The Fantastic Elton John
Elton John has been performing for over 30 years now and his appeal spreads across the generations from 16 year olds to 70 year olds.
Early Life
Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in England in 1947, and his early childhood was shaped primarily by the women in his life. His father, Stanley Dwight, was a Squadron Leader in the RAF, which meant that he was rarely around his son, as his military duty kept him on tour for years.
Elton had a great talent for being able to hear a tune just a few times on the radio, and then being able to play it by ear. His talent on the piano kept growing until by the age of 11 he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.
During this time he began to develop his own unique style of music which has served him well over the many years that he has been a top performer.
His early career
In his early days Elton played in such bands as The Corvettes and Bluesology and they toured many of the popular venues throughout England during this time. They also acted as support bands for a number of bigger names at this time.
John soon became disillusioned with the tight-fisted control that Baldry exerted over Bluesology and left the band soon thereafter. Even though there were initial failures, as John auditioned for lead singer roles with King Crimson and Gentle Giant without being hired, this part of his life led him to a partnership that exists to this day.
Success in his career.
John once again failed in an audition with Liberty Records, but as he was leaving the audition, he was given a group of lyrics without music that were written by Bernie Taupin, who has also tried out for a role with Liberty Records. John wrote music to support the lyrics, and the two began corresponding. John and Taupin met six months later, and it was during this time that John changed his name to what it is today. After a couple of years of writing music together, the partners were ready to encounter the 1970s, which was a decade where they experienced a level of success that was unmatched in history.
The first of his big time hits came about when he released his album Honky Chateau. This spent five weeks at number one, and included the hits Rocket Man and Honky Cat.
Things then really started to take off and his nine albums (at time of writing) and 31 releases have sold hundreds of millions of copies all around the world.
His Awards
John has won so many awards during his career that there is hardly space to mention them all. He has been Knighted by Queen Elizabeth, has won an Academy award, a Tony award, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just to mention a few.
