May 26, 2022 • 32 mins
This Rocket Man is known for his flamboyant costumes and musical oeuvre. Elton John began his career as a talented pianist in the London suburbs where he created his debut album, “Empty Sky”, which began the course for Elton’s 7 consecutive #1 albums. The rock ‘n roll legend’s rush of superstardom soared in the 70s with money and fame, however he also struggled with burnout, drug use, and personal crises. While navigating tabloids and scandals in the 80s, Elton reached sobriety and supported his loved ones during the AIDS epidemic. With new music and a newfound outlook in the 90s, Elton was inducted into the Rock’ N Roll Hall of Fame, won an Academy Award, and found love with his husband, David Furnish. Now, Elton continues to build his legacy with musical collaborations and another world tour. Although he’s had a great ride in the last 30 years, Elton knows he’ll keep on rockin’. Watch Behind the Music now on Paramount+.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
He was a shy little boy from an unhappy home,
but Reggie Dwight grew up to be one of the
most prolific, most flamboyant, and most successful rock stars in history.
For three decades, Elton's life and career have played out
on the front page, though not all the headlines were
good news. He was the hottest hit maker in music,
(00:22):
but fame and fortune didn't make Elton a happy man.
Elton John brought himself from the brink of personal and
professional oblivion back to the top. Now, Elton and his
closest friends tell of life from the emotional roller coaster
that was and still is Elton John. Behind the music,
(00:43):
This is a story of innocence from abroad, on this
here stage behind me. On the evening of August, a
young guy from England by the name of Elton John
made his first appearance in the United States. They say
that that night has written at self into rock and
roll folklore. It was the center of the l a
(01:04):
rock scene, a stage graced by the likes of Joni
Mitchell and Jim Morrison. And on that summer night, the
stage at Doug Weston's Troubadour belonged to an unknown British
piano man named Elton John. I don't really think that
either of us knew the volume of pow that was
in the room that night. Who's who of the l
(01:27):
A music industry came to see the new English import,
including record executive Russ Reagan. A magical night. A lot
of distinguished celebrities were there. Neil Diamond introduced Elton John.
I mean Neil Diamond actually introduced me the first night,
and one an incredible thing for someone to do. Then
we just laid into them, I mean we we were
(01:48):
just we rocked. His self titled second album had just
hit the l A record stores, but for the in
crowd at the Troubadour Elton Live in concert was a revelation.
About halfway through the set, I said, Wow, this is
going all the way, going all the way. The next day,
(02:10):
when Robert Hilpin wrote this glowing report in the Los
Angeles Times saying something to the like hailed rock and
roll as a new savior or something, we went wow.
I got telegrams from George Harrison. I couldn't believe my
album was some eighteen of the Chance or whatever it
was above Deja Vu by Crosby Shilson, and I was like,
this isn't happening. It copy And there's no question that
(02:33):
that week of the troubad it was what made him
a start. I think it was the Capitalist, But I
don't think he became a star overnight simply from that,
because you know, we've been slaving away since nineteen sixty seven.
Sixty seven, the year Bernie toppin in the Future, Elton
John formed a partnership that would make music history. But
(02:54):
the Elton John story actually began twenty years earlier, when
on March Evan Reginald Kenneth Dwhite was born in this
small house in the London suburb of Pinner. Baby Reggie
was the only son of Stanley and Sheila Dwight. I
think there was already tension in the marriage when I
was born, so, I mean, you know, and if you
come into the world in a situation like that, it's
(03:15):
always going to be very difficult. An Album was an
only child, and he had a father who had a
strict military background, and I was just very intimidated by him,
always seeing his approval. For an early age, music really
filled my life. It was all I've wanted to be
involved in the family. Piano became one of Reggie's favorite playthings.
(03:38):
I started playing at very early age, and I used
to be able to pick out melodies very quickly by
a hymns, you know, pop songs of the day. Seven
year old Reggie started taking piano lessons, thinking he might
become a classical musician, but all that changed in nineteen
fifty seven when his mother brought home records by Bill
Haley and Elvis Presley. When rock and roll came in,
(04:00):
it changed my life. I mean a little witch at
Jerry and Lewis Fat's dominant yes, Reggie started wearing thick
black glasses, just like one of his rock and roll heroes.
I thought it was groovy to wear glasses like Buddy Holly,
and for someone who didn't think they looked that great,
I thought it was cool. The glasses were the only
cool thing about Reggie's appearance. His father insisted his son
(04:22):
dressed conservatively. Reggie wouldn't dare cross his dad. I was
very frightened in my father, and it made me very
Insecuretive made me very insularum and I had a lot
of inferiority complexes. And his mother very much supported Alton
and encouraged album, so his parents were constantly constantly fighting
(04:42):
over him. Reggie's parents divorced in nineteen sixty two when
he was fifteen years old. That same year, he and
some local boys formed a band called Bluesiology. There was
a letter from my father to my mother when I
was sixteen saying, you know, I had to stop all
these dreams of being a rock and roll and I
would never be a success to him when I did so,
I had to love to prove. Bluesology enjoyed some regional success,
(05:07):
but by nineteen sixty seven, after five years with the band,
twenty year old redg had grown tired of simply being
a keyboard player. I just thought it was a dead end.
So I wanted to write songs. Us that was the
next step, and add in a London music paper caught
his eye. Liberty Records was looking for musical talent, including songwriters.
(05:28):
I knew I could write. I can write lyrics. Liberty
Records teamed up the kid from Pinner who couldn't write
lyrics with a seventeen year old from the North of
England who couldn't write music. His name was Bernie Toppin
a few days later we got together, went down the straight,
had a cup of coffee, talked about the idea of
possibly writing some songs. I gave him some of my lyrics,
(05:52):
and thus it were born. And I was definitely in
love with Bernie as a friend and then never really
fancy Bernie, thank God physically. But he was the first real, big,
pivotal thing in my life. But without Bernie, basically, there
wouldn't been an Elton. I mean, without that stroke of
good fortune and kissman. As if were Elton John Paully
(06:15):
wouldn't have happened. Ridge Dwhite had a new songwriting partner.
Within the year, he would have a new name. I
would never have been a success. Can imagine Redge Dwight.
