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April 8, 2024
Elton John established himself as a legend in the music industry with his talent in composition and songwriting.
Born as Reginald Dwight, the British musician learned piano at an early age and earned a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at 11 years old. John studied at the school for five years before forming his own band, Bluesology, in 1962. While working at a music publishing company, John took solo gigs at a London hotel bar and played with his band. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology backed musicians like the Isley Brothers and Major Lance and became the supporting band for singer Long John Baldry.
John left Bluesology and met lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1967. Shortly after recording their first song, “Scarecrow,” John began going by the name Elton John in homage to Baldry and the saxophonist of Bluesology, Elton Dean. John and Taupin formed one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships in music history, collaborating on albums Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975), 21 At 33 (1980), Songs From the West Coast (2001) and The Diving Board (2013). They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.
After finding success with 1973 albums Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, John and Taupin founded the Rocket Record Company. By 1975, the pressures of stardom took a toll on John, and he developed a drug and alcohol addiction along with bulimia. John shared more about his battle with addiction and his sobriety journey in a 2002 CNN interview with the late Larry King.
“It took me 16 years to say those three words — I need help,” John said at the time. “My pride was killing me. It’s — you think you don’t have a problem.”
Despite the AIDS epidemic surfacing in the 1980s, John still couldn’t bring himself to change his lifestyle. It wasn’t until he met Ryan White, an American teenager who contracted HIV through a contaminated blood transfusion, that John decided to embark on the path to sobriety. Upon White’s death in 1990, John entered recovery and created the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992.
“I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family. I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more,” John said during a Harvard University talk in 2017. “Ryan was the spark that helped me recover from my addictions and start the AIDS Foundation. Within six months [of White’s death], I became sober and clean, and have been for 27 years.”
John continued his career sober, and has toured around the world and performed at Madison Square Garden over 70 times. He announced his retirement in 2018 and embarked on a three-year farewell tour in September of that year. The tour took a two-year pause because of the coronavirus pandemic but concluded in 2023 in Stockholm.
Keep scrolling to see the singer’s life in photos:
Credit: Getty Images (2)
Elton John Through the Years: From ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Rocket Man’ to His Farewell Tour
Elton John established himself as a legend in the music industry with his talent in composition and songwriting. Born as Reginald Dwight, the British musician learned piano at an early age and earned a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at 11 years old. John studied at the school for five years before forming his own band, Bluesology, in 1962. While working at a music publishing company, John took solo gigs at a London hotel bar and played with his band. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology backed musicians like the Isley Brothers and Major Lance and became the supporting band for singer Long John Baldry. John left Bluesology and met lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1967. Shortly after recording their first song, “Scarecrow,” John began going by the name Elton John in homage to Baldry and the saxophonist of Bluesology, Elton Dean. John and Taupin formed one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships in music history, collaborating on albums Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975), 21 At 33 (1980), Songs From the West Coast (2001) and The Diving Board (2013). They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. After finding success with 1973 albums Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, John and Taupin founded the Rocket Record Company. By 1975, the pressures of stardom took a toll on John, and he developed a drug and alcohol addiction along with bulimia. John shared more about his battle with addiction and his sobriety journey in a 2002 CNN interview with the late Larry King. “It took me 16 years to say those three words — I need help,” John said at the time. “My pride was killing me. It’s — you think you don’t have a problem.” Despite the AIDS epidemic surfacing in the 1980s, John still couldn’t bring himself to change his lifestyle. It wasn’t until he met Ryan White, an American teenager who contracted HIV through a contaminated blood transfusion, that John decided to embark on the path to sobriety. Upon White’s death in 1990, John entered recovery and created the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. “I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family. I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more,” John said during a Harvard University talk in 2017. “Ryan was the spark that helped me recover from my addictions and start the AIDS Foundation. Within six months [of White’s death], I became sober and clean, and have been for 27 years.” John continued his career sober, and has toured around the world and performed at Madison Square Garden over 70 times. He announced his retirement in 2018 and embarked on a three-year farewell tour in September of that year. The tour took a two-year pause because of the coronavirus pandemic but concluded in 2023 in Stockholm. Keep scrolling to see the singer’s life in photos:
Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage
1967 to 1970
John met songwriter Taupin when they both answered an advertisement in the British music paper New Musical Express. They formed a partnership and joined DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968. After writing music for artists including Roger Cook and Lulu, John and Taupin started writing music for John to record. They released songs including “Lady Samantha,” “Border Song” and “Your Song” and released the 1969 album Empty Sky.
The duo’s second studio album, titled Elton John, was released the following year. It became John’s first hit album and produced his first hit single, “Your Song.” John formed the Elton John Band with drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray to play his first American concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970.
Credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images
1972 to 1973
1972’s Honky Château became John’s first No. 1 album in the U.S. He reached No. 1 in multiple countries with the albums Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in 1973. Later that year, John founded the Rocket Record Company with Taupin, producer Gus Dudgeon and music publisher Steve Brown.
