On March 25, a British singer and composer celebrates his 70th birthday. Elton John has gone a long and difficult journey from a child prodigy from the suburbs of London to an outstanding musician of world renown. But at the same time he kept a sober view of fame and money and an ironic attitude to his own without exaggeration to an important person.
49th place is occupied by Elton John in the list of the greatest performers of all time according to Rolling Stone. During his nearly 60-year career, the musician released 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, became a five-time Grammy Award winner, a Bachelor's Knight and Knight of the Order of the British Empire.
Of course, this is far from all achievements of the singer and composer. Throughout the world, his talent is recognized and appreciated - by both fans and even the Queen of Great Britain, who granted him the title. However, Sir Elton John himself treats himself with humor.
"What do people see when they look at me? He asks. - Points, homosexual orientation, "Watford" (English football club, owned by Elton John. - Prim. Red. ), Constant tantrums and flowers. And I, in fact, a musical phenomenon, have heard? "4 years was Elton (who at that time was called Reginald Kenneth Dwight) when he was first seated at the piano. Soon it turned out that the kid was a child prodigy: he could reproduce any melody by ear, and played so magnificently that at the age of 11 he received a scholarship to study at the Royal Conservatory.
Two years later the young musician created a successful band called Bluesology. At the age of 20 decided to take a pseudonym: the name and surname borrowed from its members - Elton Dean and John Baldry. And later he added one more name - Hercules (that was the name of the horse - the hero of the comedy series "Stepto and Son"), but over time it was lost somewhere.
15 years old was a future star, when my parents divorced. It is unknown whether he was grieving about this, since with his father - Stanley Dwight - the beginning musician did not have the best relations. Stanley served as a pilot in the air force squadron, and at leisure he played on the pipe. At the same time, he believed that his son should not waste time on music, since in the future he saw his son as a banker.
Father practically did not take part in the child's upbringing - this was the mother of the boy. And after the divorce, I never visited his concert. Later, Elton explained to himself the behavior of the parent by the fact that he could not forgive his son's sexual orientation.
"My father was never interested in my talent, successes, and I did not understand why," recalled the musician. - Was it homophobia? Or fear? This is an incredible pain for me and a very big loss. I think it was the same for my father. That's what prejudice does to people ".
But with his stepfather (mother soon married Fred Fairbrother) he had a wonderful relationship.
"Fred has become a real father for me," confessed Alton. "We were friends, he loved the same music as I did, and in general I made up for many of the gaps in communication that remained with me because of my biological father".
Elton John's first album, entitled Empty Sky, was released in 1969, but he did not bring much popularity. Unlike the following, which the musician named by his name. The second single of the album Elton John - Your Song - became a hit not only in the UK, but also in the US. Critics have unraveled the secret of his success - in their opinion, Elton John bet on rock songs with gospel elements and soulful ballads. And not lost!.
Since then, the popularity of the musician began to gain momentum. The 70s were the most fruitful in his work - six albums created during this period were the most successful in his career and were among the 500 best albums of all time according to Rolling Stone.
7 sold-out concerts in a row in 1976 gave Elton John in Madison Square Garden (the famous sports complex in New York). This record has not yet been beaten by anyone! Another significant event is connected with Madison Square Garden at Elton. In 1974, he sang on his stage with John Lennon.
This speech has a funny background. Recording the song "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night", the musicians made a bet: if the song hits the top of the charts (which Lennon very much doubted), they will perform it together at a concert. Elton John was right - the song took first place in the charts. By the way, this performance at the big concert platform was the last in the life of the founder of The Beatles.
37 million - this was the circulation of the single "Candle In The Wind", dedicated to the memory of Princess Diana, who died in 1997. He was in the Guinness Book of Records as the most commercially successful in the career of Elton John. And also became the fastest-bought single in the history of Great Britain.
It is noteworthy that "Candle In The Wind" is a remake of the composition, which Elton wrote in 1973 in memory of Marilyn Monroe. This song was touched not only by millions of listeners around the world, but also by Queen Elizabeth II herself, usually by her emotions.
39 years was Elton John when he lost his voice. The actor survived an operation to remove polyps on the vocal cords. And if in his youth he had a tenor, after surgery, the singer became the owner of a pleasant baritone.
There were other health problems. He suffered from bulimia - a digestive disorder. And the excessive use of alcohol and drugs led to the fact that in 1975, Alton nearly died of an overdose. Over time, he managed to get rid of addictions, and today he remembers difficult times with humor:.
"Sometimes, flying over the Alps, I think that snow caps - this is all the cocaine that I sniffed".
8 weeks in a row in 1994, the main song from the cartoon "The Lion King" headed the American charts Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks. Animation tape has become one of the most successful in history, and in this great merit of the song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", written by Elton John. It enjoyed an incredible popularity - in the world it sold 11 million copies.
The song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" was awarded the Oscar for Best Song, and the musician received Grammy in the category "Best Male Pop Vocal" and the "Disney's Legend" award from The Walt Disney Company, which produced " The Lion King ».
24 years old Elton John is happy with David Furnish. With a Canadian director and producer, he met in 1993, and soon they began a romantic relationship. Elington made a cunning out back in 1976, but this did not stop him in 1984 from marrying a woman-engineer, Renate Blauel. Marriage lasted only four years. After the divorce, he fell into depression, drank a lot, took drugs.
And only with the advent of David, the black band ended. Fernish helped him overcome his addictions and regained his taste for life and creativity. In 2005, after in the UK were legalized same-sex marriage, Elton and David played a wedding. Five years later, in 2010, they first became parents - a surrogate mother produced a boy whom the couple called Zachary Jackson Levon, and in 2013 their second son was born - Elijah Joseph Daniel.
$ 1 - a symbolic fee, which the musician received for a charity concert in Kiev, on Maydan Nezalezhnosti in 2007. The rest of the amount he transferred to the needs of AIDS organizations.
In 1992, John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation and is constantly helping patients and people with HIV. He visited our country several times and visited an orphanage for children with AIDS in one of his visits (in 2009) in Makeyevka. The musician wanted to adopt a 14-month-old child infected with HIV. However, according to Ukrainian law, the age and marital status of John did not allow him to become the father of a boy named Leo.
$ 200 million - approximately in this amount is estimated the state of Elton John. But leaving them in the inheritance to their children - Zechariah and Elijah - he is not going to. The artist intends to transfer all funds to charity.
"My children need to understand the value of money," the celebrity says..
- When Zachary will choose his first car, I want it to be the same as I used to have - good, second-hand, no-nonsense. And no one is going to present it on a plate. Of course, I want my boys not to need anything, but to condemn them to life with a "silver spoon in their mouths" means destroying it. In any case, they will have incredibly interesting destinies - I will not pretend that they are ordinary children from an ordinary family. But the more important it is to instill in them respect for money and work ".