Elton Daily

Farewell Elton Daily

2018-02-08T20:58:00.001+04:00

Elton Daily is no longer being updated. Thank you for all your support over the last 13 years, and to all my 2.2 million visitors.

Best wishes to you all.

Paul
Editor

Farewell Yellow brick Road, The Final Tour

2018-02-08T20:06:00.001+04:00

After more than half a century on the road and an unparalleled career that has redefined the cultural landscape and seen him claim his place as a true global icon, Elton has announced via an exclusive VR180 Live Stream on YouTube, details of his final tour called 'Farewell Yellow Brick Road'.

Kicking off in the U.S. on September 8, 2018, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour will consist of more than 300 shows across five continents, hitting North America, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, South America and Australasia before reaching its conclusion in 2021.

Tribute to Elton Featuring Live Elton Performance Coming to New York Jan 30

2017-12-22T21:29:00.001+04:00

A star-studded tribute to Elton John is taking place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on January 30, just two days after the 60th annual Grammy Awards.

Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Miranda Lambert, John Legend, Little Big Town, Chris Martin, Maren Morris, Sam Smith, and Keith Urban, a list of stars who hold 30 Grammy Awards between them, will take the stage to perform a selection of songs from Elton's highly acclaimed discography, for which he himself has earned 5 Grammy Awards. More artists are to be announced in the coming weeks.

Elton and his band will also be performing hits from his catalogue.

The live concert taping will be held on January 30, 2018, at 8 pm ET at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The special will be broadcast later in 2018 on CBS.

Elton's band, led by guitarist Davey Johnstone who will act as musical director, will serve as the house band for the evening.

Presented by The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS, it follows similar tributes to Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, the Bee Gees, and The Beatles.

Tickets will go on sale Dec. 18, 2017, at 12 pm ET and are available for purchase at Ticketmaster.

-EJ.com

Elton Meets Russian Health Minister & Thanks Rocket Employees

2017-12-22T21:23:00.002+04:00

So delighted to have the chance to discuss with Dr Skvortsova a closer collaboration between the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Ministry of Health to fight AIDS in Russia. Important and urgent work. - Elton

Today was our office Christmas lunch. David and I are blessed to be working with so many hard working and talented people. A big, festive thank-you to each and every one! - Elton

Elton Interviews Eminem and Noel Gallagher

2017-12-09T20:00:00.001+04:00

Now 45, Eminem is preparing to release his ninth studio album, Revival. Before that, he spoke on the phone from his studio in Detroit with his longtime friend and outspoken supporter Elton John.

ELTON JOHN: Hi, Marshall.

EMINEM: How are you doing, cunt?

JOHN: I’m very well, you old bastard. Are you in Detroit?

EMINEM: [laughs] Yeah.

JOHN: You must be pretty excited to have a new album coming out. Tell me about it.

EMINEM: I’ve been working on it for over a year. You know how it is—you make songs, and as you make the new ones, the old ones get old and you throw them out. The album is called Revival. It’s a reflection of where I’m at right now, but also I feel like what I tried to do was diversify. I’ve tried to make a little something for everyone.

JOHN: You’re very good on collaborations. We first met through the Grammys, when you asked me to do “Stan.” It was an amazing event for me that I’ll never forget.

EMINEM: I’ll never forget it either—and I was on drugs.

JOHN: You were on drugs?

EMINEM: Oh, I was for sure on drugs when we met.

JOHN: I couldn’t tell. I was just mesmerized by you and your performance; it made the hairs on the back of my arms stand up. It was like seeing Mick Jagger for the first time. I hadn’t really been exposed to that kind of rap in live performance before, and it was electrifying. And when that shit was thrown at you—about you being homophobic—I just thought, “I’m not standing for this. It’s nonsense.” I had to stand up and defend you. That Grammy performance was the start of a lovely friendship and I’m grateful for that.

EMINEM: Likewise. That was a crazy time for me. I don’t know if I was actually on drugs when we met, but that was right around the start of my using.

JOHN: You’ve been clean for a long time now.

EMINEM: Yeah, nine years.

JOHN: Your sobriety day is in my diary. I’m so proud of you. I’m 27 years clean, and when you get clean, you see things in a different way. It makes your life so much more manageable. It seems to have made all the difference—I can tell when I speak to you.

EMINEM: Getting clean made me grow up. I feel like all the years that I was using, I wasn’t growing as a person.

JOHN: Me, too. If I had to go through that to get where I am now, then I’m very, very grateful. But I just can’t believe I did some of that shit. Anyway, tell me about your life now. Every artist these days is on Instagram or Facebook, is taking selfies, is in the paper all the time, but you’re not like that. You live a pretty simple life. You’re not a lavish person. People think they know everything about you, but they really know nothing about you.

EMINEM: I studied Dre a lot. I don’t know if you’d call it a mantra or what, but he believed that if you never go away, it’s hard for someone to miss you. And I realize that some people see going away as, “Oh, he’s irrelevant now,” but I feel like if I don’t go away, I get sick of myself. It’s never been my thing to be in the spotlight all the time.

JOHN: People think of you as aggressive because of how you come across when you rap, but under that I think you’re quite a shy person. Let’s go back to the beginning, to The Slim Shady LP. Who were your big influences at that time?

EMINEM: It had to be Dre. I remember one of the first times I went out to L.A. I met Dre and Jimmy [Iovine] at Interscope, and it felt so ridiculous and so far-fetched that this was happening. When Dre walked in, it was like an out-of-body experience. Nothing in my life had been going right for me, but he put me up in the Oakwood apartments and paid my rent so I could record with him. There was a period when I stayed up writing for 48 hours straight and ended up crashing at, like, six in the morning. I wanted to be prepared for Dre because I thought, “If I’m not ready for every aspect of this, this could be it for me.”

JOHN: That validation and encouragement from him must have meant the world to you. It’s so important for a young artist to feel that from someone. It spurred you that extra mile, didn’t it?

EMINEM: Absolutely. That first time in the studio we did three or four songs in, like, six hours, and with any beat he threw on, I either had to rhyme to it or write something right there. From that day forward, he started showing me things that I didn’t know I could do with my voice. We did a song called “Role Model,” and it went, “Don’t you wanna grow up to be just like me?” And he just kept going “Nah, do it again. Do it again.” So I would do it again and again until finally I’m screaming, and he goes, “Yeah, there you go. That’s it.”

JOHN: You two are still close, right?

EMINEM: Yes.

JOHN: You don’t forget people like that. Sometimes it’s kismet—like how I met Bernie [Taupin] completely by accident. Going back to what you said earlier about disappearing, it’s like what Prince did. It’s like what Springsteen does or Dylan does. They never really go away. People are always interested in what they do.

EMINEM: For sure. There are ups and downs. I haven’t had a perfect career. I’ve put some albums out that, looking back, I’m not super proud of, but there’s also a lot of stuff that I am very proud of.

JOHN: That’s just a part of being an artist; you can’t write great stuff all the time, because if you did, then you’d be inhuman. The human side of people is that sometimes they fail.

