Elton John wants his son to have a normal childhood

Elton John wants his son to have a 'normal childhood' like he enjoyed. But is his memory playing tricks on him?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1358419/Elton-John-wants-son-normal-childhood-like-enjoyed-But-memory-playing-tricks-him.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

By Alison Boshoff
Last updated at 7:49 PM on 18th February 2011

• Comments (22)

As is so often the way, the experience of bringing a new life into the world has made Sir Elton John reminisce about his own childhood and upbringing.
In a magazine interview, he says that since becoming a dad he looks back on his youth with a ‘sense of wonder’ and describes it as a time of ‘personal discovery’.
The star also reveals that despite his £180 million fortune he does not intend to spoil the boy. Elton says: ‘We want to give Zachary — as much as we possibly can — a solid, old-fashioned childhood.

Father and sons: Elton John, with his dad Stanley Dwight, far left, says he wants to give his child as normal a childhood as possible

‘I know it’ll be hard with my life, but we want him to have that same normality [I had] and for things to have real value.’
Elton would like baby Zachary — conceived from a donor egg and carried by a surrogate for him and partner David Furnish — to feel the excitement he did growing up when given a bicycle or taken to London on a trip.
A very noble idea, although you can’t help but feel that this will be hard to achieve for the man who once spent £293,000 on flowers in a 20-month period.
On another level, he is determined to do things very differently. For Elton’s relationship with his late father, Stanley Dwight, has been a source of great pain to him for many years.

Far from being ‘absent’ from Elton’s life, they insist Stanley spent his last years longing for contact from his famous son 

Now, after decades of therapy, he thinks that his father’s lack of love and approval is what drove him into the limelight and what compelled him to adopt a series of outrageous stage outfits.
He said: ‘You know, my father never came to hear me play. Not ever. He was a tough and unemotional man. He was dismissive, disappointed and finally absent. I just wanted him to acknowledge what I’d done.
‘But he never did.’
Is this complaint really justified — or is the truth rather more complicated? 
Stanley, say his surviving family, was touchingly proud of Elton, whom he called EJ.
This, after all, was the man who bought Elton his first piano and kept a silver-framed picture of his adored first-born child at his bedside until the day he died.
Far from being ‘absent’ from Elton’s life, they insist Stanley spent his last years longing for contact from his famous son, but was snubbed at every turn. The absent one, they say, was Elton.

Sad: Stanley with his second wife Edna kept a silver-framed picture of Elton John at his bedside until the day he died

And when it comes to family disappointments, they say the greatest snub of all was the one delivered by Elton, who failed to attend his own father’s funeral.
As Elton’s stepmother, Edna, a dignified woman who lives in a neat bungalow on the Wirral, told me: ‘Everyone who knew Stanley knew what a great man he was. None of it [Elton’s outburst] is true.
‘Why would he say such things? You will have to ask Elton why he has made these comments.’
So who is right? Was Elton shunned by his uncaring father?
The story begins when Elton John was born plain Reginald Kenneth Dwight in March 1947 at his maternal grandparents’ council house in Pinner Hill Road, Middlesex.
The baby boy had masses of golden curls and his mother Sheila was instantly smitten. She made sure the infant’s every need was met — setting a pattern that lasted well into adulthood.
And his father? Elton has believed for years that Stanley, an RAF officer, was abroad for the first two years of his life.

Tough love: There are certain to be many struggles ahead for Elton John as he tries to give his son a 'normal childhood'

He said with bitterness: ‘I was two years old when he came home. Mother said: “Do you want to see him?” He said: “No, I’ll wait till morning.” ’
In fact, records show that Stanley was there at the time of his birth, as it was he who registered the arrival of the infant the next day.
At the time, he was on a home posting in Ruislip and would commute from Pinner each day for the first 18 months of Elton’s life, before being posted to Basra, Iraq.
But Stanley did not forget about the little boy he left behind. On their first Christmas apart, he even arranged for the delivery of an expensive pedal car from Hamleys to his toddler.
By the age of three, Elton was already playing the piano — demonstrating an almost uncanny ability to memorise, perform and compose melodies.
His father — who played the trumpet in a swing band — must surely have been proud.
But Elton, perhaps directed by his redoubtable mother, says not. In a second interview this week, he said that he dreaded his father coming home from RAF postings, because his parents would argue and the atmosphere was terrible.
He added that Stanley subjected him to petty rules — no eating celery as it was too noisy, no kicking a football in the garden and so on.
Undoubtedly, the marriage was under strain and the atmosphere was tense. When Elton was six, Stanley was promoted to squadron leader and posted to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire. It seems that Sheila didn’t like it there, which put an intolerable strain on the relationship.
She left the marital home, taking Elton with her, and moved back in with her mother.
Sheila and Stanley were finally divorced when Elton was 15, but the precise reasons are again the subject of dispute.
Elton learned from his mother that his father had become involved with another woman.

Elton has said he felt rejected because his father was away so much in countries like Iraq 

But Stanley’s second wife, Edna, is insistent the situation was the other way around and that it was Sheila who had called Stanley in Harrogate in 1960 to tell him that she was in love with a painter and decorator, Fred Farebrother (who she went on to marry), and requested a divorce.
Edna, a former lab assistant, said in the book Elton, by esteemed biographer Philip Norman, that it was only when the divorce was going through in 1962 that she met Stanley.
They were married and had four sons in quick succession — Stanley, Simon, Robert and Geoffrey. Elton has said more than once that he perceived this new family as a fresh rejection of him, a belief that baffles his stepfamily.
‘Elton has said he felt rejected because his father was away so much in countries like Iraq. But I think Stan was the one who felt rejected,’ Edna said at the time.
She remembers that Stanley tried to maintain contact with his son after the divorce, giving him money and opening a credit account at a West End outfitters, so he could choose whatever he wanted.

