Elton John

Elton John
Birth name	Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Born	March 25 1947 (1947-03-25)
Origin	Pinner, Middlesex, London, England
Genre(s)	Rock Pop Piano rock Glam rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	1964—present
Label(s)	Uni, MCA, Geffen, Rocket/Island, Universal, Interscope, Mercury, UMG
Associated acts	Billy Joel
Website	EltonJohn.com

Sir Elton Hercules This middle name, after the horse named Hercules on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, is not usually used when referring to him, however. John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995. Reginald Kenneth Dwight (born on March 25, 1947) is an English pop/rock singer, composer, and pianist.

In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold more than 250 million albums and over 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive number-one U.S. albums, 59 Top-40 singles, 16 in the Top 10, four number-two hits, and nine number-one hits. He has won five Grammy awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him number 49 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

Some of the characteristics of John's music are his ability to quickly craft melodies for the lyrics of songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, his former rich tenor (now baritone) voice, his classical and gospel-influenced piano, the aggressive orchestral arrangements of Paul Buckmaster, among others, and the flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship, especially evident during the 1970s.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Biography

Childhood

John was born in Pinner, Middlesex in a council house of his maternal grandparents, with whom his newlywed parents (Sheila Eileen Harris and Stanley Dwight) were living. He was educated at Pinner County Grammar School until the age of 15 before pursuing a career in the music industry. When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father tried to steer him toward a more conventional career such as banking. John has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood.

Both of John's parents were musically inclined, his father having been a trumpet player with a semi-professional big band that played military dances. The Dwights were avid record buyers, exposing the boy to all the popular singers and musicians of the day. John remembers being immediately hooked on rock and roll when his mother brought home records by Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets in 1956.

Musical interest

But the young Reginald Dwight was not merely interested in music—he was a piano prodigy. He started playing the piano at the age of three, and at the age of four, his mother was astonished to hear him picking out Winifred Atwell's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. It wasn’t long before the boy was being pressed into service as a performer at parties and family gatherings. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. He showed great musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. One of his instructors reports that, when he entered the Academy, she played a four-page piece by Handel, which he promptly played back like a "gramophone record."

For the next five years, John took the subway into central London to attend Saturday classes at the Academy, in addition to his regular school duties at Pinner County Grammar School. Several instructors have testified that he was a "model student," and during the last few years he was taking lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the Academy.

Early career

In 1964, Dwight and his friends formed a band called Bluesology. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul-and-R&B musicians like The Isley Brothers, Major Lance, Doris Troy, and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry's supporting band and began touring cabarets in England.

After failing lead vocalist auditions for King Crimson and the Gentle Giant, Dwight answered an advertisement in the New Musical Express placed by Ray Williams, then the A&R manager for Liberty Records. At their first meeting, Williams gave Dwight a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had answered the same ad. Dwight wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, and thus began a partnership that continues to this day. In 1967, what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Scarecrow," was recorded; when the two first met, six months later, Dwight was going by the name "Elton John," in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

File:Elton John - Empty Sky.jpg

Empty Sky, Elton John's 1969 debut album, went largely unnoticed.

The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James's DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, like Roger Cook and Lulu. On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha," and an album, Empty Sky. Despite good reviews, none of the records sold well.

1970s

John and Taupin now enlisted Gus Dudgeon to produce a follow-up with Paul Buckmaster as arranger. Elton John was released in the spring of 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers, and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song," only made the US Top 100 peaking at number 92. After the second single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles (his introduction was provided by Neil Diamond) in August, backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. Kicking over his piano bench Jerry Lee Lewis-style and performing handstands on the keyboards, John left the critics raving, and drew praise from fellow artists such as Quincy Jones and Bob Dylan.

In the spring of 1970, John was recruited to provide piano and backing vocals on "Back Home," the song recorded by the England football squad which was about to depart to Mexico for the World Cup finals.

Elton John was followed quickly with the concept album Tumbleweed Connection in October 1970, which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. A frenetic pace of releasing two albums a year was now established.

The live album 11-17-70 showcased John's talent as a rock pianist and father of piano rock. It featured extended versions of John/Taupin's early compositions that illustrate the gospel and boogie-woogie influences on John's piano playing. It also featured much interaction between John, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. During the magnum-opus 18:20 version of "Burn Down the Mission," the band interpolates Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and a full rendition of The Beatles' "Get Back" before a rampaging conclusion.