EMINEM: You’re not going to hit it every single time, and that’s why, when I record an album, I do probably close to 50 songs. Each song I record has to get better. If it’s not better than the last song that I made, it’ll usually linger for a couple of months, and then it’ll be put on the backburner, and then there’ll be another song that I do, and then it often doesn’t make it on the album.

JOHN: I always say to people, “If you don’t understand hip-hop, you just have to see it being recorded.” When you’re in the studio—and I’ve seen you record, I’ve been on Kanye West and A Tribe Called Quest records—it’s a completely different ballgame. I get upset when people knock it, because I can absolutely see the musicality in it. These days, when I’m listening to records by hip-hop artists, I hear the production. It’s just astounding how great the productions have become.

EMINEM: With every song, all the elements have to work. First, the beat has to be great—you start there. You start with the music, and then the ideas follow. Then you start thinking of rhymes, and then you record it, and sometimes—this happens to me a lot—it doesn’t come out as good as it did in my head when I first wrote it.

JOHN: It’s so frustrating when that happens. I fucking hate it!

EMINEM: Yeah, because I get excited, and then I get it in there and hear it, and I’m like, “Oh my god, this is fucking terrible.”

JOHN: Do you listen to a lot of current hip-hop?

EMINEM: I listen to pretty much everything that comes out.

JOHN: Who do you think is doing great stuff at the moment?

EMINEM: J. Cole. Travis Scott. Kendrick is great. My friend Royce da 5’9″ is incredible. Joyner Lucas is really good. Tech N9ne, too.

JOHN: I love his stuff, too. Let’s talk about “The Storm,” which is an example of someone actually getting off their ass and saying something, and it reverberating through the world. What you said was pretty much what most musicians, I assume—apart from some country artists—are probably thinking themselves. You seemed to have needed to get that out of your system.

EMINEM: It’s something that I’m definitely very passionate about. If I’m not passionate about it, I can’t write it. I can’t fake it.

JOHN: Let me ask you, was that totally off the cuff or did you write all that down and memorize it?

EMINEM: I wrote it. The original idea was for me to go to the BET Awards and do it acapella onstage. I went home that same day and wrote it all, but then at the last minute, plans got switched around and we filmed it in Detroit.

JOHN: I think it worked out better that way.

EMINEM: One of the things we were trying to mimic was Public Enemy’s “You’re Gonna Get Yours” cover. I don’t know if anybody got that, but that’s kind of the feel that we were going for. My main concern was trying to get the message out and also memorize all the words. I have a hard time memorizing stuff. I’m always in the process of writing a new song, so trying to learn a new one takes a minute.

JOHN: The people on set with you, had they heard it before you started filming?

EMINEM: Nah, nobody had heard it.

JOHN: It needed to be said. I’ve been coming to America since 1970, and it’s like my second home, but I’ve never felt such a divided country, ever. I didn’t think it would get to this point, and it breaks my heart.

EMINEM: It was about having the right to stand up to oppression. I mean, that’s exactly what the people in the military and the people who have given their lives for this country have fought for—for everybody to have a voice and to protest injustices and speak out against shit that’s wrong. We’re not trying to disrespect the military, we’re not trying to disrespect the flag, we’re not trying to disrespect our country. But shit is going on that we want to make you aware of. We have a president who does not care about everybody in our country; he is not the president for all of us, he is the president for some of us. He knows what he’s doing.

JOHN: Everything that he does is deliberate.

EMINEM: As long as he’s got his base, he does not give a fuck about anybody else in America. But guess what? There’s more of us than there are of them. I still feel like America is the greatest country to live in. This is my opinion. But we have issues that we need to work on and we need to do better.

JOHN: I know you’ve done some festivals this year. Are you going to go out to tour this album next year?

EMINEM: I’m not sure. We usually do mini tours.

JOHN: Do you like touring?

EMINEM: It used to be hard. Early on in my career when I was more in grind mode, I was doing two or three shows a day. It was tough because you start feeling like you have no life. That being said, I do enjoy actually doing the shows.

JOHN: It’s the traveling that’s the worst bit. And being away from home.

EMINEM: Yeah. That’s tough, too.

JOHN: What’s the best piece of advice you ever got, and who was it from?

EMINEM: I would have to say Dre again. Actually, he gave me a couple of pieces of advice. When I first got signed to Aftermath, we had many discussions about how I wanted to bring in my group D12 and put them on right away. Dre said, “You’ve gotta build your house before you can let your friends come in,” and it made so much sense to me. In hindsight, waiting was probably better because eventually we got Shady Records and were able to sign them to it. He also used to say, “It can be in bad taste as long as it don’t taste bad.”

JOHN: I don’t know Dre—I’ve met him once or twice— but he’s a bit like Obi-Wan Kenobi, am I right?

EMINEM: Yes! I also just remembered some advice that Rick Rubin gave me. We were talking about a song or something, and he said, “I don’t really consider myself smart enough to know what everybody’s going to think, so I just do what feels right to me.”

JOHN: Releasing a song is like giving birth to a child. And when people suggest something in that song that maybe I don’t agree with, like changing the chorus or putting the chorus somewhere else, I get so pissed off. But then I think about it, because there’s no point in having another member of the band there unless you listen to them. And it’s so infuriating, but they’re usually fucking right, you know?

EMINEM: Oh, that’s definitely Paul.

JOHN: Paul Rosenberg?

EMINEM: Yeah, my manager. He and I go at it during the making of every album, and sometimes we’re on the same page and sometimes we’re not. He’s usually right about it, though. It’s just hard when you’ve spent so much time on something, writing and recording, laying the vocals, getting the hook right, getting the beat right, making everything sound right—you spent a freaking week trying to make it sound perfect, and someone comes along and shoots it down.

JOHN: You’re so lucky to have someone like that, though.

EMINEM: Absolutely—because, like I said, he usually ends up being right. When I played him “Not Afraid” for the first time, he wasn’t too fond of it. Then we had a conversation a few days later, and he was like, “Do you think it needs a bridge?” And I was like, “I knew you were going to say that.”

JOHN: A great editor is the most valuable thing you can have as an artist because, as you said, sometimes you get too close to something. I think, apart from your talent, that’s why you have the career you have—because you have great people behind you.

EMINEM: Absolutely.

JOHN: When this album comes out, people are going to want to hear it. It’s a tribute to your longevity as an artist, your intelligence, your musical and lyrical brilliance. I’m so happy you exist in the world, and I’m just so proud of you. You’ve worked so hard on yourself, and no one deserves this more than you, Marshall, and I love you from a long way away, okay?

EMINEM: Thank you, Elton. I love you, too.

- Interview Magazine

No More Shows for 2018

2017-12-06T14:09:00.001+04:00

At Elton's recent Hamburg concert at The Barclaycard Arena on December 5, the artist announced he will not be performing more concerts next year. He and the band 'will be taking a year off'.

He expects to resume touring in 2019. Final Las Vegas commitments are still going ahead though. His two scheduled performances in Georgia will be the only concerts outside of Las Vegas for 2018.