He is the great nest single from Redge Dwight. I
mean to forget it. On his last road trip before
leaving Blues Aology, Redge turned to his bandmates long John
Baldry and Elton Dean for inspiration and I just said, right,
(06:39):
Elton Dean, Elton and what can I go with Elton
John John Baldwin. It was done very quickly when Elton
went from Reginald Dwight to Elton John. I think it
was a classic case of reinvention. I think it was
an opportunity for him to throw off the petty little
kid persona that he was so unhappy with. I quite
enjoyed being Elton because Elton did everything the Reds never
(07:01):
dared to do and more. When daring young Elton John
returned from his last tour with Blues Aology, he found
himself engaged to a woman he'd had an affair with
on the road. She said to his pregnant and I,
you know, I thought this is what you did when
when you know, made girls pregnant. But I didn't really,
I wasn't in love with her. It was an emotionally
(07:23):
and sexually confusing situation for Elton. He wanted out, but
couldn't imagine dubbing a woman who was carrying his child.
Elton was depressed and desperate. He made a very futile
attempt at suicide, which was really sort of a slice
of black comedy. I thought, I'll gas myself and so
(07:43):
I put a cushion in the in the ovence was
the oven on, but left the windows open, so it
was a pathetic cry for help. Really, I sort of
pulled him out and said slapped him out to be silly.
Don't be silly enough. Come on, got so much to
live for. But it wasn't elton suicide attempt to convinced
him to call off the wedding. It was his former
bandmate long John Baldry. And it's just so slapped Elton raid.
(08:07):
Got to get out of this, you know, put yourself together.
That was the night I told her that I didn't
want to get married. And it was only about two
or three weeks away from getting married because she wasn't
pregnant and all that did and it was a bit sordid,
but longed on BOLLI to save my life that night
by actually because I didn't have the courage to get
out of that situation. My January of nineteen sixty nine
(08:27):
and Elton John and Bernie Taup and it's spent a
year and a half living with Elton's mother and her
new husband. The two spend all their time writing songs,
with twenty one year old Elton handling the melodies in
nineteen year old Bernie taking care of the lyrics. I'm
just to purveyor basically of Bernie's feelings, burn his thoughts.
I'm a musical mouthpiece for his lyrics, which I love.
(08:48):
Believe me, there was hundreds of songs written in that room.
You know. That was a time and place of great,
great output. The result of their musical labors appeared on
Elton's ninety sixty nine debut album, Empty Sky. The following year,
Elton John's self titled second album arrived in America. All
(09:09):
of a sudden, here comes the Elton John album. Everybody
came into my office. We all all sat on the floor,
played this incredible album, and we all flipped out. In
January of seventy one, Elton's first U S single, Your Song,
cracked the top ten in America. Reggie Dwite's transformation was complete.
Elton John was now a star. During that first two
(09:33):
or three years of success, which was unbelievable. I just
couldn't believe it was having to me. Elton embarked on
his first world tour in the spring of seventy one.
By the tour's end, he had four albums in the
top forty. As the hits kept coming, Elton was changing.
He grew increasingly confident on stage. But in V one,
(09:54):
the most profound change in Elton's life could not be
seen on stage. That he year he fell in love
with a man for the first time. The man was
Elton's manager, John Reid, who was my first ever relationship
physically anyway, and first person I have lived with liber
John Flight through four years coming to terms with his
feelings for Reid proved surprisingly easy for Elton, but John
(10:18):
was never really that comfortable about coming out as such
as a relationship. It was plussify he was managing me
as well. In many ways, they were a perfect combination
because they had similar personalities, both gay, both very flamboyant,
both very up for spending money, partying, having a really
good time. Elton's private circle knew about the relationship, but
(10:39):
they kept it a secret from the public. That's a
tough thing to to go with, you to be all
the time living one thing and being something completely different.
In May of seventy two, Elton single rocket Man blasted
the album Hankey Chateau all the Way to number one,
the first in a string of seven consecutive number one
albums that he would score over the next four years.
(11:02):
At that point, he was really busting out who We're
all working incredibly hard that it was like two albums
tour album. Once you're on a roll, you couldn't stop.
You know. He got to this point where everything was
coming in at number one, and the only dangerous thing
about that is you assume that everything else should come
in at number one. From seventy two to nineteen seventy five,
everything the boy from Pinner Touch turned to gold, and
(11:24):
the more successful Elton John got more outrageous. His public
persona became when he came out of the Hollywood bown,
that white you know, feather deal. It was like, oh,
I send something in the wind here. It got too much.
And I mean initially, you know what happened, It was
just it was instinct. It was spur of the moment.
It was fun decked out in full rock regalia. Elton
(11:47):
John had become pop music royalty. We were on such
a role being successful and rubbing shoulders with people that
you idolized when you were growing up and you were
playing with them and you were meeting them. You were
on such a high. But the rush of superstardom soon
gave way to a different kind of high. Now it
would be in a goody goody in my life, and
you know, I didn't know my band's mode dope. I
(12:08):
didn't know they didn't coke, and so I'll let me
try it, and that was in. I thought, it's right
and I'm taking a drug. Wow, it would have been
very shy, but the dark glasses were really a shield,
like a hide behind them, and I felt with coke,
this is great. I can talk to people. So I thought,
this is the answer to all my problems. Coming up
(12:30):
Elton's second try at suicide and later Elton comes out
before the world when behind the music continues. In the
course of five whirlwind years, Elton John had become the
(12:52):
biggest rock star in the world, and in the summer
of seventy five, his twelfth album made history. I had
the first ever album to come in the over Charleston
number one, which was Captain Fantastic. As soon as that happened,
we went up, We're in trouble now, you know, because
where do you go from one? And then the next
half we had out with Rock of the West bit
and that went in first week at number one too,
(13:14):
and we got now we're really in troubled with Rock
of the West. Eas Elton scored his seventh number one
album in a row. But success had its downside. Money
and fame equals power, and power can equal corruption. It
allows you to indulge yourself to whatever level you care
(13:36):
to indulge yourself. Elton's drug use was increasing, his four
year romance with his manager John Reid ended, and for Elton,
five years of sell out concerts and gold records felt
like a hollow victory. I was at the height of
my can't do any wrong things, and yet my personal
life wasn't very happy. And I think I've done an
awful lot of work, I mean, an incredible amount of
(13:58):
work in five years, and maybe I was getting burned out.
In the fall of seventy five, Elton was booked for
a triumphant return to the scene of his stunning debut
in America. Shortly after his fifth anniversary concert at the Troubadour,
Elton's personal crisis reached a breaking point. I tried to
end my life, as it were, because a t volliums.
(14:22):
It was Elton's second suicide attempt in eight years. It's
a cry for help, isn't it. It's all cry for help.
It's again. Uh, It's like, look at me, I'm really unhappy.