John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon," while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends."

File:Elton John - Madman Across the Water.jpg

Elton John's sixth album, Madman Across the Water

In 1972, the band released Honky Chateau, which became John's first American number-one album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat."

In May 1972, he legally changed his name by deed poll to Elton Hercules John.

The 1973 pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel;" the former became his first U.S. number-one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.) Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the U.S., replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a double album followed later in 1973 and gained instant critical acclaim, topping the chart on both sides of the Atlantic. It also temporarily established John as a glam-rock star. It contained the number-one hit "Bennie and the Jets," along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Candle in the Wind," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," and "Grey Seal."

John then formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it—notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood," on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25-million insurance policy on John's life.

In 1974, a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time," and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night." In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number-one hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number-one single.

File:Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.jpg

Elton John's cryptic personality was revealed with the autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.

Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number one, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." At the end of the year, the compilation album Elton John's Greatest Hits was released and reached number one.

Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Pinball Wizard" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform the song of the same name. Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the U.S.). The song charted at number seven in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life. The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band.

Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the U.S. albums chart at number one like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. However, the material was almost universally regarded as not on a par with previous releases. The musical and vocal chemistry Olsson and Murray brought to John's previous releases was seen as lacking by some, both on the album and in the concerts that supported it.

Commercially, John owed much of his success during the mid-1970s to his concert performances. He filled arenas and stadiums worldwide, and was arguably the hottest act in the rock world. John was an unlikely rock idol to begin with, as he was short of stature at 5 feet, seven inches, chubby, and gradually losing his hair. But he made up for it with impassioned performances and over-the-top fashion sense. Also known for his glasses (he started wearing them as a youth to copy his idol Buddy Holly), his flamboyant stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others at his concerts made them a success and created interest for his music.

In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the downbeat Blue Moves in October, which contained the memorable but even gloomier hit "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word." His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," a peppy duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk," a stressed John stated that he was bisexual.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, the years 1970 to 1976 are also held in the most regard critically. Of the six Elton John albums to make Rolling Stone's 2003 The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by All Music Guide are all from this period too (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic).

Hiatus

John's career took a hit after 1976. In November 1977, John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. John secluded himself in any of his three mansions, appearing publicly only to attend the matches of Watford, an English football team of whom he was a lifelong devotee, and that he later bought.

Now only producing one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne; the album featured no Top-20 singles. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became the first Western pop star to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the U.S. in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number nine, 1979), a song from an EP recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell.

1980s

In 1979, John and Taupin reunited. 21 at 33, released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number three, U.S.), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne. His 1981 follow-up, The Fox, was recorded in part during the same sessions. On September 13, 1980, John performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City, within hearing distance of his friend John Lennon's apartment building. Three months later Lennon would be murdered in front of that same building. John mourned the loss in his 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)," from his Jump Up! album, his second under a new U.S. recording contract with Geffen Records. He performed the tribute at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in August 1982, joined on stage by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, Elton John's godchild.

With original band members Johnstone, Murray, and Olsson together again, John was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album Too Low For Zero, which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues," the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and reached number four in the U.S. Indeed, while he would never again match his 1970s success, he placed hits in the U.S. Top Ten throughout the 1980s—"Little Jeannie" (number three, 1980), "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (number five, 1984), "Nikita" boosted by a mini-movie, pop video directed by Ken Russell (number seven, 1986), an orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" (number six, 1987), and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (number two, 1988). His highest-charting single was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder, on "That's What Friends Are For" (number one, 1985). Credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but of the six released in the latter half of the 1980s, only Reg Strikes Back (number 16, 1988) placed in the Top 20 in the United States.

1990s

In 1990. John checked into a Chicago hospital in 1990 to combat his drug abuse, alcoholism, and bulimia. In recovery, he lost weight and underwent hair replacement, and subsequently took up residence in Atlanta, Georgia. Also in 1990, John would finally achieve his first UK number-one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks.

In 1991, John's "Basque" won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael's reverent treatment of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the U.S. and UK.

In 1992, he released the U.S. number 8 album The One, his highest-charting release since 1976's Blue Moves, and John and Taupin signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music-publishing history.