'We have shows in Monaco, Toulouse, Friedrichshafen, Moscow, Dubai and Beirut and then next year we're gonna take a year off from touring and we'll be back later, ok'

Have a good rest Elton!

Elton Wanted for School Benefit

2017-12-06T13:39:00.000+04:00

Legislation that was previously approved to have musician Elton John host a benefit for the Cerritos College Music Department has been vetoed by student government President Karen Patron.

The veto was announced at the Board of Trustees meeting by Trustee Raul Avalos on Nov. 15.
Patron says, “The legislation needed to be vetoed because there was nothing put in place yet that would protect and guarantee that we would return the half a million dollars.”

Patron said she did not take the veto lightly and wanted to make sure it was done factually.
She said that since a contract had not been approved, she did not feel comfortable allowing such a large amount of student money to be spent if there was no guarantee that it would be returned.
Patron hesitated signing the legislation after speaking to Cerritos College President Jose Fierro.
He asked her if she, and ASCC had already spoken to Business Services to “make sure there are contracts put in place” and recommended she did this before signing the document.

She also mentioned that he said that since it is half a million dollars, the trustees’ consideration was important.

“At the end of the day, the money that is allocated to ASCC is entrusted to the students by the Board. Technically it is not our money- we are entrusted with these funds to make sure we spend them whichever way we believe is best for the students as a whole,” she said.

Fierro says the legislation “will essentially commit us to say ‘We do have the money to bring [Elton John]’ but then at that point, you have to finally secure the artist, make sure the calendar that he has open- because it is a benefit concert- is going to accommodate us.”

Patron mentions some students and faculty from the music department were “alarmed” because of the way the word “veto” connotes a negative perception of what the president might think of the legislation.

She said she didn’t veto the legislation because she didn’t like the idea- she believes it is “an awesome idea” and “an investment in our students,” specifically “a long-term investment.”
The Cerritos College Foundation is working to write the letter of intent to guarantee the benefit, while ASCC is working to write the stance of support.

She has not received any disapproval from the trustees, except only concerning improving communication among all parties involved.

Fierro mentions that the board was supportive of the legislation.

“We had the conversation and they seem to be excited about the possibilities. Obviously if this works properly, we will be able to bring some revenue for scholarships, equipment and other student related costs,” he said.

“I think we need to take a step back, reanalyze and look at what steps we need to go through before we jump the gun,” she said.

Patron says she will bring it up next semester to make sure all parties involved agree before proceeding to the next step.

- Talon Marks

Farewell Sheila

2017-12-05T12:08:00.000+04:00

So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning. I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum. Thank-you for everything. I will miss you so much. Love, Elton

Elton to Rework The Lion King Hits for New Movie

2017-12-04T10:48:00.000+04:00

Sir Elton John will bank as much as $13 million thanks to the upcoming live-action remake of the Disney cartoon “The Lion King.”

The British pop star has agreed to a deal to rework his smash hit compositions from the 1994 animated musical film.

His hits “Circle Of Life” and “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” will be modified in the new version of the film that’s set for release in 2019.

Jon Favreau, who directed 2016’s “The Jungle Book,” is set to helm and it will feature the voices of Beyoncé as Nala, Donald Glover as Simba, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari.

Disney Studios has secured John for the project, but will not announce it for several more weeks.

Insiders say that the licensing deal is worth at least $4 million, but will rise in commission from DVD sales and streaming. Earnings from new album sales and royalties on radio worldwide will boost his bank balance too.

And on top of that, ticket sales from “The Lion King” stage productions worldwide will likely increase dramatically after the 2019 film release.

A source in L.A. said: “Elton is working with Disney on this new ‘Lion King’ project. They have reached an agreement to present some reworked versions of the classic hits and perhaps some new work.

“The songs will be thread into the storyline. It is unthinkable when you have Beyoncé involved not to have her sing some of those iconic hits — and that means huge sales to a new generation. The deal is a huge one and will earn him millions at many stages. Obviously he will get a one off licensing deal followed by a cut in royalties from all aspects of the work.”

Sir Elton bagged a “Best Original Song” Oscar for his musical work on the original film for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.” Two other tunes were nominated for Academy Awards in the same category — “Hakuna Matata” and “Circle Of Life.”

Earlier this month, John shocked fans by appearing at the 20th anniversary of the Broadway production of “The Lion King.”

The 70-year-old star will have to find time in his schedule to rework the musical tracks once he completes his residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in May.

- NY Daily News

Eminem Gave Elton John an Unusual Wedding Gift

2017-12-04T10:37:00.001+04:00

Elton John reveals that Eminem gave him and David Furnish diamond encrusted cock rings as a wedding gift, which he says remain unused.

Bennie and The Jets on Colbert

2017-11-26T00:40:00.004+04:00

Diamonds Documentary to Air on Absolute Radio This Weekend

2017-11-26T00:39:00.001+04:00

Absolute Radio presents a very special look at the incredible 50 year partnership between Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

This episode of Elton John - Diamonds with Mark Goodier will be broadcast on Saturday 25 November 2017 at 10pm on Absolute Radio.

Elton Will 'Never Stop Touring' Says David Furnish

2017-11-26T00:34:00.001+04:00

Elton John has released his first greatest hits in a decade, Diamonds, which is heading for a Top 5 finish this week thanks in part to a huge TV launch at the weekend with ITV’s Elton John: The Nation’s Favourite Song.

In the latest issue of Music Week, the music legend’s manager, CEO at Rocket Entertainment and long-term partner David Furnish takes us inside the Diamonds campaign and gives us a glimpse of John’s current relationship with the music industry after more than 50 years of working with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Here's more from Furnish on life with the Rocket Man...

How did you and Elton enjoy working on this greatest hits?

It’s been really fun putting it together. Elton hit some pretty significant milestones over the past 12 months — he turned 70, he’s acknowledged that he and Bernie [Taupin] have been working together 50 years since they met as songwriting partners. In today’s industry that is kind of unheard of — there’s really no successful music songwriting partnership that’s lasted [as long], they’re still collaborating and working together. He wanted to have a greatest hits package that really kind of encompassed the broadest path through his career and one where we could make it available to people in different ways, different formats, because we’re at a really interesting transition point in the music business. The business is changing the way people hear about music, the way they consume music, the way they share music.

Has Elton embraced streaming?

Yes, wholeheartedly, he’s embraced streaming. The most important thing with Elton is that he stays connected, both in terms of people being able to discover his music and to keep his music alive and also in terms of being able to discover new artists. In the case of his Beats 1 radio show, it's an opportunity to really encourage them [new artists]. He still consumes music largely traditionally, he still orders his compact discs every week and has them sent to wherever he is, and he puts them in the car and plays them on the systems at home. But the great thing about the Beats 1 radio show, The Rocket Hour, was that it gave him an opportunity to do something he does every week naturally anyway, which is expose himself to as much new music as he can and then give people a chance to discover it in a form that's relevant for today.