Can you do something about it? Because if you don't,
I'm going to be dead, and I had no intention
of killing myself whatsoever. Not long after recovering from his
valume overdose, Elton played to an overflow crowd at l
(14:43):
A's Dodger Stadium on October n seventy five. Dressed in
Sequence and Dodger Blue, the twenty eight year old superstar
hit a grand slab before fifty five thousand cheering fans,
gone on stage and state in the end, just like ridiculous,
I want him doing here. L A City officials proclaimed
(15:04):
it Elton John weak, and Elton got his star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He should have been on
top of the world, but Elton John had never been
more miserable in his life. I can't remember much about
the stated, although I know it's very exciting, but I
was emotionally unhappy. You know that the five years of fun,
as I call him, and it's kind of we're beginning
(15:25):
to wear a little thing because I just worked so hard.
But despite Elton's depression, the hits kept coming. His duet
with Kiki d hit number one in the summer of
seventy six. I always adored him, and I think he
cares a lot about me, so that made That's what
made it work, really and I think I sort of
had an odd sort of crushed on him anyway. As
(15:46):
don't go breaking my heart spread around the world, so
did rumors about Elton's sexuality. A few journalists had hinted
that Elton might not be straight, but none had ever
asked him directly if he was gay. Then Rolling Stone
Magazine's Cliff jar pop the question. Well, Cliff said, um,
and I remember it vividly, said, I'm going to turn
(16:06):
the type of quarter off if you want, but I'm
gonna ask you a question. I said, I know you're
gonna ask me. It's I'm not gay, and I just
thought it was okay to say. Yeah. I said, I
don't care, and we don't care. But the world did care.
I remember thinking this could hurt. Many of Elton's fans
were shocked by his revelation, so I think, whatever the consequences,
(16:28):
I think, you know, it's great that he was able
to kind of start the ball rolling, if you like,
to get his life back. But proclaiming his bisexuality to
the world didn't help Elton's record sales. In the fall
of seventy six, Blue Moves peaked at number three, breaking
elton string of number one albums, and that was the
start of my end of my big cheese five year period.
(16:51):
For Elton, the seventies ended on a down note, but
with a new decade came a whole new string of
hit singles. With his career were on the rebound, Elton
made a radical change in his personal life. I'm going
on my honeymoon. Yes on Valentine's Day, the man who
had declared his bisexuality less than eight years earlier married
(17:13):
a woman sound engineer ranad a blow. There was just
a chemistry between the two of us, and I had
no doubts, and I thought that my time of life
is about time. I took the time. I think the
two of them just got swept along on some kind
of cloud that no one was really stopping and thinking.
But it just wasn't right. I mean actually said that too,
won't know you're kidding her. So it was a mistake
(17:34):
in the fact that I was in no condition to
get married because I was a drug addict. Elton's addiction
was growing worse by the summer of eighty five is
cocaine habit had begun to take control of his life.
There was a chance he could polish himself off. He
was just could he go out and do some coke
and come back and be all over his mouth and
he knows would be running And I just, god, God,
(17:57):
this is just awful. I could never uh, never go
to bed with anybody knowing that there was anything left.
I had to do the whole long. I would stay
out for days. I mean, you know, half an ounce
was never enough for me. It's all right, I haven't
a drink, But when you're performed on code, it's the end.
I mean, but I say that, but you know, if
(18:18):
I hadn't performed, and I hadn't it to it would
have just stayed harmond done more blown. I wouldn't be
here talking to you now. Forty year old Elton John
was on tour in Australia in the winter of seven.
This cocaine addiction was a growing problem, but it wouldn't
be Elton's only problem that year. On February seven, a
(18:39):
British tabloid unleashed a series of scandalous articles that nearly
destroyed Elton's career. The son accused Elton of engaging in
wild sex drug orgies with underage male prostitutes. When you're
on the front page of Britain's leading tabloid newspaper and
you're supposed to have urinated on four boys you tied
up and the things that it got worse and us.
(19:00):
The more that I issued writs to them, the worst
the stuff got. The Sun paid a former male prostitute
two thousand pounds for his story. Elton sued the tabloid
for libel the very day the issue hit the news stand.
You just can't stay silent, you know, you can't say nothing.
The next day, the tabloid published another lurid tale of
(19:21):
sex and cocaine. For a time, I wouldn't go out
of the house. I mean, you get these headlines anything,
Oh my god. While Elton battled the Sun in court,
the tabloid kept trying to dig up any dirt they
could find. I remember chasing reporters from from the grounds
of the house once in Windsor because you get so incensed,
because it's such an intrusion. My hotel sweets bugged. It
(19:43):
became like a James Bond thing. It's very funny to
look back on it and be flippant about it now
but it wasn't funny when I was happening. Elton ultimately
triumphed over the tabloid. In October of eighty eight, The
Sun settled out of court, paying Elton one million pounds
and printing an apology across the front page. Elton may
have survived the scandal, but his marriage did not. The
(20:04):
next month, Elton and Ranada announced an amicable divorce. In
the end, I had to admit that I was living
a lie because I preferred mental women. Despite the turmoil
of tabloid scandal, drug addiction, and his veiled marriage, Elton
managed to release a new album in I Mean the
Red strikes Back Album, which wasn't one of our best albums,
(20:25):
but at least he got me doing something. Rich strikes
Back spent nearly five months on the charts. After its release,
Elton auctioned off his gaudy glitter rock costumes, but he
could not shed his multiple addictions so easily. I would
binge on coke and alcohol and not eat for two
or three days, and then I would get out and
have gard gansh and pig outs and then just throw up,
(20:47):
and we'd believe me. He didn't care. I remember it saying,
look this, this is ridiculous. He's killing himself and he's
gonna die. He's gonna die. The idea that someone's that
extraordinary needed to bock himself up in a room and
do bags of cocaine and swigg bottles of booze. It
was so tragic. Elton could have easily wound up dead
(21:12):
another casualty of rock and roll excess, but a miracle
in the form of a young boy dying of AIDS
helped save Elton's life. The boy was Ryan White. He
knew he was going to die, but he never heard
him complaint. He was an incredible advertisement for courage and
dignity at a time when it was desperately needed within
(21:33):
the AIDS community. Elton befriended Ryan and his mother Jeanie,
and on April seven, at the fourth Farm Aide benefit,
Elton dedicated a song to his very sick young friend.
Ryan died within hours. A few days later, Elton sang
at Ryan's feudal I knew at that stage that my
(21:56):
life was just a pile of crap. He was his,
and who had lost her son, Who could just stand
up there and be fantastic and just so beautiful and
handle it with such dignity, and so that was a
huge influence on me trying to get myself together. Three
months after Ryan's death, years of self destruction brought forty
(22:16):
three year old Elton John to a sad self realization.
