Elton John

Background

Elton Hercules John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25th, 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex, England. He is the son of Stanley Dwight, who served in the Royal Air Force as a sergeant and squadron leader, and Sheila Eileen, who has reportedly been described as a cold, uncaring woman — she died at the age of 92 in 2017. John was raised in a council house in Pinner by his mother’s grandparents until his parents’ marriage in 1945. He attended the Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School, and Pinner County Grammar School until he was 17, when he decided to drop out of school just before his A-Level examinations to pursue his music career. His father was very unapproving of John, trying to steer him into a more conventional career such as banking. John has explained how his expressive costumes are his means of letting go of his restrictive childhood.

As a young boy, John would play his grandmother’s piano, and after performing at small parties and family gatherings, he began formal piano lessons at the age of seven. He showed musical aptitude at school and could perfectly compose melodies and repeat songs. At age 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. In 1962 he formed the band Bluesology, where he was a member until 1967. He met his longtime musical partner, Bernard John Taupin, in 1967 after both responded to an advert for songwriters. For two years, they wrote songs for other artists, working as session musicians. In 1969 John released his debut album “Empty Sky,” and by 1970, he formed the Elton John Band and released his first hit single, ‘Your Song’ which reached the top ten in both the U.K. and U.S. charts. John has also composed music for various musical films and theater, composing music for “The Lion King” and its theatrical stage adaption. He also has a movie about him called “Rocketman.”

Outside of music, John is a passionate activist for H.I.V./AIDS and has been involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, establishing a foundation called the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. Since its beginning, the foundation has raised over £300 million. In 1988 John came out as openly gay and met his future husband in 2005, a Canadian filmmaker named David Furnish. Furnish and John married in England after same-sex marriage was legalized in 2014. John is one of the highest-selling artists of all time, having sold over 300 million records worldwide within six decades of his music career. In 2019, John was ranked as the top solo artist in U.S. chart history for the third time, and he has received five Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards, two Academy Awards, and a Tony Award. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.