Bad memories: Elton John pictured with partner David Furnish on ITV's Daybreak, was 'distant and offhand' when told of his father's death

He would tell her often that he missed the boy.
And while there is no doubt that Stanley would have preferred his son to be a banker or accountant rather than a professional performer, he did assist Elton as his music began to dominate his life.
‘All Stan did insist — and I think Elton now acknowledges this — was that he should have a thorough grounding in music,’ says Edna.
Indeed in 1963, shortly after the divorce, Stanley saved up to buy his son a better quality piano of his own — Edna still has the receipt. 
According to his half-brothers, it was only when Elton started to taste fame as a performer that the cracks began to show.
Geoff Dwight, 45, Elton’s half- brother by Edna, said: ‘When I was growing up, Elton was always there and we had a lot of fun on family holidays and things like that.
‘He would come up and visit us almost every weekend and with him being older it was always exciting to hear the stories of what he had been up to. I was about nine years old when he really made it in America with Your Song.’ Perhaps Geoff’s recollection of events is selective. Because family members remember one happy Sunday in 1973, when Elton — by now the toast of Britain and America — arrived for lunch at their modest home in a new white Rolls-Royce.

The star learned that Stanley needed a quadruple bypass operation and, to his credit, offered to pay for it at a private hospital 

He and his young half-brothers had a kick-about in the garden and then he played Crocodile Rock on the piano.
As Elton was leaving, he slipped a piece of paper into Edna’s cardigan pocket — a cheque for £2,000, the price of a Peugeot 504 car for Stanley to transport his large family in. Hardly the actions of a man who’d turned his back on his family.
It was undoubtedly a generous act, but one that soon led to rancour. Stanley bought the car, but it proved too expensive to run and he had to sell it. Was it this that led Elton, three years later, to give an interview in which he pilloried his father, claiming that he cadged new cars from him?
Whatever the truth about the outburst, the family were devastated. Stanley even consulted solicitors, who urged him to sue, though he eventually decided to decline all offers to hit back.
By now, Stanley’s health had started to fail. He suffered a heart attack, was left blind in one eye after a haemorrhage and was repeatedly hospitalised with angina and osteoarthritis.
In 1982, it seemed that time might be running out, so Stanley’s son Geoff, then 15, decided to try to get back in contact with his famous half-brother.

Well connected: Sir Elton John, pictured with Girls Aloud stars Cheryl Cole and Nicola Roberts, will have a number of stars to turn to for advice as he brings up his son

He attended a concert, explained who he was and spoke to Elton backstage. Elton agreed that it was time to get back in touch with his father’s side of the family.
The star learned that Stanley needed a quadruple bypass operation and, to his credit, offered to pay for it at a private hospital.
Stanley was touched, but said he was quite happy with the NHS.
The offer was enough for the two men to attempt a rapprochement — and for a while, it seemed as if the relationship might start afresh.
Edna recalls Stanley sitting in his coat in the hallway on the phone to Elton, with tears in his eyes, overjoyed to be speaking to his son again.
Elton even took his father to watch his football club, Watford, play Liverpool and made plans to spend a weekend with the whole family. But though father and son would talk occasionally on the phone, the contact simply petered out.
Perhaps Elton just didn’t have the energy to try to patch things up with his father: this, after all, was the period when he was struggling with eating disorders and wrestling with his sexuality in the wake of his marriage to sound engineer Renate Blauel.
Stanley’s health, too, was deteriorating and by 1991 he finally gave in to Edna’s plea that she should let Elton know how desperately ill he had become.
She called his manager, John Reid, and Elton telephoned from France and agreed to meet them.But, clearly, Eton was unable to make his peace with his father.
Not long afterwards, he gave a television interview, talking once again about how afraid he had been of Stanley as a child.
Reporters called at the Dwights’ bungalow in Hoylake, Merseyside, and a story was written: ‘Anger of Elton’s dying dad: Star has snubbed us for years.’
Stanley said that he never uttered the words attributed to him. His loyal widow is adamant that not even in his most private conversations did he ever speak a word of criticism against his son.
But it was enough to doom the relationship.
Stanley died the following December. It was his half-brother, Geoff Dwight, who broke the news to Elton.
‘He was quite distant and offhand about it. He told me he had never really connected with our father, then he thanked me for calling.
‘It was very brief. I felt angry and confused that he could dismiss our father like that.
‘He deserved better.’
That pain was only exacerbated when Elton failed to turn up at the funeral. The star would later claim that attending would have made him a hypocrite.
Now, with Elton’s recent outbursts, those same wounds have been opened anew.
At her modest bungalow in Hoylake, Edna loyally refuses to hear a word against her husband: ‘Stanley’s been made out as an overbearing monster. But it’s just not true.
He was a lovely man, a good father and a loving husband.’
Perhaps aware that he has not been entirely fair, Elton has already started to soften his comments, telling one paper that he is starting to simply forgive Stanley, who he can now see was a product of his era and upbringing.
‘If I saw my dad now, I’d just give him a hug and tell him I loved him and that I understood.’
Kind words, but you could understand if Edna thought they have come a little too late.