I had white hair with I died, and I was
the size of Luther Androw studies worst. I just looked
like a seventy year old man playing the piano. Was
just quite terrifying. That's how bad I let myself get
to him. I just broke down and I said, okay, okay,
(22:37):
I give up. I had blimia, it was a drug addict,
and I was an alcoholic. Elton checked himself into a
Chicago hospital, the only place he could find that would
treat all three illnesses. I was so relieved that I
actually made the decision to actually ask for help. Those
those three little words, I need help so hard to say.
(22:58):
And you know, once I actually said that, I knew
I'd get well, and I knew I'd followed through. After
spending most of one out of the public eye, are revitalized,
re emerged. Sobriety has given me a new life, and
it's fantastic. Is the greatest thing I ever did for myself.
I find him the opposite of sober duct He is
(23:19):
so alive and dynamic and wild imaginatively. He made mistakes,
he got into a road, he got himself out of
a case close. Elton's personal recovery gave rise to a
professional renaissance. With his album The One, Elton hit the
top ten for the first time in sixteen years. His
(23:40):
health restored and his music re energized, Elton now focused
on helping others. In September of ninety two, one year
after aid's claimed the life of his longtime friend Freddie Mercury,
Elton made a dramatic announcement, every single that I released
in America from this point will all my proceeds will
go to AIDS research and AIDS charities. Today, the Elton
(24:04):
John AIDS Foundation has raised more than twenty million dollars.
So I think he's from the most generous benefactor to it,
and my knowledge, it's just about a lot of dedication,
a lot of time, and Alton just puts in the hours,
and that's just out of the love that he has
for the friends that he's lost and the love that
(24:24):
he has in his heart for the people who are ill.
As Elton moved forward into the mid nineties, he marked
a series of career milestones. In he was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in he won
an Academy Award. Getting an Oscar was thrilling because I
never air in my life like in an Oscar. When
(24:46):
he does something, he does it to do the best.
And he got in Bob with Lion King. But Elton's
most satisfying achievement in the mid nineties was not an
award or a hit record. After failed relationship hips with
both women and men, Elton finally found love. Elton met
advertising executive turn filmmaker David Furnished in November of ninety three.
(25:10):
He had a career, he was very successful at what
he did. I've never really been in a relationship with
someone who had that already going for them. The expectation,
particularly with a gay man who's with a very successful
gay man, is that you are on the take and
not they're in an equal partnership. So the fact that
you have your own identity means you can go out
(25:32):
in the world and talk about what you do. Just
so important. Elton and David's relationship, you know, is as
great and as strong as any any marriage and the world.
We're probably the most high profile gay male couple in
the world, but I'm pretty high profile. That's like God
doing about that. As high profile as he is. Elton
(25:54):
showed the public a more intimate view of his life
in documentary shot by David called Tantrums and Tiaras. I
agreed to do it, but only on the basis that
he'd let me be completely honest. The thing I loved
about Tantrum, which horrified everybody, was the behavior in it.
I could not stop laughing. You can be a nightmare.
(26:19):
Despite the occasional tantrum. The nineties were a time of
great joy for Elton John, but on July darkness descended.
The murder of his dear friend devastated Elton. I've never
seen him so grief stricken over anything in his life.
Elton's friend, Princess Diana, comforted him during Versace's memorial service
(26:43):
a few weeks later. His tears would be shared for Diana.
Was the most bizarre summer, both bizarre time of my life.
I think Elton and Journey were very, very close friends,
and he still misses him. Deeply miss Diana. I think
was just another nail. Elton and Bernie Toppin rewrote their
(27:03):
classic Candle in the Wind for Diana's funeral. I was
seeing on behalf of those people that have stood for
thirteen and fourteen us just to pay their tribute to
somebody that they openly thought a lot of them. Elton
and Bernie donated the proceeds from the new version of
Candle in the Wind to Diana's favorite charities. It raised
thirty two million dollars and became the biggest selling record
(27:25):
of all time. So I think it generated a lot
of good and it helped a lot of people, and
it will help a lot of people coming up. Elton
takes the road to El Dorado. We're behind the music
continues for thirty years. He's packed concert halls, he's made headlines,
(27:51):
he's been made a night. But mostly Elton John has
made the music of our times. He's created a soundtrack
for people's lives. Every but he can listen to an
Elton John song from a certain period and remember a
certain stage in their life, and he's still doing You
hear Elton every day of every year, no matter who
you are, where you are wherever you go. Elton John
(28:13):
is present in all our lives, and for me, that
makes the world a better place. Thirty years after his
journey to superstar and began in Los Angeles at the Troubadour,
Elton appeared at l a sixteen thousand seat Staples Center
to receive one of the most prestigious honors of his career,
the year two thousand Grammy Legend of War. It's very
(28:36):
nice to get this award because of my career stared
in America, but I still feel that these shows sometimes
full of book. Un firmly planted in cheek and self
described diva held court at the backstage press conference. I've
slept with all the boy bads, I know all d LC,
the Dixie Chicks. I don't know nothing about them. But
(28:59):
what Elton does of something about his writing songs for
animated films. His latest Someday out of the Blue, is
from the DreamWorks animated feature The Road to El Dorado.
The video features Elton in a way he's never been
seen before, so the little animated me I thought it
was razeve never been animated in a in a video before.
(29:19):
The animated version of Elton may be cute, but El
Dorado executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg believes elton songs for the
film are far from cartoonish. It's among the most exciting
and really just soulful and powerful and emotional music that
Elton has done in the last ten years, and that's
saying something. Elton is also trying his hand at Broadway,
(29:43):
writing the music for Disney's production of Aida. I was
scared to do Aida because I hadn't done something like
that before. But the scary things are the most enjoyable thing,
and you need scaring. You can't be complacent. Throughout his
three decades in the limelight, Elton John has never been complacent.
His evolution has been a constant struggle. As Shy Reggie
(30:04):
Dwighte he fought his insecurities as Flamboy, and Elton John,
he made music history and battled back from the brink
of self destruction in he was fitted with a pacemaker.
But Elton John keeps rocking. Thirty years is a hell
of a long time. There's lots of ups and downs
and peaks and valleys. It's been a great ride. I've
(30:25):
had such an incredible life and the last thirty is
a man. We've done everything, seen everything meant. Everybody's been
well behaved, been very badly behaved. It would be an
amazing movie. And in that movie was released the critically
acclaimed Rocketman, featuring Welsh actor Taran Edgerton is John, who
(30:49):
received a Golden Globe for his performance. The film also
featured a new track Elton composed for the production, I'm
Gonna Love Me Again, which received the Academy Award for
Best Original Song. In Elton announced that he would be
performing a three year long farewell tour, which is now
set to end in three after delays due to the pandemic.