What’s his approach to social media with the label and management?

It’s a true collaboration, he doesn’t run it solely himself. We do everything collaboratively. Elton doesn’t carry a phone, but he does carry an iPad so his access to social media is somewhat limited compared to the average person. But everything that goes up on his Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, it’s all run by him, shared with him, he calls the office and says ‘I’ve just heard this great new artist can we say something about them?’ Because Elton’s a bit more old school, I think he sometimes grapples with how much of himself he wants to reveal in terms of the personal side of his life — he feels extremely protective where the children are concerned.

Is he protective of his songwriting legacy?

He takes his legacy very seriously and he’s very proud of it, but the most important thing for Elton is that he continues to look forward, he’s never going to stop. I think the passion the keeps him alive is that he needs to continue to create and write, he needs to collaborate.

His appearance in Kingsman: The Golden Circle with the Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) sync made a big impact…

The great thing that Elton’s prepared to do is not take himself too seriously, so that was a way to pay a nice wink and a nod at a part of your legacy but bring it to a new audience in a really funny, fresh and self-deprecating way.

How interested is he in the music business?

I actually think Elton knows more about the music business than the average record company executive. He gets all the charts and the new releases for most of the major markets every week. He still gets them by fax which is going to be a problem in about a year’s time when we’re not going to be able to put faxes down digital phone lines any more. He follows and tracks and charts everything, he knows exactly when a record’s going to break, why it’s going to break, where it’s not getting enough push, play or promotion, he’s a real anorak when it comes to stats, sales figures, numbers and he’s able to retain them and process an enormous amount of data. That structure in his life helps to keep him grounded and keep him connected with the greatest passion in his life, which is music. So yeah, he’s very plugged into what’s going on — it’s kind of spooky!

What has he got planned for next year?

He’s going to wind down his residency in Las Vegas, so he’s got another run in February and then another run in May. We’re going to be shooting a live action musical fantasy version of Elton’s life story called Rocket Man, thats going to go into production next year. I think he feels he needs to take a breather, he needs to step back and take a pause. He’s also working on his memoirs and then we have a few surprises up our sleeve.

Will he continue to tour in future?

Without question, Elton must never stop performing. We all have things that kind of keep us alive in life. Some people relish the idea of a retirement where they do nothing [but] for Elton that would be purgatory. Playing to live audiences is going to be something he always needs to do. I think given our commitments to our kids and our family — and now our boys are nearly seven and five and at that point where they need you present more than ever — it’s important we’re there to support them. So that will have an impact on what we do in the future too.

- Music Week

Elton to Appear on Graham Norton December 1

2017-11-14T17:19:00.002+04:00

Together on Graham's sofa: legendary rock star Sir Elton John; actor and writer Stephen Fry; Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan; pop star Robbie Williams; and singer-songwriter Pink, who performs What About Us.

Date Friday 1st December 2017
Time 10:35pm
Channel BBC One
Length 45 minutes
Recorded Thursday 30th November 2017, 17:15 at The London Studios

- Comedy.co.uk

Elton Interviewed by ABC Australia

2017-11-14T17:15:00.001+04:00

Whenever he's in Australia, Sir Elton John likes to peruse the aisles of his favourite record shops looking for new local musicians.

"I'm always interested in getting new Australian acts. That's really important to get new things," he said.

7.30 caught up with Sir Elton when he was in the country to promote his 50th anniversary best-of album, Diamonds.

He said he had already been to Red Eye Records in Sydney and planned to visit a couple more stores.

"There's an artist in Australia called Tate Sheridan who I've been trying to help for a long time and his music is music from the past, like when I started, but it's great music," he said.

"I try and encourage him as much as possible.

"And if I hear something from someone new and I like it, then I phone them up.

"And of course my radio show that I do for Apple keeps me in touch with new artists.

"After I do all these interviews today I'm meeting Ruel, who's a 14 to 15-year-old singer from Australia, and Winston Surfshirt, who have a new album coming out.

"I've been able to locate them by playing new music on my show from Australia.

"Angus and Julia Stone are another two that I play.

"There's so much stuff coming out of Australia, it's really fantastic.

"And doing that and helping younger artists is what I set my management company up for.

"I mean, Ed Sheeran was singing in living rooms when I first started [with him] and now look at him."

Sir Elton said older artists gave him the same kind of encouragement when he was starting out in the industry.

"When I first started off in America and my album was going up in the charts, I had a telegram from George Harrison, The Band flew in to see me in Philadelphia, Neil Diamond introduced me on stage.

"Leon Russell, who was my idol, came to see me and that validates you, and if someone like that says 'congratulations', that means you're on the right track and it means the whole world to a new artist."

Sir Elton also had some advice for Australia on same-sex marriage.

"To gay people out there who want it. Fight it. I'm on your side.

"And to people who don't want it, that's their right, too. We live in a democracy.

"And I'm not saying people shouldn't say No, but I'm saying, say Yes, because I know it worked for me and it will work for other people too."

Sir Elton married his long-time partner David Furnish in 2014 when same-sex marriage was legalised in Britain.

He says it has been a privilege to marry and has made their relationship bigger.

"I never thought, as a gay man, that would ever happen to me," he said.

"The civil partnership between David and I … actually made a difference to our relationship. And with the marriage it's made it even bigger.

"It's not a flippant thing. And I think most couples gay couples that have been together a long time enter into marriage because it's a hard-fought thing.

"They really treasure it."

For 50 years Sir Elton and his lyricist Bernie Taupin have been writing some of pop's most enduring hits.

They don't write in the same room — or even the same country. But somehow it works and they've never even had a fight.

"It's absurd really, we've never written in the same room," he said.

"I find I'm hopeless at writing lyrics but I love writing to lyrics and I don't know where that magic comes from.
"I think it's a gift from God, or whatever you want to call it, and it's exciting because it's never changed from the first day we wrote songs.

"I still write the song when he's not there and then I go and play it to him.

"So the excitement is still the same as it was from day one, and that's kept it fresh and it's kept it exciting.

"I don't have to rack my brains as a lyricist to write a song, I'm given it on a plate and he's a brilliant storyteller."

- ABC

Watch Elton John The Nation's Favorite Song

2017-11-14T16:52:00.002+04:00

Elton & The Band Support Movember on Colbert

2017-11-14T16:51:00.001+04:00

Elton Interviewed by The Advocate

2017-11-13T23:42:00.000+04:00

Something happened to Elton John that week in the Ukraine. It was 2009, and he’d been there before, of course, with his husband, David Furnish, as part of the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s efforts to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. The Ukraine has one of the fastest rising HIV rates in Europe, and John had given a free concert for tens of thousands in Kiev’s main square.

But this day they were at an orphanage near Donetsk, an industrial city in Ukraine. He performed his hit Lion King song “Circle of Life” for the kids, most of whose parents had died of AIDS complications — some were also HIV-positive themselves. As Furnish was bouncing a toddler named Lev Ageyeva on his lap, a reporter asked John if he’d ever want to adopt a child.

