the money to. I'm a single man. I like spending my money.



[after this was revealed he had spent £293,000 on flowers in less than two years] Yes, I like flowers.



[2007] In the early '70s, there were at least ten albums released every week that were fantastic. Now you're lucky to find ten albums a year of that quality. And there are more albums released each week now than there were then.



I am such a Luddite when it comes to making music. All I can do is write at the piano.



[2007] The Internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead, they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes okay but it doesn't bode well for long-term artistic vision. It's just a means to an end. We're talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that's not going to happen with people blogging on the Internet. I mean, get out there - communicate. Hopefully, the next movement in music will tear down the Internet. Let's get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole Internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. There's too much technology available. I'm sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today.



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.



[on Hillary Clinton ] There is no-one more qualified to lead America. I'm amazed by the misogynistic attitudes of some of the people in this country, and I say to hell with them. I love you Hillary, I'll be there for you.



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.



The X Factor (2004) is a cruise ship show. I've got nothing against the people who go on - good luck to them. But I hate how they're treated. They're given an awful sense of stardom and pressure straight away but they're only successful until the next series. The record companies sell a lot of records and those people are gone. It's cruel. Will Young is the best thing that's ever come out of those shows. He has proved himself. But it's no way to find talent. I want to hear new songwriters, people who are creating their own stuff, not just singing my songs every week.

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.



Gianni Versace, John Lennon,

Fame attracts lunatics. Princess Diana 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.



Look, I'm 63, I don't want to be on VH1 or MTV. I'm not going to compete with JLS (Jack the Lad Swing) or Lady Gaga . I'm at that stage where I don't think I can write pop music anymore. I can't sit down and do a proper rock song. It was okay when I was 25 or 26, but not anymore. I like to do my little side projects like Scissor Sisters and have fun, but I don't think Elton John will be putting any pop singles out.



Everyone makes all the money off The X Factor (2004) and sells the records but it's the cart before the horse. What's the psychological damage going to be when you've humped and dumped them, and the next one comes along? They're a bit like products, to be honest with you. They're products, and the record comes out at Christmas, and it's always No.1, and then what happens next year? Why aren't they touring? Who's managing these people?



[on "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga ] I've had the privilege to hear it as she played it to me last year. It's phenomenal and will be absolutely huge. You can't stop her - she's a freight train, she's a great writer and a great performer.



[on Rod Stewart ] Bar none, Rod's the best singer I've heard in rock'n'roll.



[on the death of Donna Summer ] I'm so sad. This woman was the queen of disco and so much more. Her records sound as good today as they ever did. That she has never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a total disgrace, especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted. She is a great friend to me and to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and I will miss her greatly.



[2012] By all rights, I shouldn't be here. I should be dead, six feet under, in a wooden box. I should have contracted HIV in the 1980s and died in the 1990s, just like Freddie Mercury Rock Hudson and many friends and loved ones.



[on Freddie Mercury ] One of my very closest friends, a man whom I loved dearly, and a man who was loved by millions of people around the world. Freddie told me he had AIDS soon after he was diagnosed in 1987. I was devastated. I'd seen what the disease had done to so many of my other friends. I knew exactly what it was going to do to Freddie. As did he. He knew death, agonizing death, was coming. But Freddie was incredibly courageous. He kept up appearances, he kept performing with Queen , and he kept being the funny, outrageous, and profoundly generous person he had always been.



[on "How Deep Is Your Love" by The Bee Gees ] It's a great kick to see a song stay silent for a while and then a new generation of people pick up on it and think it's great. That happened with the Take That cover and will happen to The Bee Gees again and again. They have written some of the greatest pop songs ever.



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'm not a fan of talent shows. I probably wouldn't have lasted if I'd gone on one. I was asked to judge American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002). I couldn't do it because I won't slag anyone off. Also, I don't want to be on television. It's become boring, arse-paralysingly brain crippling.



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.



It's very hard to be a frontman. I mean there's not many you can think of that have actually pulled it off. You can think of Jagger [ Mick Jagger ], you can think of Daltrey [ Roger Daltrey ], and then you can think of Freddie Mercury



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.



There is a world of difference between calling someone your "partner" and calling them your "husband". "Partner" is a word that should be preserved for people you play tennis with, or work alongside in business.