(31:12):
In one he released The Lockdown Sessions, an album featuring
collaborations with Miley Cyrus, Lil nos X, dual Ipa, Stevie Wonder,
and other stars, proving Elton John is still expanding his
musical uvra. A true pioneer in the music industry, Elton
John has crafted a legacy that will be appreciated for
(31:33):
generations to come. Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your favorite podcasts. Be sure to rate and
review Behind the Music on Apple podcasts and Spotify. What
more episodes You can watch remastered Best of the Ball
(31:55):
and new episodes of Behind the Music, only on Paramount
plus the m
He was a shy little boy from an unhappy home,
but Reggie Dwight grew up to be one of the
most prolific, most flamboyant, and most successful rock stars in history.
For three decades, Elton's life and career have played out
on the front page, though not all the headlines were
good news. He was the hottest hit maker in music,
(00:22):
but fame and fortune didn't make Elton a happy man.
Elton John brought himself from the brink of personal and
professional oblivion back to the top. Now, Elton and his
closest friends tell of life from the emotional roller coaster
that was and still is Elton John. Behind the music,
(00:43):
This is a story of innocence from abroad, on this
here stage behind me. On the evening of August, a
young guy from England by the name of Elton John
made his first appearance in the United States. They say
that that night has written at self into rock and
roll folklore. It was the center of the l a
(01:04):
rock scene, a stage graced by the likes of Joni
Mitchell and Jim Morrison. And on that summer night, the
stage at Doug Weston's Troubadour belonged to an unknown British
piano man named Elton John. I don't really think that
either of us knew the volume of pow that was
in the room that night. Who's who of the l
(01:27):
A music industry came to see the new English import,
including record executive Russ Reagan. A magical night. A lot
of distinguished celebrities were there. Neil Diamond introduced Elton John.
I mean Neil Diamond actually introduced me the first night,
and one an incredible thing for someone to do. Then
we just laid into them, I mean we we were
(01:48):
just we rocked. His self titled second album had just
hit the l A record stores, but for the in
crowd at the Troubadour Elton Live in concert was a revelation.
About halfway through the set, I said, Wow, this is
going all the way, going all the way. The next day,
(02:10):
when Robert Hilpin wrote this glowing report in the Los
Angeles Times saying something to the like hailed rock and
roll as a new savior or something, we went wow.
I got telegrams from George Harrison. I couldn't believe my
album was some eighteen of the Chance or whatever it
was above Deja Vu by Crosby Shilson, and I was like,
this isn't happening. It copy And there's no question that
(02:33):
that week of the troubad it was what made him
a start. I think it was the Capitalist, But I
don't think he became a star overnight simply from that,
because you know, we've been slaving away since nineteen sixty seven.
Sixty seven, the year Bernie toppin in the Future, Elton
John formed a partnership that would make music history. But
(02:54):
the Elton John story actually began twenty years earlier, when
on March Evan Reginald Kenneth Dwhite was born in this
small house in the London suburb of Pinner. Baby Reggie
was the only son of Stanley and Sheila Dwight. I
think there was already tension in the marriage when I
was born, so, I mean, you know, and if you
come into the world in a situation like that, it's
(03:15):
always going to be very difficult. An Album was an
only child, and he had a father who had a
strict military background, and I was just very intimidated by him,
always seeing his approval. For an early age, music really
filled my life. It was all I've wanted to be
involved in the family. Piano became one of Reggie's favorite playthings.
(03:38):
I started playing at very early age, and I used
to be able to pick out melodies very quickly by
a hymns, you know, pop songs of the day. Seven
year old Reggie started taking piano lessons, thinking he might
become a classical musician, but all that changed in nineteen
fifty seven when his mother brought home records by Bill
Haley and Elvis Presley. When rock and roll came in,
(04:00):
it changed my life. I mean a little witch at
Jerry and Lewis Fat's dominant yes, Reggie started wearing thick
black glasses, just like one of his rock and roll heroes.
I thought it was groovy to wear glasses like Buddy Holly,
and for someone who didn't think they looked that great,
I thought it was cool. The glasses were the only
cool thing about Reggie's appearance. His father insisted his son
(04:22):
dressed conservatively. Reggie wouldn't dare cross his dad. I was
very frightened in my father, and it made me very
Insecuretive made me very insularum and I had a lot
of inferiority complexes. And his mother very much supported Alton
and encouraged album, so his parents were constantly constantly fighting
(04:42):
over him. Reggie's parents divorced in nineteen sixty two when
he was fifteen years old. That same year, he and
some local boys formed a band called Bluesiology. There was
a letter from my father to my mother when I
was sixteen saying, you know, I had to stop all
these dreams of being a rock and roll and I
would never be a success to him when I did so,
I had to love to prove. Bluesology enjoyed some regional success,
(05:07):
but by nineteen sixty seven, after five years with the band,
twenty year old redg had grown tired of simply being
a keyboard player. I just thought it was a dead end.
So I wanted to write songs. Us that was the
next step, and add in a London music paper caught
his eye. Liberty Records was looking for musical talent, including songwriters.
(05:28):
I knew I could write. I can write lyrics. Liberty
Records teamed up the kid from Pinner who couldn't write
lyrics with a seventeen year old from the North of
England who couldn't write music. His name was Bernie Toppin
a few days later we got together, went down the straight,
had a cup of coffee, talked about the idea of
possibly writing some songs. I gave him some of my lyrics,
(05:52):
and thus it were born. And I was definitely in
love with Bernie as a friend and then never really
fancy Bernie, thank God physically. But he was the first real, big,
pivotal thing in my life. But without Bernie, basically, there
wouldn't been an Elton. I mean, without that stroke of
good fortune and kissman. As if were Elton John Paully
(06:15):
wouldn't have happened. Ridge Dwhite had a new songwriting partner.
Within the year, he would have a new name. I
would never have been a success. Can imagine Redge Dwight.
He is the great nest single from Redge Dwight. I
mean to forget it. On his last road trip before
leaving Blues Aology, Redge turned to his bandmates long John
Baldry and Elton Dean for inspiration and I just said, right,
(06:39):
Elton Dean, Elton and what can I go with Elton
John John Baldwin. It was done very quickly when Elton
went from Reginald Dwight to Elton John. I think it
was a classic case of reinvention. I think it was
an opportunity for him to throw off the petty little
kid persona that he was so unhappy with. I quite
enjoyed being Elton because Elton did everything the Reds never
(07:01):
dared to do and more. When daring young Elton John
returned from his last tour with Blues Aology, he found
himself engaged to a woman he'd had an affair with
on the road. She said to his pregnant and I,
you know, I thought this is what you did when
when you know, made girls pregnant. But I didn't really,
I wasn't in love with her. It was an emotionally
(07:23):
and sexually confusing situation for Elton. He wanted out, but
couldn't imagine dubbing a woman who was carrying his child.