Elton John blasts Keith Richards over Mick Jagger comments

http://www.metrolyrics.com/2011-elton-john-blasts-keith-richards-over-mick-jagger-comments-news.html

Legendary singer Sir Elton John has defended Sir Mick Jagger after his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards said he had a 'tiny todger'. Mocking his manhood, Keith wrote in his autobiography Life about the singer's little 'todger' and that Marianne Faithfull had 'no fun' when she was sleeping with him in the '60s. But Elton has now defended his friend. The 63-year-old told Rolling Stone magazine: "I was a bit put off by hearing about Mick's penis. I'm a big Mick Jagger fan... If I said that [co-songwriter] Bernie Taupin was a miserable c*** and had a small penis, he'd probably never talk to me again. "It's like, 'Why do that?', especially with someone you're in a working relationship with."...






Oregon Daily Emerald > News

Sir Elton John lights up sold-out Matthew Knight Arena with four decades of music

Musical legend gives Eugene inspired performance, living up to theme of 'All Hits, All Night'

http://www.dailyemerald.com/news/sir-elton-john-lights-up-sold-out-matthew-knight-arena-with-four-decades-of-music-1.2004978

Ryan Imondi | News reporter

Published: Friday, February 18, 2011
Updated: Friday, February 18, 2011 05:02

Sir Elton John played to a packed house in an emphatically exciting show that ran nearly three hours last night.
Sold as "All Hits, All Night," a crowd of mostly baby boomers with a few of the younger generations mixed in stormed Matthew Knight Arena with a high amount of excitement, eager to see the world-famous musician perform.


"Elton John is my absolute favorite," said Della Anderson, a George Fox University student who made the trip down from Newberg, Ore., for the concert. "I have this titanic, like, excitement for the show."
The shuttle buses moving back and forth from parking lots were more reminiscent of summer camp, as people of all ages sang their favorite Elton John songs. Out front, fans donned illuminated sunglasses and rocked other funky styles, paying homage to John's golden era.
"I'm 43 now, and I was probably eight years old when I started listening to him," said Randy Fowler, a Eugene resident. "I'm very excited for this show."
By 8 p.m., when everyone had found their seats inside, John took the stage to overwhelmingly loud cheers and roars. Camera flashes and cell phone lights flooded the darkened arena as each attendee tried to snag a picture of the living musical legend.
Simply giving a few waves to the crowd, John dove immediately into his set, and in the process took everyone back in time. Backed by his band, which included original drummer Nigel Olsson from the 1969 Elton John Band and 1971 guitarist addition Davey Johnstone as well as a bassist, keyboardist, percussionist and four backup singers, John stood out on the front left of the stage. Bright lights bounced off John's rhinestone jacket and shiny concert grand piano where John played the full scale.
Following the hit-themed set list, John's band played "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" as well as two songs from John's 1971 album "Madman Across the Water."
Between choruses of "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)," John belted out, "Come on, Eugene, let's get rocking." During these early moments, it was amazing to see the 63-year-old John show neither his age nor his mileage. He simply played and sang with an intensity of a person who has strong passion for music.
Although the crowd was jubilant during the early parts of the concert, the crowd erupted when the first few notes of "Tiny Dancer" played through the speakers. A few lighters ignited in various parts of the arena as John sang one of his all-time greatest songs. Also, closer to the midpoint of the concert, John played an emphatic and extended version of "Rocket Man" that lasted more than ten minutes, drawing in the audience.
As John eased into slower songs like "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Daniel," the crowd sat as all lights in the arena went out, save for a few illuminating only John and his piano.
The show took a tamer turn as John played songs from his newest album, "The Union (with Leon Russell)."
Returning to the hits, John dedicated "Candle in the Wind" to Matthew Knight, arena namesake and son of Nike founder and University alumnus Phil Knight.
"I've lost many friends in my day," John said to the crowd. "I want to dedicate this song to Matthew Knight, who I never knew."
For what appeared to be the close of the concert, John played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Crocodile Rock" to a dancing crowd. After a brief exit and the lights completely turning off in the arena, he returned to the stage to play two more surprisingly intimate songs.
Before playing, John addressed the crowd.
"I enjoy this more and more as I get older," John said. "Thank you for your love and loyalty."
With his band of the stage, John played "Your Song" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." Signing autographs, John finally left after three hours of playing history.
"We were blown away," said Katrina Donnell, a University junior who was given fifth row tickets for her 21st birthday. "He was so talented and amazing."
The audience found John's concert emotionally stirring, putting meaning to his powerful performance.
"I was crying," said Megan Simmons, a sophomore biology major. "My senior year, we used to sing ‘Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me.' I'm sure everyone has their own Elton John song."
rimondi@dailyemerald.com

Nigel Olsson Self-Titled Cassette NEW SEALED http://cgi.ebay.com/Nigel-Olsson-Self-Titled-Cassette-NEW-SEALED-/200577269626
Item condition:	Brand New
Time left:	4d 00h (Feb 23, 201110:13:43 PST)
Bid history:	0 bids
Starting bid:	US $2.99

Lady Gaga: Elton John Goes Gaga Over Album 'Born This Way'

By Marcus Hondro

Last Updated Feb 10, 2011, Published Feb 2, 2011

http://www.suite101.com/content/lady-gaga-elton-john-goes-gaga-over-album-born-this-way-a342188

By Marcus Hondro

Last Updated Feb 10, 2011, Published Feb 2, 2011

Elton John the Superstar Loves Lady Gaga's Born This Way
Photo by Ernst Vikne

0 comments

0digg

  Share Article

Print Article

Lady Gaga's title track to her album 'Born This Way' is due out the same day as the Grammy Awards, Feb. 13 2011. Elton John has heard it. Does he like it?