His husband had long talked of adoption, but at 62, John was still traveling and performing as much as ever. Charity work took them around the globe and John loved their life. He wasn’t sure he’d want it to change. But watching Furnish with Lev — and with the recent death of his longtime keyboardist, Guy Babylon, fresh on his mind — something changed. He changed. And he desperately wanted to give Lev a home. Sadly, their adoption attempt was denied because the country’s laws essentially deemed them too old and too gay to parent the orphan.

“Both Elton and I were absolutely heartbroken that we weren’t able to adopt Lev,” says Furnish. However, the couple stayed in touch with Lev and continued to support him financially, and John is credited with helping the child and his grandmother move out of the city when pro-Russian thugs waged war there years later. In turn, Furnish credits Lev with being “a turning point in our lives. Lev completely captured Elton’s heart and changed his mind [about parenting]. After meeting Lev, Elton agreed that we should have a child.” Since then they’ve welcomed Zachary (now 7) and Elijah (now 4) into their lives. “Lev gave us a precious, precious gift: fatherhood,” Furnish admits.

Furnish and John are parenting by example through their work with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. They talk with the boys about “how important it is to help people in need, and how wonderful it feels to know that you’ve been able to help someone live a better life.”

Formed a year before the two met, EJAF soon became Furnish’s calling. “EJAF is my life’s work,” he says. “Our careers outside of the foundation have taken us all around the world, and we’ve had many thrilling experiences as part of the entertainment industry. But nothing, absolutely nothing, in our professional lives compares to visiting with EJAF grantees in Africa or Ukraine or Atlanta, and seeing their work in action. Knowing you’ve made real, lasting, positive change in the lives of millions of people is an incredible feeling.”

What their kids see, in many ways, isn’t the Elton John his fans know: the now-70-year-old rock star (nee Reginald Kenneth Dwight) who after selling 300 million records worldwide has become the third most successful artist in history on the American charts (after Elvis Presley and the Beatles) thanks to his 38 gold and 31 platinum or multiplatinum albums. An unlikely rock star — the flamboyant John was already balding and a bit husky in his 20s — John is an incomparable musical powerhouse who has an Oscar, a Tony, and several Grammys. John was also a huge part of the summer blockbuster Kingsman: The Golden Circle, where he stole the show in every scene. It’s a reminder of his continued cultural relevance and amazing work ethic. Touring nonstop since 1970, John has performed for fans in 80 different countries (including some that still criminalize homosexuality). But, after a tough year battling a bacterial infection he caught while touring South America, John is saying goodbye to his perch at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on May 2018, after having performed more than 200 shows there.

No doubt that leaves more time for his three loves: his kids; David Furnish, his partner since 1993 (and whom he married in 2005); and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Today, at the helm of EJAF are founder John; chairman of the board Furnish; Scott Campbell, executive director of EJAF US, and Anne Aslett, executive director of EJAF UK,

Long before becoming a leading force in the AIDS response, EJAF started at a friend’s kitchen table in Atlanta.

“I need to take you back to October 1992,” John says, in telling the story of EJAF’s birth. “Elizabeth Taylor asked me to join her for a benefit concert… to raise money for HIV/AIDS research. It [was] the final catalyst for one of the most important decisions I have ever made in my life: the decision to start an AIDS foundation.” After all, John says, “As effective as the benefit concert was, just performing at benefit concerts felt piecemeal to me. It was 1992, and funding was badly needed to help people in the midst of the epidemic. So we thought of creating a single place where funding could be raised, compiled, and spent strategically for community groups.”

John says he also realized that “most of the money being raised” was going to research, “but so much else needed to be done, immediately.” And John says, “we needed to break down the stigma and discrimination that to this very day so often stands in the way of people getting the help they need.”

A few days after the concert, John says, “I called my friend John Scott and said, ‘I’m starting an AIDS foundation, and I want you to run it.’ Two months later, the Elton John AIDS Foundation opened its doors in John Scott’s kitchen in Atlanta.”

The organization began lean and efficient, because John says, “I wanted to know where the money we raised was going and how it was being spent to make sure every dollar would have the greatest possible positive impact on people’s lives.” Efficiency and transparency are still hallmarks of EJAF today.

Those early days were a lot like any startup, John admits. “For two years, we ran the organization from his breakfast table. Virginia Banks… became the foundation’s secretary. Sarah McMullen, my publicist, worked as my PR guru and as the Foundation’s fundraiser. And that was it, just the four of us and an amazing board of directors.”

To this day, the U.S. arm of the foundation (there is also a U.K. branch) is run by a skeleton crew of four staff members, plus an active board of directors. “John, Virginia, and Sarah are all still serving on our board,” John says, “and we all remain as committed as ever.”

The Early Days

It’s usually reported that a young hemophiliac, Ryan White, was the first person John knew who had died from AIDS, and that catapulted him into action. Not true.

“Ryan White wasn’t the first friend I lost to AIDS, and he certainly wasn’t the last,” John says. “So many have been taken from me by this disease… I never want to forget them. I have a chapel in my home in Windsor, and one entire wall is full of plaques listing name after name after name of people… [who] died of AIDS.”

But White’s death was still an inspiration, “first, to get my own life in order and finally take the difficult but necessary steps toward sobriety — and then to become more involved in the AIDS movement. I didn’t want Ryan’s extraordinary legacy to die with him. I’m alive and here today because of Ryan White. He inspired me to fix my life, to start my AIDS foundation, and he continues to inspire me each and every day.”

John still has regrets. “To this day, I’m deeply ashamed that I didn’t do more about AIDS back in the ‘80s. My friends were dying all around me, and with few exceptions, I failed to act.”

Sure, he gave money and did AIDS benefits and recorded the song “That’s What Friends Are For” with Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Dionne Warwick (proceeds went to amfAR), “But I was a gay man in the ‘80s who didn’t march or give nearly the time, money, and energy I could have,” John recalls. “At the time, I was too deeply consumed by my addictions and by being Elton John the performer. I was pretty much a passive bystander to this human calamity unfolding all around me. I knew [AIDS] was killing my friends. I didn’t yet have the strength or sobriety to do anything about it.”

Being The Change

Fast forward 25 years later, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation has raised well over $400 million and funded programs for people living with HIV that span four continents. Though it’s not widely reported, John is “extremely proud,” says Furnish, that EJAF is the largest funder of LGBT health programs and the largest HIV funder of transgender programs in the U.S.

“He talks about this all the time,” Furnish says. “These are incredibly important distinctions for the Foundation, and they speak to our profound commitment, both personally and professionally, to ending the AIDS epidemic in the LGBT community once and for all.”

Both men believe, as John says, that the “AIDS epidemic has been and still is fueled by stigma, violence, and indifference, all of which prevent people from accessing the information, prevention methods, treatment, care, and services they need. We can see the effects of this in disproportionately higher rates of HIV among black Americans, especially black gay and bisexual men.”

John points to a New York Times article illustrating, he says, “the frightening statistic released last year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Unless things change, half of all black gay and bisexual men will become HIV-positive in their lifetime.”