Along with Tim Rice, John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. (Rice was reportedly stunned by the rapidity with which John was able to set his words to music.) The Lion King went on to become the highest-grossing, traditionally animated feature of all time, with the songs playing a key part. Three of the five songs nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song that year were John and Rice songs from The Lion King, with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" winning. In versions sung by John, both that and "Circle of Life" became big hits, while the other songs such as "Hakuna Matata" achieved popularity with all ages as well. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. After the release of the soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On November 10, 1999, the RIAA announced that the album The Lion King had sold 15 million copies and therefore was certified as a diamond record with room to spare.

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The cover of the Princess Diana tribute album/single, "Candle In The Wind 1997"

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995.

In 1995, John released Made in England (number thre, 1995), which featured the hit single "Believe" (number 15, 1995). Also, a compilation called Love Songs was released the following year.

In 1997, John lost two close friends, designer Gianni Versace (who was murdered) and Diana, Princess of Wales (who died in a Paris car crash). In early September, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997," then became the fastest- and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually going on to sell five million copies in the United Kingdom, 11 million in the U.S., and around 33 million worldwide, with the proceeds going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It would later win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, an achievement he has yet to repeat. He hasn't performed the song since Princess Diana's funeral, as John stated it would only be played once to lend it significance and make it special.

2000–present

In the 2000s, John began frequently collaborating with other artists. In 2000, John and Tim Rice teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks' animated film The Road To El Dorado.

In 2001 he declared that Songs from the West Coast would be his final studio album, and that he would now concentrate on just live performances. In 2001, John also duetted with Eminem on the rapper's "Stan" at the Grammy Awards which appears on Eminem's compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits as its bonus track. He also performed the song "Friends" for the soundtrack to The Country Bears written by Taupin along with starring as himself working in a garden.

His biggest hit in 2002 was "Are You Ready For Love." Although it was pretty much ignored when it was first recorded during the late 1970s Thom Bell sessions, it became something of a Balearic fixture and eventually got a re-release on Southern Fried Records in 2003. "Are You Ready For Love" proceeded to go straight to number one in the UK and on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. The show, entitled The Red Piano, was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle. Effectively, he and Celine Dion share performances at Caesar's Palace throughout the year—while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on February 13, 2004. A two-year global tour sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas, some of the venues of which were new to John. The same year, John released a new album, Peachtree Road.

Elton John's Christmas Party compilation album with two of his own Christmas songs and the rest being various artists he chose to be on there was initially released exclusively to Hear Music outlets at every Starbucks coffee shop on November 10, 2005.

On September 19, 2006, John and Bernie Taupin released a sequel to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. The Captain & The Kid featured 10 new songs, including the first single "The Bridge," and for the first time, photographs of both John and Taupin are featured on the album front cover.

John released a greatest-hits compilation CD, entitled Rocket Man—Number Ones on March 27, 2007. Rocket Man—Number Ones was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo. Finally, on March 26, John's back catalogue—almost 500 songs from 32 albums— became available for legal download.

Legacy

Elton John's chief legacy is his sound, which in the 1970s immediately set him apart from most others by being piano-based in a rock-and-roll world dominated by guitars. Another early characteristic was a set of dynamic string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster. Coupled with Taupin's often cryptic but emotionally resonant lyrics, the results were unique in the history of music. Songs in this style included "Sixty Years On," "Burn Down the Mission," "Take Me to the Pilot," "Levon," "Madman Across the Water," and the best-known of these, "Tiny Dancer."

"Your Song," one of his earliest popular hits, incorporates some other features found in many of his songs:

• It is strophic in form, with the verse repeated before the chorus begins;
• The piano accompaniment is prominent, though the song also features an orchestra;
• It uses a slowly building crescendo that brings the song to a tutti climax. Other songs that follow this pattern include "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" and "Rocket Man."

John also has a distinctive vocal style. In particular, his phrasing is often a bit metronomic and sometimes has a curiously off-kilter, "rushed" quality especially at the end of lines (example: the phrase "like a puppy child" in the song "Amoreena.") He also, at least in his classic period in the 1970s, would sometimes sweep up from his normal tenor into a Four Seasons-like falsetto.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Buckley, David. Elton: The Biography. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1556527135
• Norman, Philip. Elton. London: Hutchinson, 1991. ISBN 978-0091748388
• Rosenthal, Elizabeth J. His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John. New York: Billboard Books, 2001. ISBN 978-0823088935
• Tatham, Dick, and Jasper, Tony. Elton John. London: Octopus Books: Phoebus, 1976. ISBN 978-0706405484

External links

• Elton John discography at MusicBrainz
• Elton John's official website
• Elton John at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Elton John MySpace

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