Elton John has expressed admiration for Lady Gaga before and he has been on stage with her. The two of course and a great deal in common, both are piano playing mega-pop singers and each also has a penchant for outlandish costumes.
So that might have something to do with the incredible thumbs up John gave to Lady Gaga's new album in a new Rolling Stone magazine interview, portions of which were published online Feb. 2 2011. John said the album, Born This Way, due out May 23,and the title track, due out February 13, is a great artistic accomplishment. "I've heard her new album 'Born This Way.' It's amazing. The first single, 'Born This Way,' is the anthem that's going to obliterate 'I Will Survive.'"

John and Gaga at 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010

The two have a mutual admiration society. They performed together at the 52nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last year where they did John's song Your Song and Lady Gaga's Speechless. The two have also recorded together, playing the song Hello Hello, written by John and his long-time collaborator, Bernie Taupin.

Hello Hello is a song in the film Gnomeo & Juliet and though the two are in the movie version of it singing it together, recent reports on Billboard.com say that on the soundtrack version John, who recently adopted a son with his long-time partner David Furnish, performs the song without Lady Gaga.

Perez Hilton Also Loves Born This Way

Celebrity blogger, and close friend of Lady Gaga, Perez Hilton, has also heard Born This Way and he told MTV news recently that it's a great artistic achievement.
"Fans can expect all the hype to be true with 'Born This Way' and with the album," Hilton told MTV News. "I'm very perceptive of what people are saying, thinking, and so is Gaga, and perhaps the biggest critique, just based on the lyrics, is that it's a very gay song. And you know what? It is a very gay song. Unapologetically, gay-in-your-face gay.

Images

"But it's also a universal song that can relate to everyone. To all of us outsiders, to all of us freaks, to all of us who feel different. And the music is undeniable. It sounds like a smash. It is a smash. It is one of the best songs of Gaga's career."
Born This Way: Lady Gaga at 53rd Grammy Awards
There has been talk on MTV News and elsewhere that Lady Gaga's performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards on Feb. 13, the day her single comes out, will be the song Born This Way. Then critics and fans will get that chance to make up their mind for themselves.
Meantime there's Elton John's glowing review: "I can't think of how huge it's going to be."

Elton John on the cover of Pop magazine!

http://loft965.com/2011/02/16/elton-john-on-the-cover-of-pop-magazine/

16 02 2011

Interview: Elton John Talks Gnomeo and Juliet and His Long Career

http://www.film.com/features/story/interview-elton-john-talks-gnomeo/44339343

Plus playing live, the message of the film, and gardening!

Executive Producer Elton John arrives at the "Gnomeo And Juliet" Los Angeles Premiere at El Capitan Theatre on January 23, 2011 - WireImage

Related Content

Stories

• Ranking the Summer Animations
• Ranking the Modern Disney Animations
• The State of the Animation Nation