We should show that we are country committed to the sacred institution of marriage, proud of our tolerant heritage, and brave enough to let lovers like David and I call each other a husband.



[on the album "The Diving Board" (2013)] It's the first album I've done with a piano, bass and drums as the template for the rhythm section. We started with just the three of us and then we added stuff after we'd finished but we wrote and recorded everything with just the three people. That's how I started off but I've never really made a record like it. I went out to lunch with T-Bone and he said "You know, I want you to go back to piano, bass and drums. It would be really, really simple. I want the piano to be the forefront of the album." And so it seems to have worked. I've never been so relaxed in a studio, I'm playing really relaxed, and when you've got two instruments battling against you, it's not the same as having seven or eight. I've made 36 or 37 albums and I would never have thought of that and it's just so obvious to do.



The BBC Theatre is so small and compact, I love playing those kind of venues 'cause you can actually see the audience and touch 'em practically.





I've always been lucky having great producers, I've had Gus Dudgeon and Chris Thomas, and a couple of other people. No point in having a producer unless they tell you what they think, and T-Bone [ T Bone Burnett ] is a great guitarist and he can see and hear something that you can't.

We focus so much on celebrity in our culture, and we don't focus on the right things. I hate the celebrity that is around now. The vacuous, talentless horror shows that get paid millions of dollars for nothing.



I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems.





Freddie Mercury could out-party me, which is saying something. We'd be up for nights, sitting there at 11 in the morning, still flying high.



[on Live Aid (1985)] It was a wonderful time, it was a wonderful day and it's all thanks to Bob [ Bob Geldof ].



[on Live Aid (1985)] I got there in a helicopter, yes, from my house in Windsor. Not being grand or anything like that, because I just thought the fucking traffic would be a nightmare.



[on Russia's laws banning the promotion of homosexuality] Is Tchaikovsky's [ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ] beautiful music 'sexually perverting'?



[on David Bowie ] We all know how inspiring he is. We all know that his music stands. We don't have to say anything about the music: it speaks for itself. He was innovative, he was boundary-changing and he danced to his own tune - which in any artist is really rare. He kept his illness private in an age we're living in with Twitter when everyone knows everything about everything - he kept it to himself. He made two albums without anybody knowing he was making them. ... And that is the mystique of the man, because we know David Bowie the figure, the singer, the outrageous performer, but actually, we don't know anything about him - and that's the way it should be in music and should be in any art form whatsoever.



[on the Armenian Genocide] As an organization [Elton John AIDS Foundation], one of our mottos is that no one gets left behind, and The Promise: Die Erinnerung bleibt (2016) is about people who got left behind and denied their rightful place in history. [2017]



There's so much good music out there, much better than all the pop shit they play on Radio 1. I never liked shows like The X Factor (2004); I'm glad they are on the way out.



[on the collaboration with Alice in Chains in the song "Black Gives Way to Blue" - Entertainment Weekly, October 1, 2009] I was kind of surprised that Alice in Chains would ask me to do anything. I never thought I'd play on an Alice in Chains record. When I heard the song I really wanted to do it. I liked the fact that it was so beautiful and very simple. They had a great idea of what they wanted me to do on it and it turned out great.



I don't really want my music to be involved in anything to do with an American election campaign. I'm British. I've met Donald Trump [ Donald Trump ], he was very nice to me, it's nothing personal, his political views are his own, mine are very different, I'm not a Republican in a million years. Why not ask Ted fucking Nugent [ Ted Nugent ]? Or one of those fucking country stars? They'll do it for you.

[in 2018] When you listen to even the cheesiest songs from the '50s, '60s and '70s - they are songs. There are a lot of songs in the charts I can't sing, it's just a beat.





[on Kate Bush ] I did a duet with Kate Bush on this track for her last album. That session with her was hard, because she doesn't write easy songs. She's a complex songwriter and this is a weird song, but I love it so much. I'm so proud to be on a Kate Bush record; she's always marched to the beat of her own drum. She was groundbreaking - a bit like a female equivalent of Freddie Mercury. She does come out socially sometimes and she came to my civil partnership occasion with her husband. There were so many stars in the room, but all the musicians there were only interested in saying, "You've got to introduce me to Kate Bush." I remember Boy George saying, "Oh my God, is that Kate Bush?" I said, "Yeah!"