Elton was depressed and desperate. He made a very futile
attempt at suicide, which was really sort of a slice
of black comedy. I thought, I'll gas myself and so
(07:43):
I put a cushion in the in the ovence was
the oven on, but left the windows open, so it
was a pathetic cry for help. Really, I sort of
pulled him out and said slapped him out to be silly.
Don't be silly enough. Come on, got so much to
live for. But it wasn't elton suicide attempt to convinced
him to call off the wedding. It was his former
bandmate long John Baldry. And it's just so slapped Elton raid.
(08:07):
Got to get out of this, you know, put yourself together.
That was the night I told her that I didn't
want to get married. And it was only about two
or three weeks away from getting married because she wasn't
pregnant and all that did and it was a bit sordid,
but longed on BOLLI to save my life that night
by actually because I didn't have the courage to get
out of that situation. My January of nineteen sixty nine
(08:27):
and Elton John and Bernie Taup and it's spent a
year and a half living with Elton's mother and her
new husband. The two spend all their time writing songs,
with twenty one year old Elton handling the melodies in
nineteen year old Bernie taking care of the lyrics. I'm
just to purveyor basically of Bernie's feelings, burn his thoughts.
I'm a musical mouthpiece for his lyrics, which I love.
(08:48):
Believe me, there was hundreds of songs written in that room.
You know. That was a time and place of great,
great output. The result of their musical labors appeared on
Elton's ninety sixty nine debut album, Empty Sky. The following year,
Elton John's self titled second album arrived in America. All
(09:09):
of a sudden, here comes the Elton John album. Everybody
came into my office. We all all sat on the floor,
played this incredible album, and we all flipped out. In
January of seventy one, Elton's first U S single, Your Song,
cracked the top ten in America. Reggie Dwite's transformation was complete.
Elton John was now a star. During that first two
(09:33):
or three years of success, which was unbelievable. I just
couldn't believe it was having to me. Elton embarked on
his first world tour in the spring of seventy one.
By the tour's end, he had four albums in the
top forty. As the hits kept coming, Elton was changing.
He grew increasingly confident on stage. But in V one,
(09:54):
the most profound change in Elton's life could not be
seen on stage. That he year he fell in love
with a man for the first time. The man was
Elton's manager, John Reid, who was my first ever relationship
physically anyway, and first person I have lived with liber
John Flight through four years coming to terms with his
feelings for Reid proved surprisingly easy for Elton, but John
(10:18):
was never really that comfortable about coming out as such
as a relationship. It was plussify he was managing me
as well. In many ways, they were a perfect combination
because they had similar personalities, both gay, both very flamboyant,
both very up for spending money, partying, having a really
good time. Elton's private circle knew about the relationship, but
(10:39):
they kept it a secret from the public. That's a
tough thing to to go with, you to be all
the time living one thing and being something completely different.
In May of seventy two, Elton single rocket Man blasted
the album Hankey Chateau all the Way to number one,
the first in a string of seven consecutive number one
albums that he would score over the next four years.
(11:02):
At that point, he was really busting out who We're
all working incredibly hard that it was like two albums
tour album. Once you're on a roll, you couldn't stop.
You know. He got to this point where everything was
coming in at number one, and the only dangerous thing
about that is you assume that everything else should come
in at number one. From seventy two to nineteen seventy five,
everything the boy from Pinner Touch turned to gold, and
(11:24):
the more successful Elton John got more outrageous. His public
persona became when he came out of the Hollywood bown,
that white you know, feather deal. It was like, oh,
I send something in the wind here. It got too much.
And I mean initially, you know what happened, It was
just it was instinct. It was spur of the moment.
It was fun decked out in full rock regalia. Elton
(11:47):
John had become pop music royalty. We were on such
a role being successful and rubbing shoulders with people that
you idolized when you were growing up and you were
playing with them and you were meeting them. You were
on such a high. But the rush of superstardom soon
gave way to a different kind of high. Now it
would be in a goody goody in my life, and
you know, I didn't know my band's mode dope. I
(12:08):
didn't know they didn't coke, and so I'll let me
try it, and that was in. I thought, it's right
and I'm taking a drug. Wow, it would have been
very shy, but the dark glasses were really a shield,
like a hide behind them, and I felt with coke,
this is great. I can talk to people. So I thought,
this is the answer to all my problems. Coming up
(12:30):
Elton's second try at suicide and later Elton comes out
before the world when behind the music continues. In the
course of five whirlwind years, Elton John had become the
(12:52):
biggest rock star in the world, and in the summer
of seventy five, his twelfth album made history. I had
the first ever album to come in the over Charleston
number one, which was Captain Fantastic. As soon as that happened,
we went up, We're in trouble now, you know, because
where do you go from one? And then the next
half we had out with Rock of the West bit
and that went in first week at number one too,
(13:14):
and we got now we're really in troubled with Rock
of the West. Eas Elton scored his seventh number one
album in a row. But success had its downside. Money
and fame equals power, and power can equal corruption. It
allows you to indulge yourself to whatever level you care
(13:36):
to indulge yourself. Elton's drug use was increasing, his four
year romance with his manager John Reid ended, and for Elton,
five years of sell out concerts and gold records felt
like a hollow victory. I was at the height of
my can't do any wrong things, and yet my personal
life wasn't very happy. And I think I've done an
awful lot of work, I mean, an incredible amount of
(13:58):
work in five years, and maybe I was getting burned out.
In the fall of seventy five, Elton was booked for
a triumphant return to the scene of his stunning debut
in America. Shortly after his fifth anniversary concert at the Troubadour,
Elton's personal crisis reached a breaking point. I tried to
end my life, as it were, because a t volliums.
(14:22):
It was Elton's second suicide attempt in eight years. It's
a cry for help, isn't it. It's all cry for help.
It's again. Uh, It's like, look at me, I'm really unhappy.
Can you do something about it? Because if you don't,
I'm going to be dead, and I had no intention
of killing myself whatsoever. Not long after recovering from his
valume overdose, Elton played to an overflow crowd at l
(14:43):
A's Dodger Stadium on October n seventy five. Dressed in
Sequence and Dodger Blue, the twenty eight year old superstar
hit a grand slab before fifty five thousand cheering fans,
gone on stage and state in the end, just like ridiculous,
I want him doing here. L A City officials proclaimed
(15:04):
it Elton John weak, and Elton got his star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He should have been on
top of the world, but Elton John had never been
more miserable in his life. I can't remember much about
the stated, although I know it's very exciting, but I
was emotionally unhappy. You know that the five years of fun,
as I call him, and it's kind of we're beginning
(15:25):
to wear a little thing because I just worked so hard.