In response, his foundation is focusing on programs in the southern United States. Executive director Scott Campbell explains, “the Deep South has the most new HIV infections per capita, tremendous pockets of extreme poverty, unproductive laws that push people away from healthcare, ongoing problems with racism and homophobia, economic inequality, and bad prison healthcare policies.”

During 2016, the foundation awarded 49 grants totaling $2.9 million to organizations located in and focused on the southern U.S. and Puerto Rico, along with at least $1 million of additional investments in a dozen national organizations for significant work focused in the South.

“We’re particularly proud of two important grants in North Carolina and Florida to help establish the very first legal syringe exchange programs in these states,” Campbell says.

In fact, EJAF is now the single largest private source of philanthropic funding for syringe exchanges in the entire country. As a primary partner of the Syringe Access Fund, the foundation, since 2005, has invested $5.89 million in 77 organizations to provide harm reduction services to people who use drugs. In 2016, programs directly supported by EJAF reached 57,000 people who inject drugs with at least 10 million syringes and other harm reduction services.

“This is a crucial moment for syringe access in the United States,” Campbell says. The number of people who get HIV through injection drug use has plummetted from 40,000 per year in the late 1980s to fewer than 4,000 people annually. But, now Campbell says, “Heroin use has more than doubled among young adults ages 18–25 in the past decade. Drug-related overdose deaths have also doubled during the past decade, with more than 60,000 Americans likely killed by drug overdose in 2016. This new generation of people who use drugs needs access to syringes and other harm reduction services.”

Despite overwhelming evidence that syringe access programs protect people against HIV without increasing the use of drugs, the U.S. government won’t fund needle exchanges. So EJAF does.

They have done so much, and yet John says, “We can all do more — and especially the richest countries in the world can and should do a great deal more, not only for their own people, but for people in need in the poorest countries. Most importantly,” John says, “we can simply stop stigmatizing and discriminating against people living with or perceived to be at risk for HIV/AIDS. It costs us nothing to simply love one another and tear down the barriers that keep people from seeking help.”

At 70, with two small kids, an AIDS foundation, and over 4,000 performances under his belt, why isn’t Sir Elton John more, well, exhausted?

“There is a kind of exhaustion that comes with extended periods of travel,” he admits, “but ultimately, music energizes me. What traveling the world has really reinforced in me is the emphatic belief that the vast majority of people are good folks who care for one another. When I look out over the thousands of people that attend my concerts… I see so much diversity brought together under one roof, people who may have completely opposite points of view, but they are all here enjoying the music — singing, dancing, being — together. That gives me hope!”

The Path Forward

John also finds hope in the new understanding that “people living with HIV who are taking effective medications that reduce their viral loads below detectable levels do not pass on the disease to others. In other words, treatment is prevention. This [is] a huge development.”

He says the fact that treatment can lead to undetectable viral loads and inability to pass HIV to others should “establish a moral imperative to provide universal access to HIV testing for everyone, and to make sure all HIV-positive people have easy access to effective treatment right away, both to preserve and improve their health and to prevent further HIV transmission. The media should be holding politician’s feet to the fire about this, and they aren’t. Getting people tested and on treatment is quite literally the most important thing we can do right now to end the AIDS epidemic.”

That doesn’t mean the current political situation isn’t concerning. “Any budget that cuts spending on health care and medical research… and throws 22 million people off of their health insurance are recipes for disaster,” John says. “My greatest fear and sorrow is... many people won’t have access to [lifesaving medicines]. It is unjust and inhumane.” He says he still believes, as his 2012 book Love is the Cure posited, that while a miraculous vaccine would be nice, HIV must be cured by changing hearts and minds.

“Even if we had a cure right now, we would never be able to get it to the people who really need it unless we open our hearts and minds… [and support] sex workers, drug users, LGBT people, and prisoners,” John says. “Ending AIDS is all about getting us to really understand that… we must help everyone, regardless of who they are, who they love, where they’re from, or what they do.”

Furnish agrees. “HIV will continue to survive and thrive as long as society continues to shun, marginalize, and abandon people who don’t conform to societal norms or who do things deemed socially unacceptable. We must learn how to provide help without judging people for living their authentic lives.”

Moving forward, Furnish believes that the only way “we can truly be defeated is if we give up. I know things look bleak now, but we only have to look back to the horror of the 1980s to know that things could be so much worse. We can find our way back to civil discourse and bipartisan partnerships for the greater good. Especially now when we can link our arms in solidarity with other causes. Because the Black Lives Matter movement… the LGBT rights movement… and the women’s health and rights movement [are all] part of ending AIDS. Whether you realize it or not, we are all in this together.”

That’s a sentiment his husband echoes frequently. It gives the music man — and the many contributors to his foundation — hope.

“You know, scientists have shown us that birds fly faster in flocks than they can on their own,” John muses, “because the flock shares the burden of wind drag, constantly shifting those in the lead, and enabling the entire group to fly faster and more efficiently. It’s an excellent metaphor for why we are all stronger when we work together.”

- Advocate

Elton: 'I'm Not Playing This Wonky Piano'

2017-11-13T23:29:00.001+04:00

Elton John stopped his concert dead in its tracks Saturday night, after his piano failed miserably.

The OG Rocket Man was pissed when the instrument seemed to freeze up during his hit, "Philadelphia Freedom." Elton dropped an f-bomb or 2 and the crowd at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana loved it.

Elton wasn't going to budge until the ivories did him justice ... and with the help of a tech who tinkered for 10 minutes, the piano was back on track and the show went on.

-TMZ

'Hang on, hang on - something's gone wrong here,' the English rock icon said, growing impatient as the problems weren't remedied fast enough for his liking.
He barked at his crew, 'Come on you a******s! That's no good,' before explaining to the crowd that his restlessness was for their benefit.

'Sorry about this, but I can't play it when it's not sounding right,' the eight-time Grammy-winner explained to the audience. 'I don't want you to have anything but 100 percent perfection here.'
The English artist took something of a collaborative approach with an engineer, saying, 'OK, let's try that one; no, that's no good either ... come on fix this, for f***'s sake!'

'Thank you, well done crew,' he told his support team, telling the crowd, 'They are not assholes, it's just frustrating when things go wrong cause I want things to be perfect for you guys.'

- Daily Mail

Bernie Taupin Worth $70M

2017-11-13T22:57:00.000+04:00

Bernard John Taupin, the lesser known lyrical powerhouse behind Elton John’s greatest hits has made his money by giving the iconic performer the words to his tunes.

But how much do you think writing the lyrics for Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer and Candle In The Wind would earn you? So far Bernie Taupin has collaborated with Elton John on 30 albums, and Bernie has also worked with other artists like Alice Cooper.