Cole Haddon,  Feb 09, 2011 I've interviewed maybe four or five people in my life who, by their sheer presence, by their proximity to my physical body, left me nervous and awed. Elton John ranks amongst this number. Currently, the pop culture icon is out promoting the animated feature Gnomeo and Juliet, which he executive produced. He also allowed the movie to draw heavily from his extensive back catalogue of songs for its musical numbers. Because of this, you can now watch animated garden gnomes sing "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" or "Bennie and the Jets." Despite how surreal that sounds, the movie has a surplus of charm and, unlike its source material, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a finale worth dancing to.
Cole Haddon: You've got an immense musical oeuvre. When you agree to have your songs used in an animated musical, how do you go about deciding what to use and what not to use?
Elton John: Well, originally, it wasn't going to be all my music. But when Dick Cook at Disney Studios really got a hold of this project and suggested that we wrote new songs for it, and it should be a whole Elton John, back catalogue thing, I thought it was maybe a good idea. I'd never done that before. I enlisted the help of James Newton Howard, who is the arranger [on Gnomeo and Juliet], and a very famous arranger in this town, who actually used to be in my band. So I had a great relationship with him.
There was one obvious song that would fit in the movie, which was "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for the lawn mower race. That wasn't my idea; that was already someone -- I think maybe [the director's] idea. From that point on, I really just handed it over to [Howard] and the rest of the team to put it in. I didn't really take an active part saying, 'This should go there.' I didn't, for example, choose "Bennie and the Jets" to go in the scene when Benny is on the computer ordering the Terraferminator [a terrifying riding lawn mower]. But obviously it worked, so you didn't have to be a magician to think that might work there. But on the whole, it's nice to see the music [used]. I think [Howard] has done such a great job because even though it's all out of back catalogue, [along with] a couple of new songs, it doesn't feel as if it's overbearing and it's an 'Elton John movie.' It feels like Gnomeo and Juliet with some good music in it, and I'm glad it's turned out like that because I didn't want it to be just bang, bang, bang, old catalogue stuff. So that's the way it happened, really.
CH: You broke into the world of animated features with The Lion King. How was this experience different and what, if anything, did it add to your appreciation of the medium?
EJ: Well, with The Lion King, it came my way in 1993 thanks to Tim Rice. I've always collaborated in my career as a songwriter and I loved the idea and the journey of collaboration with everyone on [that project]. I'm a team player, really, that's why I like doing the musicals. I've always had a songwriting partner, and I think what you learn most of all is to leave your ego at the door. I mean, for example, [the] Billy Elliot [musical, which I wrote the songbook for]: We left three songs which were really great songs out of Billy Elliot, but it would have made the show four hours and two minutes long. That can't happen. You have to be prepared to say, 'OK, I'm going to fight for this song, but if you really want to get rid of it, then that's fine.' You've got to do that, and you've got to listen to the team as a whole. There have been so many times where we've convened during the 11 years [it took to make Gnomeo and Juliet], and the film has taken a different course or whatever. You have to be a team player; you have to hold hands when the things are going badly and hold hands when things are going well. You just have to be patient and you have to watch things, how they evolve, and you have to be there for the good of the thing as a whole and not just for you as a component of the piece.
CH: The garden gnomes in this movie fall into two camps, much like in Romeo and Juliet. The Montagues and the Capulets, except here they're differentiated less by name and more by color -- blue and red. Was that intentional, to draw a parallel to the division found in the States today?
EJ: [We started this process] 11 years ago, and if we'd have had the foresight to do that, I'd say we're f@%*ing geniuses. But it just happens to be at this time, it's coming out three weeks after the president made the speech in Tucson last week, which was a very poignant moment in the history of America after this tragedy happened. I do feel as though there is a message in this film, like we spend so much time hating each other because our parents tell us that that's what we have to do. I grew up conservative because my mum was a conservative. When I finally realized what conservatives were, I changed my mind immediately. So we tend, as children, to ape our parents, and I think this is a storyline saying that we should all get on, even if we don't -- if we're Catholic and we're Protestant or we're Muslim and we're Jews. If we're Protestants and Catholics, if we're Democrats or Republicans. I think in America, though, it's gotten so far outstretched now, where the rhetoric is so dangerous, and it puts things in people's minds. It's so unnecessary.
If there is any message that can come out of this film, which is purely coincidental and the time is coincidental, then I'm all for it because I'm -- as I grow older, it saddens me to see a country that I love so much having such a gulf between the people sometimes that they don't meet in the middle and talk and put their differences aside. I played a Proposition 8 concert the other night, and the two great lawyers who are fighting for this same-sex relationship recognition in California, one is a staunch Republican and one is a staunch Democrat. And yet they met and they both think this is the right thing to do. That is what life is all about. It's not about hatred, and I think in the film, at the end of this, when they've destroyed both of the gardens, they actually say, 'Enough. This is ridiculous. Let's just get on with our life. Let's be friends.' And I think that sends out a positive message, but it truly is coincidental.
CH: You're going back on tour this year. Curious, does it feel any different for you to be on stage today at this point in your career? Does it feel different compared to 20, 30, maybe 10 years ago?
EJ: I think it's so much more comfortable for me now. I mean, I've always enjoyed and loved playing live. I relish and cherish it more than anything else because you never know what the performance is going to be. If you go on stage, some nights you do a performance and you're feeling great. Sometimes you're not as great as you think you're feeling. Some nights you're feeling tired and you give a really great performance. It's the unknown. You don't know, being a performer, what kind of a performance you're going to give. You know you can give a certain quality of a performance, but as I grow older, I'm much more content in my own skin because when I come off stage now, I have a balance in my life. Until I found that in 1990, I didn't. I came off stage and I didn't know what to do with myself. Now, I fly home every night after a show. I get back in my own bed, and I have a wonderful partner. I have wonderful friends. I can remember things. I don't try drugs anymore. [Laughs] It's a whole new world out there. [Laughs again] I can remember the words to the songs. It's great. It's just sensational, what's happened to me in the last few years.
CH: You've pretty much achieved everything an artist can in music, movies, and on the stage. Is there anything left you'd like to conquer? Any dreams left for you?
EJ: Well, there's always things you want to do. I mean, obviously ballet is not an option. Not really. [Laughs] I'd just like to make a really great film about my life story, and we're thinking about that. We have a great script already by Lee Hall who wrote [the movie] Billy Elliot. Obviously it's not going to be your normal run-of-the-mill film because my life has been kind of crazy, and I think it's important to do a kind of surrealistic look or take on my life. I'd love to do that. This business is so incredible. In 1993, I got a phone call from Tim Rice saying would I do The Lion King, when at that time all I was doing was making records, touring, and doing videos. It gave me the opportunity, with that one phone call, to suddenly write musicals for the stage, film scores, and it just opened the doors to so many things. I don't know what's around the corner, and that's kind of the way I like it. You really can't plan. My career has not been planned -- oh, in three years we're going to do this. It just happens by accident. So I don't really have any more ambitions other than I just want to work and do excellent stuff and enjoy it. I'm enjoying everything in my life. But I think the element of surprise in this business is what makes us really love it because one day you're sitting by the phone waiting to do something or not doing anything, and the next day you've got the chance of a lifetime. So those little phone calls don't come up so often, but when they come up, it's fantastic. An example of that is, for example, in 1990, if you'd have said that in 1993 I'd be writing a song about a f@%*ing warthog, I'd have said, 'You're out of your mind.' When Tim Rice gave me lyrics that said, 'When I was a young warthog,' I actually thought I was losing my mind, and look what happened. If you'd have said in 1990, 'You're going to make a film about garden gnomes,' I'd have said, 'You're crazy.' So this is the joyous thing about being a creative person; things can come along that completely surprise you that you normally would never have thought of doing.
CH: Unexpected opportunities might explain a varied career, but how do you explain the eclecticism you've been able to embrace and display during the expanse of that career? What accounts for that?
EJ: The fact that I think when I grew up as a kid, I grew up in a house that listened to radio, bought records. My family always bought records, and I grew up in the early '50s. It was either classical music or dance band music or great vocalists like Frank Sinatra. I mean, I got Songs for Swinging Lovers for my birthday when I was about 8 years old, I think. Of course, when rock and roll came, I had all this knowledge of great American singers and band leaders and musicians and jazz players by the time I was 6 or 7. Then rock and roll came in and changed my life and changed the whole music scene forever. Then I grew to love R&B and Motown and all black music, gospel music. I never dismiss any form of music. I listen to everything. I'm on the new Kanye West record, for example. It's a genius record, and I was on the Alice in Chains record. So you can't really get -- Alice in Chains, Kanye West. I love all different sorts of music. When you've got people who mock rap and say, 'I don't like it,' they should go and check out Kanye in the studio rapping, or Marshall, Eminem, when he's in the studio. It's phenomenal. It's kind of like modern jazz was when John Coltrane, all those people started. It was like -- it's a different thing. Don't knock it until you've seen it. It may not be your cup of tea, but don't ridicule it. And I find that so many of my peers of my age don't listen to anything new. I love the new. I love the energy of the new, the energy of the new act. Because their energy is so infectious that at our age -- I had great energy between 23 and 28, where you're working on adrenaline, and it's just driving you. That energy is just pure adrenaline. Then after that, you lose it a little bit, but you still have enthusiasm and energy. But it's not the adrenaline that the young have. I just think it's so important to listen. The young are so important. The young give you the energy. And if you don't notice the young and you don't take that and you don't give them credit and you don't listen to all sorts of music, then you're missing out on something.
CH: Last question. So ... any chance you garden? Don't suppose you have any garden gnomes of your own?
EJ: I grew up at my grandmother's house, and it was a beautiful garden. But I used to hate mowing the lawn and weeding, which is what you do when you're a kid. I loathed them, and I loathe gardening, but I love gardens and I have two beautiful gardens.

