Elton John
- Profession: Musician
- Place/Date of Birth: Pinner, England, 25 March 2020
- Associated with: David Furnish
But the shows will now not go ahead because of a wrangle with the promoter.
"We regret to announce that Elton John’s European Red Piano shows have been cancelled," a statement from the star’s management said.
"The promoter has been unable to guarantee to put on the shows, resulting in us having to take this very difficult decision.
"We do of course appreciate that Elton’s fans will be disappointed at this news, and we are already looking into the possibility of returning to the affected cities in the very near future."
Sir Elton had planned to take his Las Vegas Red Piano Show to some of Europe’s most famous locations, include the Palace of Versailles and Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
Details on replacement dates will be announced later.
The singer’s other shows remain unaffected.
In December he begins a solo tour of Australia.
Big Apple rocks to birthday boy Elton - Mar 26 2007
Sir Elton John celebrated his 60th birthday by bringing the house down with a record-setting live extravaganza in New York.
Some 20,000 fans at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden danced and sang along ecstatically to a set which ranged from rarely-played early hits to classics like Rocket Man, Bennie And The Jets and Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.
Sir Elton’s 60th show at the legendary venue started with a surprise introduction by former American president Bill Clinton, featured special appearances by comedians Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg and ended with an emotional rendition of Your Song.
During the three-hour show the rocker dedicated Something About The Way You Look Tonight to partner David Furnish and paid tribute to John Lennon, who famously joined him on stage at the Garden in November 1974 in what turned out to be former Beatle’s last concert performance before his death.
Celebrities guests included Little Britain funnymen Matt Lucas and David Walliams, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland, Jon Bon Jovi, Lulu and Michael Caine.
Sir Elton has held the record for the most performances at the arena since 2001. His nearest challengers for supremacy are the Grateful Dead, who played there 52 times.
Elton’s Big Apple birthday plans - Mar 24 2007
Never one to do things by halves, Elton is moving his 60th birthday celebrations on to New York this weekend.
As well as throwing a star-studded private bash at a secret location in the Big Apple on Saturday night, the star will be celebrating his actual birthday in style, by breaking his own record for the most performances at the city’s Madison Square Gardens venue with a live extravaganza on Sunday March 25.
The sold-out show will mark, appropriately enough, Elton’s 60th show at the Midtown arena.
Challenged only by the Grateful Dead, who played the Garden 52 times, Elton’s most memorable performance at the venue to date was on November 28, 1974, when he was joined on stage by John Lennon in what turned out to be the former Beatle’s last concert performance before his death.
In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Elton has sold around 200 million albums since the release of his first record, Empty Sky, in 1969.
Fans will be able to watch the Rocket Man’s entire 120-minute 60th birthday concert live online via MSN at music.msn.com/eltonjohn
But, for those who won’t be able to stay up until after midnight, when the live show kicks off, ITV will also be airing a 90-minute special on Thursday March 29 at 9pm.
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Then there is his seemingly endless love affair with shopping, as revealed in that recent court case, where the world found out that Elton spent about ?250,000 a year on flowers, and didn’t even notice that ?10million was missing from his account. He even takes the mickey out of own spending habits in a new advert for the Post Office.
So what if Elton doesn’t believe in saving and hoarding money, he has no children or family, so he spends. Big deal. He spends on himself, yes, but also huge amounts are showered on others and on charities, particularly his AIDS charity. He recently told Heat magazine that he’d leave everything to David, his partner of nine years.
Amongst the tantrums and tiaras it’s too easy to forget that the fact that he’s got so much money to throw around in the first place, is that he’s one of the world’s most commercially successful entertainers of the last 30 years, and writes a cracking good tune to boot.
Elton John was born Reginald Dwight (!) on March 25, 2020 to a middle-class family living in Pinner, England. He won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music but dropped out shortly before graduation, to tour England with Bluesology who were backing bigger-name blues performers.
In 1967 Elton met lyricist Bernard Taupin through a newspaper ad, and the duo became a professional song writing team and went on to have million selling worldwide hits. Working with producer Gus Dudgeon, Elton and Taupin released a new album for MCA Records in 1970, Elton John, with which he first found fame. His 1971 follow-up, the concept album Tumbleweed Connection, was another big hit, reaching the Top 10.
The prolific pair put together several more albums during 1971-72, culminating in 1972’s Honky Chateau, John’s first No.1 album. Its big single, "Rocket Man", inaugurated a string of hits for the singer-pianist, who scored 16 consecutive Top 20 hits between late 1972 and mid-1976, releasing up to three albums a year. Hits like "The Bitch Is Back," "Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting," "Bennie and the Jets," "Yellow Brick Road," "Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and "Crocodile Rock" became pop classics, turning Elton John into a bona fide superstar. 1975’s Captain Fantastic became the first album ever to debut at No.1.
In 1977 John announced that he would no longer perform live, due to ’exhaustion’, and would limit his record output. In the light of recent revelations from Elton about this period of his life, it’s probably closer to the truth to say he was close to killing himself, through drugs or other means. Also, he and Bernard Taupin had fallen out and had ceased working together, with Elton bringing in other songwriters and Taupin penning lyrics for other artists.
In the 80’s Elton continued to have hits such as "I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues" and 1984’s "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," but moved from rock/pop to a more mellow adult contemporary sound. He also took an interest in AIDS research, forming the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1991; he also announced that he would donate all future royalties from his singles to AIDS charities. John mounted another comeback with 1992’s The One, which went double platinum. That same year he and Taupin signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappel Music for nearly $40 million.
In 1994 Elton John scored his biggest hit in years with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King soundtrack, winning five Grammy nominations and three Oscar nominations. That same year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Elton John released the album The Big Picture in September 1997. Earlier that month, he captured the hearts of millions when he sang a re-written version of "Candle in the Wind" at the funeral of Princess Diana. A recording of the song, released as "Candle in the Wind 1997" became the first single to outsell Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas." All proceeds from the sale of the single were donated to the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
His latest, Songs From The West Coast, came out in 2001, and has widely been seen as a return to form, back to the Elton of old, an album full with really, really good tunes. He too seems to be happier than ever, touring, performing, collecting art, clothes, cd’s and shoes, buying flowers, appearing in ads for the Post Office, getting teen idols like Justin Timberlake to play him in his videos, and of course spending time with David. Bless.
Biography by Liz McGrath 04/02
October 2007