Elton John, The #3 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Eleven

(Continued from Part Ten)

After the September 11 murders, Sir Elton performed "I Want Love" and welcomed Billy Joel for a duet of "Your Song" at the Concert for New York City.

In 2003, Sir Elton signed an agreement to perform 75 shows in three years at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He released the single "Are You Ready For Love", a #1 U.K. hit.

 

John also recorded "The Heart Of Every Girl" for the movie Mona Lisa Smile, a nominee for Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards.

This incredible singer/songwriter received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in 2004 in Washington, D.C.  

 

John also recorded "Right Before My Eyes" for the musical Lestat.

 

Elton released the album Peachtree Road, another great effort.  Three singles failed to catch on, but perhaps they should have released "Too Many Tears".

John wrote the music for Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005 along with Lee Hall.  It was the 11th-longest-running hit in West End history with 4,566 performances.  It grossed over $800 million worldwide.

In 2006, the Walt Disney Company honored Sir Elton by naming him a Disney Legend.  Elton and Bernie completed their autobiographical journey they began with their best album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, with the release of The Captain and Me.

 "Postcards From Richard Nixon" reflects on the most-disgraced U.S. president to that time, but of course his crimes paled in comparison to another "Republican" (he wasn't a Republican at all, but rather a fascist wanna-be dictator), Donald Trump.  Taupin's main subject is he and Elton, two aspiring young British lads looking to make it big.

 "Tinderbox" is a rare and welcome admission from a star that they too have their ups and downs, that they aren't always "great".  "You just cannot be successful all the time," Elton explained in an interview.  "I think some of the stuff we did in the '80s and '90s, it was uneven," he said, "because there was all the pressure to have a hit record.  You're not going to write great songs all the time."

Elton said the song is about when he and Bernie felt they were spending too much time together and getting on each other's nerves.  "The pressure blows up in your face," Bernie said.  "There was a time where you really couldn't turn on a radio, turn on the TV, walk down the street, or look at the Billboard...without hearing any reference of Elton John."

Neither Elton nor Bernie were responsible for the idea of creating a sequel to Captain Fantastic.  "It's not something I would have thought about doing," Taupin told Paul Sexton of Udiscovermusic.com.  "That credit has to go to Elton's manager [of the time], Merck Mercuriadis, he was the one that came up with the idea."

Both writers were skeptical, but once they were on board with the idea, they believed they should tell stories accessible to people.  Taupin knew the concept album had to begin with the pair's first transatlantic crossing, which led to Elton's famous performances at The Troubadour.  "Obviously the kickoff had to be our arrival in Los Angeles in the fall of 1970," said Bernie.

 

The Captain and the Kid reached #6 in the U.K. and features the title song, a continuation of the song "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy."

Among the subjects that "Blues Never Fade Away" brings up are Ryan White, the young teen who Elton was close to who lost his life to AIDS as a result of a blood transfusion.

The following year, EJ performed at Madison Square Garden for a record 60th time on his 60th birthday.  The concert was broadcast live and released as the DVD Elton 60--Live at Madison Square Garden.  

Sir Elton released his compilation Rocket Man--Number Ones.  John and Billy Joel performed a series of concerts called "Face to Face" that drew sold-out crowds and raves from critics everywhere they played.  Elton received another Tony nomination for Best Original Score for Billy Elliot the Musical.

 

In 2010, John released the album The Union, with help from Leon Russell.  He promoted the album with The Million Dollar Piano show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and continued to perform there for three years, with his 3,000th concert there on October 28, 2011.  We want to feature "Hey Ahab" from this outstanding collaboration.

Sir Elton performed before Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace in 2012.  He joined Queen for a concert in Kyiv, Ukraine to benefit the Elena Pinchuck ANTIAIDS Foundation.  EJ released an album of remixed 70's songs called Good Morning to the Night, which climbed to #1 in the U.K.  He worked with artists such as Ed Sheeran and Queens of the Stone Age, once again proving his relevance in his 60's.  

 

Sir Elton released the album The Diving Board in 2013, a #3 release in the U.K. and #4 in the United States.  This is a prime cut--"Ballad Of Blind Tom". 

In 2016, John released the album Wonderful Crazy Night.  He starred in the action movie Kingsman:  The Golden Circle in 2017.

 In June of 2017, Sir Elton appeared in the documentaryThe American Epic Sessions. 

 Remarkably, EJ took lyrics written by Taupin specifically for the film called "Two Fingers Of Whiskey" and on the spot composed and arranged the music with the help of Jack White and T-Bone Burnett and recorded it live on a restored first sound recording system from the 1920's.  Of this impressive feat, Danny Eccleston of Mojo magazine wrote: 

            in one of the series' most extraordinary  

              moments, Elton John arrives toting a                                       box-fresh lyric by Bernie Taupin and

             works it up in an instant, the song 

             materializing in front of the viewers' eyes

             before John and Jack White go for the take.     

            There's the magic right there.

You can find "Too Fingers Of Whiskey" on the "Music from The American Epic Sessions:" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.  

The movie Rocketman detailing Sir Elton's life and career and starring Taron Egerton as EJ, was released in 2019.  Elton and Egerton recorded the new song "(I'm Gonna') Love Me Again" for the project, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Sir Elton released his autobiography Me in October of that year.  

Sir Elton announced that he would be retiring from touring to spend more time with his husband and children, but would go on a three-year farewell tour of 300 shows first, with the final show in January of 2023.  

While performing his last tour, John received the Legion d'honneur, France's highest civilian award, from French President Emmanuel Macron during a ceremony at the Élysée Palace in Paris.  The remainder of John's concerts have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Meanwhile, Sir Elton recorded with Lady Gaga on the song "Sine From Above" from her album Chromatica.

The songwriting partnership between John and Taupin is phenomenal not just in its incredible success over 50 years and 30 albums but because of the process in which Bernie writes the lyrics and then Elton puts music to them, never with the two in the same room during the entire time.  Elton talked about their partnership on ABC:

               [W]e've never ever had an argument 

              professionally or personally, which is

             extraordinary because  most songwriters 

             sometimes split up because they get 

             jealous of each other.  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.

               

Sir Elton and Taupin were inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1992.

John  began a relationship with former advertising executive and filmmaker David Furnish in 1992.  Sir Elton and Furnish were among the first to form a civil partnership in the U.K. and they married on December 21, 2014.  The couple now has two sons. 

Sir Elton traveled to Washington, D.C. on October 24, 2014 to discuss AIDS relief and the work that Elton does with his own AIDS Foundation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

In 2019, John declared on Instagram that he had been sober for 29 years.  For a young man who partied long and hard, that is perhaps his greatest lifetime achievement.  He was nominated for an American Music Award for Tour of the Year.  

In 2020 for the New Year Honours, Sir Elton was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to music and to charity.

This legendary and immensely gifted performer has totaled 70 hits over the last 52 years, with 28 of those reaching the Top 10 and 10 #1 songs.  He has shown his mass appeal by chalking up 75 Adult hits, with 39 of those going Top 10 and 18 #1's.  His career sales are over 160 million albums.

Elton has received four American Music Awards out of six nominations, six Grammy Awards (from 40 nominations), two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Tony Award, the Kennedy Center Honors and a Disney Legends Award. 

How much these two incredible songwriters have meant to us over a lifetime.