Elton John nos anos 70 

 http://eltonjohnspics.blogspot.com/2011/02/elton-john-nos-anos-70.html

ELTON JOHN VIDEO DEAR GOD

VIDEO LINK:

http://www.youtube.com/user/contatorobson










DOWNLOAD VIDEO DEAR GOD:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M9YU4CJ0




ELTON JOHN SARTORIAL ELOUQUENCE

VIDEO LINK:

http://www.youtube.com/user/contatorobson






DOWNLOAD VIDEO
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4JD1VW50


COLD AS CHRISTMAS
VIDEO LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/user/contatorobson









DOWNLOAD VIDEO
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GAV5RO7G



I´M STILL STANDING
VIDEO LINK:

http://www.youtube.com/user/contatorobson





DOWNLOAD LINK:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BOBXVMBL



ELTON JOHN MILLIE JACKSON ACT OF WAR IN MONTREUX FESTUVAL 1985
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZIPDYEA2

Julio Cesar - Jovens Talentos - Programa Raul Gil - 05/02/2011 - Can You Feel This Love Tonight

Jacket's long journey to Elton concert

 http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Jacket+long+journey+Elton+concert/4269748/story.html

By KATHERINE DEDYNA, Timescolonist.com

 

Lucy Mears holds her friend Peter Blaney's jacket.

Photograph by: LYLE STAFFORD, Timescolonist.com

It's a beat-up jean jacket, but nothing could keep Oak Bay resident Lucy Mears from taking it to Elton John's Valentine's Day concert in Victoria.
Embroidered with a mini-version of the cover of John's 1971 album Madman Across the Water, the jacket was a treasured possession of one of Mears's dearest friends, Peter Blaney, who died of AIDS two years ago.
Mears believes Blaney will be at the concert in spirit, given the many journeys across the water — as in the Atlantic Ocean — his Elton-themed jacket took to end up in her hands in time for the concert. "The stars all seem to be coming together," she says.
Mears and Blaney met at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., in 1978 and spent much of their time together listening to the Madman album and often singing along.
Over the decades, when Blaney lived in Bermuda and the Netherlands, he would sign off his emails to her with "madman across the water."
A friend in Bermuda, his home, eventually programmed her sewing machine to embroider the blue-on-blue Madman design on the back of Blaney's jacket after Mears could not do it by hand.
When Blaney lay dying in February 2009, Mears flew to his bedside in Bermuda. Out came the cherished jacket, and the two old friends listened to John's music together — as they had done so often in their youth.
He wanted to leave the jacket to her, but he wasn't ready to let it go.
"We probably listened to Madman on the Water," Mears recalls. "It was a bit of blur. He went into a coma two hours after I left . . . and died on St. Patrick's Day."
Mears can hardly believe journeys the jacket took to make it to her in time for Monday's sold-out concert. That is thanks to the efforts of so many other friends of Blaney's from his days at Trent "who knew this jacket meant so much to me and to Peter," she says. "Music was huge in his life and Elton John was his favourite."
A chain of friends and relations carried the jacket from Bermuda to England to Ontario so Mears could bring it to Victoria.
It's "a story of love" that Mears thinks John would like to know. And if John performs his hit Levon "that would be awesome," she said. "Peter would be smiling down at him and probably belting it out."