Taupin also rewrote the hit Candle In The Wind as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales. Bernie Taupin has amassed a fortune of $70 million (£53million) through his songwriting partnership with Elton John. The millionaire lyricist was born at Flatters Farmhouse in Lincolnshire in 1950, and left school at 15 to work as a trainee in the print room of a local newspaper in hopes of becoming a journalist. He soon left his job in the paper and spent the rest of his adolescent years hanging out with friends, hitchhiking, drinking and going to youth club dances. He answered an advert in 1967, when he was 17 years old, that was placed by Liberty Records looking for new talent.

Reginald Kenneth Dwight, also answered the ad and this led to the iconic partnership of Bernie Taupin and Elton John. Bernie Taupin can be credited for the lyrics on Rocket Man, Levon, Crocodile Rock, Honky Cat, Tiny Dancer, Candle In The Wind, Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, Bennie And The Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Mona Lisa And Mad Hatters, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, The Bitch Is Back, Daniel, Your Song, I’m Still Standing, I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues, Sad Songs, and Nikita. The songwriting partnership works in the way that Bernie Taupin writes the lyrics on his own and Elton John composes the music to them. Taupin has been married four times, he and his current wife Heather Taupin have been married since 2004 and have two children. The songwriter has been living in California since the mid-1970s.

- Metro

Elton Hopes to Be Involved In The Lion King Remake

2017-11-11T19:24:00.001+04:00

With the live-action remake of Disney's The Lion King currently in production, Elton John says he's looking to get on board.

John stirred speculation of his potential involvement this weekend, when he made a surprise appearance on stage at the Broadway production of the The Lion King, in honor of the show's 20th anniversary.

ET caught up with the legendary entertainer at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Fall Gala on Tuesday, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where he was honored for his philanthropic work, and he opened up about his unexpected performance.

"It was very exciting, I was a surprise," John said. "I wasn't able to be here for the 15th anniversary and it's been such an important part of my life, it's opened so many doors for me, and it was just great to see everybody."

"It was a great get together and very meaningful," he added.

The 70-year-old megastar -- who wrote and sang some of the most iconic songs on the soundtrack of the 1994 animated classic -- treated the audience to a live rendition of his legendary tune "Circle of Life."

As for his whether or not he'll be participating in the upcoming live-action remake, John told ET, "Yes, I think so. I hope so."

While the iconic singer wasn't able to tease any details about what his involvement would entail, it's hard to imagine any interpretation of The Lion King without John's musical compositions.

- ET Online

Elton Didn't Think This Massive Song Would Be A Hit

2017-11-11T19:19:00.002+04:00

Sir Elton John has said he originally thought his hit song Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me was unlikely to be a success.

The pop star admitted being “terrible” at knowing which of his tracks would be hits and said he did not want to include the popular ballad on his 1974 album Caribou.

Sir Elton made the revelation in his new TV special, Elton John: The Nation’s Favourite Song.

He said, of predicting his own hits: “I’m terrible at it. One of them was Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

“And I remember writing it in the morning and my drummer Nigel Olsson – we were sharing a cabin, he was asleep – and I was downstairs writing, which must have annoyed him.

“When we finished recording it I said to Gus Dudgeon my producer, ‘I don’t think that’s a hit, I don’t want it on the album, even.’

“And he said ‘you’re crazy’, and everybody else thought I was crazy.”

Sir Elton added: “And of course it became one of my most famous songs.”

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – written by Sir Elton and his long-time musical partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin – reached number 16 in the UK singles chart at the time.

It enjoyed renewed success in 1991 when Sir Elton recorded it as a live duet with George Michael, topping the charts in both the UK and US.

The ITV programme, which airs on Sunday, celebrates Sir Elton’s 50 years in the music business in the year that he turned 70, and sees the nation choose its favourite song of his.

The 90-minute broadcast also features contributions from Sir Elton’s friends and fans, including Ed Sheeran, Sting, Annie Lennox, Sir Rod Stewart and Chris Martin, and an in-depth interview with David Walliams.

:: Elton John: The Nation’s Favourite Song airs at 9pm on Sunday on ITV.

- Belfast Telegraph

How Elton Met Pnau and More On Their Secret New Collaboration

2017-11-11T19:17:00.000+04:00

Pnau have tasted the rarest of fruits, a U.K. No. 1 album. Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes joined an elite pack of Aussies when, in 2012, their album ‘Good Morning to the Night,’ a collection of experimental adaptations of Elton John’s classic catalog, snatched the chart crown in a slow sales week. But this was no low-hanging piece of fruit. The unlikely collaboration was a testament to good connections, great music, timing, luck and — no word of lie — choice artwork.

‘Good Morning to the Night’ gave Elton his first No. 1 in 22 years (his ‘Very Best Of” effort ruled in 1990, the year after he last reigned with a studio release, ‘Sleeping With The Past’). Pnau had never scaled the top 40, let alone climb the summit. They’ll get another chance to fly high when chart equivalent sales are tallied up next week for ‘Changa’, Pnau’s new album, which arrived today and sees Pnau’s lineup complemented with the addition of an official new member, Sam Littlemore.

With the ARIAs on the near horizon (Pnau has two nominations), it’s an exciting month an electronic act whose international career blew up when the Rocket Man came calling.

“Elton was in Sydney and he went to the Virgin Megastore on Pitt Street Mall. I guess he saw one of the covers and was attracted to it, bought a copy, had a listen to it and went back and bought all their copies,” recounts Nick. “That night he was at Tabou (the now-closed French restaurant) on Crown Street having dinner with Toni Collette, who is repped by our agent. He brought up Pnau. Next day my phone rang, “Hi this is Elton.” Of course it is. I don’t know how you’re ever supposed to respond to those phone calls. It’s easy with Elton. “Hi Elton. I fucking love your album.” We went over to his hotel, we were nervous. We were felling all that weird stuff when you’re about to meet a superstar. Within 10 seconds of meeting us, he’s been hugging both of us and telling us he’s our biggest fan, and suddenly you feel totally relaxed. And have some tea and grapes.”

Elton later approached his new besties with a novel idea: remix his classics.

“They could have given it to anyone but they gave it to us,” says Mayes. “They gave us all the records, all the tapes and said, ‘you can do whatever you want’”. So, no pressure then? Wrong. “It was a lot of pressure. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves.” Littlemore and Mayes started digging deep. “It took six months just to listen to all Elton’s music. We had two iPods and just listened to Elton’s music. There was so much that we weren’t aware of, obviously. And we had so many deep chats about, ‘we can’t fuck this one up.’”

The process turned into an extended masterclass. And a lesson on how to strike while the iron’s hot. Mayes points to Elton’s hits-filled 1973 set ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ as a moment in Elton’s life when his creative juices were spraying around the studio. “It was one month of his time, it’s really two weeks of his time and the rest is mixing. It’s incredible that he made two other albums that year. It’s amazing he was able to do that. Whilst being on tour constantly. They’d be sitting around having breakfast and he’d put a stack of Bernie’s lyrics on the piano and he’d just write one of those songs and they’d record it. And that’s it. It takes us months to do that. Who does three albums a year when they’re constantly touring? The level of genius is ridiculous.”

