Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, is an English pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriting partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. In his five-decade career Elton John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 58 Billboard Top 40 singles, 27 Top...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth25 March 1947
CityLondon, England
I really appreciate my performing so much better, as I get older. I don't take it for granted anymore. I really relish it and love it.
My mum always used to buy a record every Friday.
People with HIV are still stigmatized. The infection rates are going up. People are dying. The political response is appalling. The sadness of it, the waste.
Bands today have to learn their craft by putting the hard work in that we did when we were young performers.
I knew about AIDS. My friends were dying right, left, and center. I did a record with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight. I did a couple of benefits.
I was just genuinely shy. I'd always been a shy kid.
I was more ashamed that I couldn't work the washing machine than the fact that I was taking drugs.
Johnny, can't you come out to play in your empty garden?
I wasn't involved in anything. I wasn't out - you know, I know I wasn't in ACT UP. I wasn't with Larry Kramer. I wasn't by his side. I wasn't saying what I should do, because, by all accounts, I was a drug addict and an alcoholic. And I was living in a complete bubble of self-absorption.
I'm glad I've given up drugs and alcohol. It would be awful to be like Keith Richards. He's pathetic. It's like a monkey with arthritis, trying to go onstage and look young.
And it's one more beer and I don't hear you any more.
I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats though.
People who mock rap and say, "I don't like it" should go and check out Kanye [West] in the studio rapping, or Marshall, Eminem, when he's in the studio. It's a phenomenon. Don't knock it until you've seen it. It may not be your cup of tea, but don't ridicule it.
I used to take hostages in my relationships and not let people be independent. It always ended in disaster, because you take away people's identity and they end up full of resentment.