But despite Elton's depression, the hits kept coming. His duet
with Kiki d hit number one in the summer of
seventy six. I always adored him, and I think he
cares a lot about me, so that made That's what
made it work, really and I think I sort of
had an odd sort of crushed on him anyway. As
(15:46):
don't go breaking my heart spread around the world, so
did rumors about Elton's sexuality. A few journalists had hinted
that Elton might not be straight, but none had ever
asked him directly if he was gay. Then Rolling Stone
Magazine's Cliff jar pop the question. Well, Cliff said, um,
and I remember it vividly, said, I'm going to turn
(16:06):
the type of quarter off if you want, but I'm
gonna ask you a question. I said, I know you're
gonna ask me. It's I'm not gay, and I just
thought it was okay to say. Yeah. I said, I
don't care, and we don't care. But the world did care.
I remember thinking this could hurt. Many of Elton's fans
were shocked by his revelation, so I think, whatever the consequences,
(16:28):
I think, you know, it's great that he was able
to kind of start the ball rolling, if you like,
to get his life back. But proclaiming his bisexuality to
the world didn't help Elton's record sales. In the fall
of seventy six, Blue Moves peaked at number three, breaking
elton string of number one albums, and that was the
start of my end of my big cheese five year period.
(16:51):
For Elton, the seventies ended on a down note, but
with a new decade came a whole new string of
hit singles. With his career were on the rebound, Elton
made a radical change in his personal life. I'm going
on my honeymoon. Yes on Valentine's Day, the man who
had declared his bisexuality less than eight years earlier married
(17:13):
a woman sound engineer ranad a blow. There was just
a chemistry between the two of us, and I had
no doubts, and I thought that my time of life
is about time. I took the time. I think the
two of them just got swept along on some kind
of cloud that no one was really stopping and thinking.
But it just wasn't right. I mean actually said that too,
won't know you're kidding her. So it was a mistake
(17:34):
in the fact that I was in no condition to
get married because I was a drug addict. Elton's addiction
was growing worse by the summer of eighty five is
cocaine habit had begun to take control of his life.
There was a chance he could polish himself off. He
was just could he go out and do some coke
and come back and be all over his mouth and
he knows would be running And I just, god, God,
(17:57):
this is just awful. I could never uh, never go
to bed with anybody knowing that there was anything left.
I had to do the whole long. I would stay
out for days. I mean, you know, half an ounce
was never enough for me. It's all right, I haven't
a drink, But when you're performed on code, it's the end.
I mean, but I say that, but you know, if
(18:18):
I hadn't performed, and I hadn't it to it would
have just stayed harmond done more blown. I wouldn't be
here talking to you now. Forty year old Elton John
was on tour in Australia in the winter of seven.
This cocaine addiction was a growing problem, but it wouldn't
be Elton's only problem that year. On February seven, a
(18:39):
British tabloid unleashed a series of scandalous articles that nearly
destroyed Elton's career. The son accused Elton of engaging in
wild sex drug orgies with underage male prostitutes. When you're
on the front page of Britain's leading tabloid newspaper and
you're supposed to have urinated on four boys you tied
up and the things that it got worse and us.
(19:00):
The more that I issued writs to them, the worst
the stuff got. The Sun paid a former male prostitute
two thousand pounds for his story. Elton sued the tabloid
for libel the very day the issue hit the news stand.
You just can't stay silent, you know, you can't say nothing.
The next day, the tabloid published another lurid tale of
(19:21):
sex and cocaine. For a time, I wouldn't go out
of the house. I mean, you get these headlines anything,
Oh my god. While Elton battled the Sun in court,
the tabloid kept trying to dig up any dirt they
could find. I remember chasing reporters from from the grounds
of the house once in Windsor because you get so incensed,
because it's such an intrusion. My hotel sweets bugged. It
(19:43):
became like a James Bond thing. It's very funny to
look back on it and be flippant about it now
but it wasn't funny when I was happening. Elton ultimately
triumphed over the tabloid. In October of eighty eight, The
Sun settled out of court, paying Elton one million pounds
and printing an apology across the front page. Elton may
have survived the scandal, but his marriage did not. The
(20:04):
next month, Elton and Ranada announced an amicable divorce. In
the end, I had to admit that I was living
a lie because I preferred mental women. Despite the turmoil
of tabloid scandal, drug addiction, and his veiled marriage, Elton
managed to release a new album in I Mean the
Red strikes Back Album, which wasn't one of our best albums,
(20:25):
but at least he got me doing something. Rich strikes
Back spent nearly five months on the charts. After its release,
Elton auctioned off his gaudy glitter rock costumes, but he
could not shed his multiple addictions so easily. I would
binge on coke and alcohol and not eat for two
or three days, and then I would get out and
have gard gansh and pig outs and then just throw up,
(20:47):
and we'd believe me. He didn't care. I remember it saying,
look this, this is ridiculous. He's killing himself and he's
gonna die. He's gonna die. The idea that someone's that
extraordinary needed to bock himself up in a room and
do bags of cocaine and swigg bottles of booze. It
was so tragic. Elton could have easily wound up dead
(21:12):
another casualty of rock and roll excess, but a miracle
in the form of a young boy dying of AIDS
helped save Elton's life. The boy was Ryan White. He
knew he was going to die, but he never heard
him complaint. He was an incredible advertisement for courage and
dignity at a time when it was desperately needed within
(21:33):
the AIDS community. Elton befriended Ryan and his mother Jeanie,
and on April seven, at the fourth Farm Aide benefit,
Elton dedicated a song to his very sick young friend.
Ryan died within hours. A few days later, Elton sang
at Ryan's feudal I knew at that stage that my
(21:56):
life was just a pile of crap. He was his,
and who had lost her son, Who could just stand
up there and be fantastic and just so beautiful and
handle it with such dignity, and so that was a
huge influence on me trying to get myself together. Three
months after Ryan's death, years of self destruction brought forty
(22:16):
three year old Elton John to a sad self realization.
I had white hair with I died, and I was
the size of Luther Androw studies worst. I just looked
like a seventy year old man playing the piano. Was
just quite terrifying. That's how bad I let myself get
to him. I just broke down and I said, okay, okay,
(22:37):
I give up. I had blimia, it was a drug addict,
and I was an alcoholic. Elton checked himself into a
Chicago hospital, the only place he could find that would
treat all three illnesses. I was so relieved that I
actually made the decision to actually ask for help. Those
those three little words, I need help so hard to say.
(22:58):
And you know, once I actually said that, I knew
I'd get well, and I knew I'd followed through. After
spending most of one out of the public eye, are revitalized,
re emerged. Sobriety has given me a new life, and
it's fantastic. Is the greatest thing I ever did for myself.