‘Good Morning to the Night’ was solid gold, a No. 1 on debut. “It was a big moment,” says Mayes. “Elton was calling us up at 3am going, ‘why the fuck aren’t you awake’. We’re going No. 1.’”

Pnau will have Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ to contend with for next week’s chart title. Wherever ‘Changa’ lands on the charts, Elton is only a phone call away.

- The Industry Observer

I had lost that tooth until I met Sir Elton John and he said (gruff accent) ‘Get tha’ toof fixed’.” At last some good advice from Reg.

“We’re working on a top secret project with Elton I can’t talk about. It’s got some BIG BIIIIG names. It’s got JD in it. JD backwards is of course DJ and Elton’s first publisher was Dick James Music.” Hmmmm. Internet, go to work.

- Herald Sun

Cameron Crowe Chats to Elton & Bernie

2017-11-11T19:12:00.000+04:00

Film director Cameron Crowe talked to Elton John and Bernie Taupin about what made their songwriting partnership so special – and so enduring

Cameron Crowe: You two met in ’67, when Bernie answered an ad in the New Musical Express newspaper for a writing job at Liberty Records. Elton answered the same ad. Neither passed the audition, but you came together as collaborators, just about 50 years ago. Knowing what you now know about each other, would you go back and repeat this same relationship again?

Bernie Taupin: Undoubtedly. I think one of the things that kept us together for so long is the vast differences in our personalities; anybody who’s followed our careers would see that pretty easily. If we had been at all the same make-up in our characteristics, it probably wouldn’t have lasted.

Elton John: I love Bernie more than I’ve ever done and I think he feels the same way about me, because we’ve led separate lives. We don’t live in each other’s back pockets. We are totally different. He is the Brown Dirt Cowboy, and I am Captain Fantastic. That’s how it turned out and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

CC Were you looking to collaborate, or were you both lone wolves on that day [in 1967]?

BT There was a sense of desperation for me. I was raised on a small farming community in the north of England, and I left school when I was 15. I didn’t go to college or university. So everything I learned, I learned in the next 20 years on the road.

EJ Me too. I was playing in a band called Bluesology with a guy called Long John Baldry who’d just had a hit with “Let the Heartaches Begin” – and consequently our venues changed from great R&B clubs to supper clubs. I just thought there had to be more to music than playing to people who are not interested and just eating fish and chips or chicken and chips. I look back at myself then – I was quite chubby and very insecure, but I loved music.

CC You once said that when you get a new set of lyrics from Bernie, it’s like a script from your favourite director. I wondered, have you always been that visual?

BT I was raised on Western movies; the music I listened to when I was a kid was basically traditional country. The people who inspired me were people like Marty Robbins, who told stories; Johnny Cash with the Western albums that he did; Johnny Horton, “North To Alaska”. Where I came from, there was very little opportunity, and my play time, my down time, was always immersing myself in stories of fictional lands.

CC Elton, are there lyrics you won’t sing?

EJ Bernie and I have written hundreds of songs. I haven’t sung every lyric he’s given to me; sometimes I have a block and just can’t do it, no matter how many times I’ve tried, even it’s been a good lyric. I can squeeze more of his words into a line than most other artists, because he didn’t start off writing in verse/chorus/verse/chorus, they were just lyrics. As he became educated and got more musical and wrote and recorded his own songs, it
became far more sophisticated.

BT I sometimes try to steer him, I give him pointers, references, like “this could be a Ray Charles type-thing”, or “this could be a Tom Petty”; and he totally ignores me.

EJ It’s extraordinary that we’ve never had an argument or a difference of opinion over a song. It’s quite touching. When you consider all the wonderful relationships that have broken up because of personal or professional differences, and relationships that have prematurely come to an end – Bacharach and David spring to mind – we have learned to give and take.

CC You found success pretty early on and acclaim from your favourite artists, including Bob Dylan and Leon Russell. You were invited to Brian Wilson’s house because he was in love with “Your Song”.

EJ We were like kids in a candy store. This was the land where all the great music came from. Brian was a genius. Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night told us that Brian would like to play us the 16-track of “Good Vibrations”. One night – we went to his house…

BT …it was a big pink house in Bel-Air…

EJ …with drum kits up the driveway. We knocked on the door and we stood there, so frightened. And Brian opened the door and went: “Oh! I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind.” And went [affects terrified voice]: “Ohhh, we’re from England and we’re very nervous.”

BT He had the dressing gown on.

EJ And the sandpit was in the dining room; we stayed there till 1.30 and we finally got to hear [“Good Vibrations”].

BT He kept turning it off!

EJ It was extraordinary. The secret is that we are fans of music and fans of great artists; when we hear something that’s great, it inspires us. Every artist will tell you the same. We’re listeners.

CC True or false: don’t write a love song when you are in love, write a love song when it’s over?

BT It’s more fun to do it that way. I’ve always maintained that the underbelly of life and heartbreak is much more satisfying to write about; the hardest thing for me is to write an upbeat, uplifting song.
EJ I totally agree. I love misery. “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” is so much more enjoyable to sing in a way than “Sad Songs (Say So Much)”.

CC True or false: too sentimental is condescending in a song; a little sentiment is timeless?

BT I think there are times in our career where maybe we have been a little overly sentimental. If you go all out, then you have a tendency to make it overblown and a little sugary.

CC Elton, you’ve said: “I know that people have their little time in the sun when they can do no wrong; it lasts maybe four or five or six albums, and then, someone else comes in – in my case, Phil Collins, Madonna, Prince, U2, the Police – all those people. I knew I was good enough to maintain a career, because I’m a good live performer, but I said I’m not going to be number one for all time; and thank God, I had the common sense to know that. People like Michael Jackson, who said: ‘I need to sell more records than Thriller’, I worried, I thought you’ve got to be joking, you might be setting yourself up for a fall.” It’s a very wise perspective on yourself – did that come painfully?

EJ I’ve always been fascinated by charts. I could run a record company very, very well, except that I’m terrible at business, but I’m fascinated by what I do. I have three books: DVDs, books, CDs. I go on [the music website] Pause&Play, which says which albums are coming out in the next two months, I write down the ones I want, I order them in America. I write down the ones I want in England, and I order them in England. I do it with books and DVDs, because I want to be at the front of the cultural movement that’s going on all the time. I’m not going to look back; I want to be there now.

CC How do you write a hit?

BT I’ve always maintained that if you can play an instrument, you have the potential to write a song.

EJ Writing has changed so much these days. Eleven people wrote “Uptown Funk”. If you’re an artist, or if you want to be an artist, you go and play – you get a band together or you go and play live. Ed Sheeran, who is signed to our management company, started out playing in people’s living rooms and busking. You cannot buy experience. Go out if you’ve got a guitar or piano; play in a bar, in a hotel. If I’m in a hotel, I always go up to the piano player and say: “How are you doing?” Because there, but for the grace of God, go I.

BT It’s like Bruce Springsteen said: I learned more from a three-minute record than I ever learned in school.

- I News

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2017-11-11T19:06:00.002+04:00