Elton John & Band Live in Concert

http://whatson.msn.co.nz/2011/nov/dunedin/elton-john-band-live-in-concert?utm_medium=rss

When:

Friday 25th November 2011, 7:30pm

Where:

Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

Ticket Information:

Buy Tickets – 0800-224-224

Website:

Capital C: Concerts

The Stadium! The Superstar! The Concert Event of 2011!
Capital C: Concerts is bringing the Rocketman, Sir Elton John, back for his fourth New Zealand Concert since 2006 and the first he has played in the South Island in 20 years. Having entertained capacity crowds in Wellington, New Plymouth and Auckland the opportunity to be the first International Superstar to perform in the new, totally covered Forsyth Barr Stadium Dunedin was too much to resist.
As part of Elton’s ‘Greatest Hits Tour’ the concert will feature his full band: Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson, Kim Bullard, Bob Birch and John Mahon.
With over 250 million albums sold worldwide, multi Gammy Awards, an Academy Award and many more honours, Elton John continues to be the ultimate showman with hits like, “Rocket Man’, ‘Candle in the Wind’, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, ‘Benny and the Jets’, ‘ Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting’, ‘the Bitch is Back’, ‘Daniel’ and so many, many, more.
As prolific as always Elton recently released ‘The Union’ an album with long time friend Leon Russell.
Be part of Dunedin’s Entertainment History and see the legend that is Elton John!

Elton John said the British have a 'cruel sense of humour' on US TV

http://www.metrolyrics.com/2011-elton-john-said-the-british-have-a-cruel-sense-of-humour-on-us-tv-news.html



Elton John said the British have a 'cruel sense of humour' live on US morning TV with presenter Matt Lauer. When asked on The Today Show what it meant to 'take the p*ss' out of yourself Elton said: "The British have a very ironic sense of humour and it's kind of a cruel sense of humour in a way. It's about not holding yourself in too high a regard," he added. The music king, 63, continued to talk about his days in rehab, the joys of fatherhood and how he thinks he's not too old to be a dad. He also spoke of his friend Billy Joel and said: "I love him. He may want to punch my face in at the moment but it's OK," in response to questions about his recent comments in Rolling Stone that Joel has never seriously attempted to curb his drinking habits....

Five Favorite Films with Elton John

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1921977/news/1921977/five-favorite-films-with-elton-john/

The legendary star also chats about Gnomeo and Juliet and his music.

In the pantheon of popular music, few artists have been as celebrated and enduring as Sir Elton John. The Grammy/Oscar/Tony winner is also a Kennedy Center honoree, a Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. And, with lyricist Bernie Taupin, John has crafted some of pop's most iconic – and best-selling – music. However, John is hardly one to rest on his laurels; he still plays scores of concerts each year, and a long-gestating passion project, the animated comedy Gnomeo and Juliet, finally hits theaters Friday.

Executive-produced by John, Gnomeo is a retelling of Shakespeare's classic tale with garden gnomes, and features some of his biggest singles ("Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," "Rocket Man," among others) along with "Hello, Hello," a duet with Lady Gaga. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Sir Elton shared his favorite films, and discussed the making of Gnomeo and why it's still a thrill for him to hear his old songs.

Elton John Gets Candid About Baby Zachary & Billy Joel Comments

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/elton-john-gets-candid-baby-zachary-billy-joel-20110210-165000-624.html
Between raising a newborn and executive producing Disney's new animated film, "Gnomeo & Juliet," Elton John has had his hands full - and the rocker says that he's loving every minute of it.
"We had Zachary on Christmas Day which was really wonderful. That's why he's got the name Levon, because in the song 'Levon' it says, 'He was born a pauper to a pawn on Christmas Day,'" Elton told NBC's Matt Lauer about his new son's moniker in an interview on the "Today" show on Thursday. "[Zachary] is great. I'm getting on a plane shortly after this to go see him... I can't wait to see him today."
PLAY IT NOW: Elton John ‘Thrilled’ By His ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ Duet With Lady Gaga
Elton and his husband, David Furnish, welcomed the baby boy -- Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John -- born via surrogate, nearly two months ago and the singer said he's received a bit of flack for having a child so late in life.
"I'm 63," Elton told Matt. "People say, 'You waited a little too long.'... It is the most challenging and the most responsible thing you can do is to bring up a child and I thought, 'You know what? I'm going to try it.'
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gay & Lesbian Hollywood
"And I'm sure as much as I can give him, he's going to give me a thousand-fold back," he added. "Already, in seven weeks he's done that."
The "Benny and the Jets" crooner also made headlines in early February when he characterized his former touring partner Billy Joel's rehab stints as "light" - something Billy has not taken quite as "lightly."
"[Billy] hates me at the moment and I understand why," Elton told Matt. "He sent me a message and he's not happy and I understand that. I really love the guy -- I just am concerned.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hottest Hollywood Dads!
"He's going to hate me... he's not going be happy with me, but it comes from a place of love," he continued. "I'm sorry I had to say it, but I said it because I really want Billy to live a long life and be very happy. I understand why he's pissed with me and I can take that on the chin."
As someone who has battled drug and alcohol abuse as well, Elton said he understands Billy's angry reaction.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The ‘Piano Man’ Over The Years — Billy Joel
"Years ago when I was using and people tried to tell me, I didn't talk to them for years," Elton told Matt. "Now, I look back and they were only trying to help. And I'm only trying to help. Maybe I should've done it privately, but I've been so frustrated over the years at some of the things.
"I do love him and I want to stress that," he added. "He may want to punch my face in at the moment, but it's OK," he added.
However, Billy responded to Elton's "Today" show comments on Thursday afternoon (in a statement released by the "Uptown Girl" singer's publicist to Rolling Stone), saying:
"1. I do not hate Elton John 2. I do not want to "punch him in the face" 3. If he wants to call me, my number is still the same. 4. Good luck with the movie. BILLY JOEL"
Elton's animated film, "Gnomeo & Juliet," featuring a duet with Elton and Lady Gaga, hits theaters on Friday.