Credit: Steve Morley/Redferns
1974
John collaborated with John Lennon on his cover of the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” In return, John was featured on “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” on Lennon’s fifth solo album, Walls and Bridges.
Later that year, the two performed together in Lennon’s last major live performance at Madison Square Garden. The pair sang both hits along with the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.”
Credit: Getty Images
1975
The autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy described John and Taupin’s early days as struggling musicians and songwriters. It was the last album from the Elton John Band before John dismissed Olsson and Murray.
Later that year, John received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Credit: Ian Dickson/Redferns
1977 to 1980
John announced his retirement from performing and started producing only one album a year while Taupin went on to collaborate with other artists. For the next three years, John released the albums A Single Man (1978) and Victim of Love (1979) and collaborated with France Gall and Michel Berger on the songs “Donner pour donner” and “Lex Aveux” (1980).
Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
1983 to 1984
Taupin and John reunited in 1979 but did not collaborate on a full album until 1983’s Too Low for Zero, which also brought back the Elton John Band. The album included the hit single “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica.
John married close friend and sound engineer Renate Blauel on Valentine’s Day in 1984. They divorced three years later.
Credit: Ebet Roberts/Redferns
1988
John performed five sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden almost a decade after coming out of retirement.
Credit: Niels van Iperen/Getty Images
1992
John released his eighth U.S. album, The One, which featured a hit single of the same name. It was his first album recorded entirely sober.
“I felt such trepidation coming out of treatment about how I might function and what impact sobriety would have on my music,” John shared in a 2019 interview with Variety. “Thankfully, I was able to write songs in the same prolific way I always had.”
John went on to collaborate with Eric Clapton later in 1992, producing the hit song “Runaway Train.”
Credit: Steve Eichner/Getty Images
1994 to 1995
Along with lyricist Tim Rice, John wrote songs for Disney’s 1994 film The Lion King. He earned three Oscar nominations for Best Original Song, with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” winning. The song also earned him the Grammy Award for best Male Pop Vocal Performance the following year.
Later in 1994, John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
Credit: Anwar Hussein/WireImage
1997
John revised the lyrics of “Candle in the Wind” to honor his close friend Princess Diana at her funeral following her death in a car accident. The revised version was titled “Candle in the Wind 1997,” and the funeral performance marked the only time he ever performed the new version live.
Credit: Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images
1999 to 2001
John collaborated with Rice again for Disney’s musical production of Aida. They received the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 54th Tony Awards and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Credit: Mick Hutson/Redferns
2003 to 2006
In 2003, John announced he signed an agreement to perform 75 shows over three years with Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, the first of which took place in February 2004. He and Celine Dion shared performances at Caesars Palace throughout the year, and they performed together in 2006 to raise money for Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. workers affected by the 2005 hurricanes.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
2007
John performed at Madison Square Garden for a record-breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday. The concert was broadcast live and produced a DVD recording titled Elton 60 – Live at Madison Square Garden.
Credit: Getty Images
2010 to 2014
John performed a piano duet with Lady Gaga at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. In 2011, John collaborated with Kate Bush on the song “Snowed in at Wheeler Street” for her album 50 Words for Snow. He went on to perform a joint concert with Queen and Adam Lambert the following year for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and performed a duet at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards with Ed Sheeran.
John married his longtime partner, David Furnish, in December 2014 after same-sex marriage became legal in the U.K. They share sons Zachary and Elijah, born via surrogacy in 2010 and 2013, respectively.
Credit: Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
2017
The “Rocket Man” singer starred as himself in Kingsman: Golden Circle. He also appeared in the documentary The American Epic Sessions.
Credit: Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty Images
2018
John announced that he was retiring from touring and would embark on a three-year farewell tour starting in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in September of that year.
“Ten years ago, I was going to just tour and make records. And I had nothing planned for the rest of my life except making music and touring,” John told NPR in 2021. “And then we had two fabulous little boys. And then David, my husband, said, ‘Well, what do you want out of life now? Do you still want to tour?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t.’”
He continued, “As much as I love playing, I want to be with my boys now. I want to be there for them.”
Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage
2019
Paramount Pictures produced a biopic, Rocketman, about John’s life from his childhood through his early career in the ’80s, starring Taron Egerton as John. John and Egerton performed “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” for the movie, and it won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Later that year, John released his autobiography, Me, which was narrated by Egerton for the audiobook version.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
2021
John released The Lockdown Sessions, which was made during the first coronavirus lockdown and featured artists Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Stevie Wonder and more.
Credit: Simone Joyner/Getty Images
2023
John concluded his farewell tour with the last show in Stockholm, Sweden.
“What a journey this tour has been and now we find ourselves at the end of it,” he wrote via Instagram before the show.
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