I find him the opposite of sober duct He is
(23:19):
so alive and dynamic and wild imaginatively. He made mistakes,
he got into a road, he got himself out of
a case close. Elton's personal recovery gave rise to a
professional renaissance. With his album The One, Elton hit the
top ten for the first time in sixteen years. His
(23:40):
health restored and his music re energized, Elton now focused
on helping others. In September of ninety two, one year
after aid's claimed the life of his longtime friend Freddie Mercury,
Elton made a dramatic announcement, every single that I released
in America from this point will all my proceeds will
go to AIDS research and AIDS charities. Today, the Elton
(24:04):
John AIDS Foundation has raised more than twenty million dollars.
So I think he's from the most generous benefactor to it,
and my knowledge, it's just about a lot of dedication,
a lot of time, and Alton just puts in the hours,
and that's just out of the love that he has
for the friends that he's lost and the love that
(24:24):
he has in his heart for the people who are ill.
As Elton moved forward into the mid nineties, he marked
a series of career milestones. In he was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in he won
an Academy Award. Getting an Oscar was thrilling because I
never air in my life like in an Oscar. When
(24:46):
he does something, he does it to do the best.
And he got in Bob with Lion King. But Elton's
most satisfying achievement in the mid nineties was not an
award or a hit record. After failed relationship hips with
both women and men, Elton finally found love. Elton met
advertising executive turn filmmaker David Furnished in November of ninety three.
(25:10):
He had a career, he was very successful at what
he did. I've never really been in a relationship with
someone who had that already going for them. The expectation,
particularly with a gay man who's with a very successful
gay man, is that you are on the take and
not they're in an equal partnership. So the fact that
you have your own identity means you can go out
(25:32):
in the world and talk about what you do. Just
so important. Elton and David's relationship, you know, is as
great and as strong as any any marriage and the world.
We're probably the most high profile gay male couple in
the world, but I'm pretty high profile. That's like God
doing about that. As high profile as he is. Elton
(25:54):
showed the public a more intimate view of his life
in documentary shot by David called Tantrums and Tiaras. I
agreed to do it, but only on the basis that
he'd let me be completely honest. The thing I loved
about Tantrum, which horrified everybody, was the behavior in it.
I could not stop laughing. You can be a nightmare.
(26:19):
Despite the occasional tantrum. The nineties were a time of
great joy for Elton John, but on July darkness descended.
The murder of his dear friend devastated Elton. I've never
seen him so grief stricken over anything in his life.
Elton's friend, Princess Diana, comforted him during Versace's memorial service
(26:43):
a few weeks later. His tears would be shared for Diana.
Was the most bizarre summer, both bizarre time of my life.
I think Elton and Journey were very, very close friends,
and he still misses him. Deeply miss Diana. I think
was just another nail. Elton and Bernie Toppin rewrote their
(27:03):
classic Candle in the Wind for Diana's funeral. I was
seeing on behalf of those people that have stood for
thirteen and fourteen us just to pay their tribute to
somebody that they openly thought a lot of them. Elton
and Bernie donated the proceeds from the new version of
Candle in the Wind to Diana's favorite charities. It raised
thirty two million dollars and became the biggest selling record
(27:25):
of all time. So I think it generated a lot
of good and it helped a lot of people, and
it will help a lot of people coming up. Elton
takes the road to El Dorado. We're behind the music
continues for thirty years. He's packed concert halls, he's made headlines,
(27:51):
he's been made a night. But mostly Elton John has
made the music of our times. He's created a soundtrack
for people's lives. Every but he can listen to an
Elton John song from a certain period and remember a
certain stage in their life, and he's still doing You
hear Elton every day of every year, no matter who
you are, where you are wherever you go. Elton John
(28:13):
is present in all our lives, and for me, that
makes the world a better place. Thirty years after his
journey to superstar and began in Los Angeles at the Troubadour,
Elton appeared at l a sixteen thousand seat Staples Center
to receive one of the most prestigious honors of his career,
the year two thousand Grammy Legend of War. It's very
(28:36):
nice to get this award because of my career stared
in America, but I still feel that these shows sometimes
full of book. Un firmly planted in cheek and self
described diva held court at the backstage press conference. I've
slept with all the boy bads, I know all d LC,
the Dixie Chicks. I don't know nothing about them. But
(28:59):
what Elton does of something about his writing songs for
animated films. His latest Someday out of the Blue, is
from the DreamWorks animated feature The Road to El Dorado.
The video features Elton in a way he's never been
seen before, so the little animated me I thought it
was razeve never been animated in a in a video before.
(29:19):
The animated version of Elton may be cute, but El
Dorado executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg believes elton songs for the
film are far from cartoonish. It's among the most exciting
and really just soulful and powerful and emotional music that
Elton has done in the last ten years, and that's
saying something. Elton is also trying his hand at Broadway,
(29:43):
writing the music for Disney's production of Aida. I was
scared to do Aida because I hadn't done something like
that before. But the scary things are the most enjoyable thing,
and you need scaring. You can't be complacent. Throughout his
three decades in the limelight, Elton John has never been complacent.
His evolution has been a constant struggle. As Shy Reggie
(30:04):
Dwighte he fought his insecurities as Flamboy, and Elton John,
he made music history and battled back from the brink
of self destruction in he was fitted with a pacemaker.
But Elton John keeps rocking. Thirty years is a hell
of a long time. There's lots of ups and downs
and peaks and valleys. It's been a great ride. I've
(30:25):
had such an incredible life and the last thirty is
a man. We've done everything, seen everything meant. Everybody's been
well behaved, been very badly behaved. It would be an
amazing movie. And in that movie was released the critically
acclaimed Rocketman, featuring Welsh actor Taran Edgerton is John, who
(30:49):
received a Golden Globe for his performance. The film also
featured a new track Elton composed for the production, I'm
Gonna Love Me Again, which received the Academy Award for
Best Original Song. In Elton announced that he would be
performing a three year long farewell tour, which is now
set to end in three after delays due to the pandemic.
(31:12):
In one he released The Lockdown Sessions, an album featuring
collaborations with Miley Cyrus, Lil nos X, dual Ipa, Stevie Wonder,
and other stars, proving Elton John is still expanding his
musical uvra. A true pioneer in the music industry, Elton
John has crafted a legacy that will be appreciated for
(31:33):
generations to come. Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your favorite podcasts. Be sure to rate and
review Behind the Music on Apple podcasts and Spotify. What
more episodes You can watch remastered Best of the Ball
(31:55):
and new episodes of Behind the Music, only on Paramount
plus the m
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