Elton John 'signs son up for choir school'

http://www.metrolyrics.com/2011-elton-john-signs-son-up-for-choir-school-news.html



Elton John has reportedly signed his baby boy up for a place at an exclusive choir school. He and partner David Furnish are said to have enlisted their seven-week-old son Zachary at St George's School near Windsor Castle, England, where pupils often perform for the Queen. A Windsor Castle source told The Sun, "It was no surprise when Sir Elton said his first choice of school for Zachary was the royal choir school here. "It has an incredible music department and staff. All the children play an instrument from the age of about seven and the piano is the favourite. "Pupils all learn to sing and become part of the choir, and the best join the 24-boy choristers who sing for the Queen in St George's Chapel." The couple are also believed to be planning on putting their son's name down for Eton College — the prestigious school attended by Prince William....

Donovan Aston: An Evening of Sir Elton John´s Greatest Hits

Wann: 11.02.2011 - 20:00 Uhr

Wo: Theater Rüsselsheim

http://www.regiomusik.de/veranstaltung/termin/70237/ruesselsheim-konzert-theater-ruesselsheim-donovan-aston-an-evening-of-sir-elton-johns-greatest-hits.html

Am Treff 1
65428 Rüsselsheim
» Lageplan

Tickets:

Der britische Künstler Donovan Aston hat sich mit seiner neuen Live-Show "One Voice - One Piano an evening of Elton John's Greatest Hits" einen langehegten Traum erfüllt. Rund zwei Stunden lang begeistert er das Publikum mit viel Gefühl in der Stimme und Klassikern wie "Candle in the Wind", "Your Song", "Rocket Man" und "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Das Besondere: Donovan Aston begleitet sich selbst auf einem Flügel. Zwischen den einzelnen Stücken gibt's immer wieder Hintergrundinformationen zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Songs. "Mit dem Konzert erfülle ich mir einen lange gehegten Traum. Elton John ist eines meiner großen musikalischen Vorbilder", erklärt Donovan Aston.

Elton John: unica data in Italia il 12 luglio 2011

febbraio 12, 2011 by lily 

http://www.musica10.it/elton-john-unica-data-in-italia-il-12-luglio-2011-12788.html
Sir Elton John sarà in concerto in Italia all’Anfiteatro Camerini martedì 12 Luglio 2011. È l’unica data del nord Italia e il primo grande appuntamento dell’estate.
Il grande artista inglese sarà accompagnato dal chitarrista Davey Johnstone, Bob Birch al basso, Kim Bullard alle tastiere, John Mahon alle percussioni e Nigel Olsson alla batteria per fare un excursus di tutta la sua carriera. La sua trentennale presenza nella scena musicale ci ha fatto sognare con le sue canzoni rock negli anni 70 arrivando alle ballads romantiche degli anni 80.
Sarà sul palco, oltre che con la sua band, con il suo pianoforte. Lo strumento che permette all’artista di esprimere al meglio il suo spirito nostalgico e romantico.
Ma sarà una serata ricca di emozioni e colpi di scena conoscendo anche l’inesauribile repertorio di Elton che tocca tanti e diversi generi musicali.
Il costo del biglietto è a partire da 48,50 euro ma affrettatevi, è un evento irripetibile!

Elton, amore di padre Figlio già iscritto dai coristi della Regina

Il piccolo Zachary, nato da poco più di un mese (da madre surrogata), ha già un futuro assicurato. Elton John lo ha già iscritto al prestigioso corso privato per diventare coristi della Regina Elisabetta

http://qn.quotidiano.net/spettacoli/musica/2011/02/11/457818-elton_amore_padre.shtml

Elton John, 63 anni (Reuters)

• Elton John e David Furnish diventano genitori: è nato il piccolo Zachary

Londra, 11 febbraio 2011 - Zachary Furnish John, il fortunato figlio del popolare cantante e del compagno David, ha già un futuro assicurato. E, manco a dirlo, nel mondo del canto: Elton John ha infatti iscritto il figlio ad una scuola privata nei pressi del castello di Windsor dove vengono istruiti i coristi della regina Elisabetta.
Inoltre, secondo quanto riferisce oggi il 'Sun', la star britannica avrebbe scelto la prestigiosa St George’s di Eton per il suo dipartimento di musica ed i suoi insegnanti, oltre al fatto che la scuola non e’ lontana dalla sua lussuosa residenza di campagna.
Elton John, che davvero non si fa mancare nulla, ha già incontrato il preside dell’istituto - che tra le sue ex allieve conta la principessa Eugenie, figlia del principe Andrea, e tra le allieve attuali Lady Louise Windsor, figlia di Edoardo. John ha anche compiuto un tour privato della scuola.
All’età di tre anni, Zachary comicerà a frequentare l’asilo della scuola, che costa 7.500 sterline all’anno. Dai sette anni in su tutti i bambini seguono lezioni di musica e canto e i migliori entrano a far parte del coro della regina presso la cappella di St George’s a Windsor.