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Elton Hercules John
Elton Hercules John, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25, 1947, is an iconic English singer, pianist, and composer. He has had a remarkable career spanning over six decades, becoming one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Known for his flamboyant fashion sense and powerful voice, Elton John has released numerous hit singles such as “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Your Song,” and “Candle in the Wind.”
Elton John has won numerous awards, including five Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
In 1994, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him. In 1998, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his contributions to music and charitable services.
| Full name | Elton Hercules John |
| Born | 25 March 1947 |
| Age | 76 years |
| Birth Place | Pinner, United Kingdom |
| Height | 5 ft 7.5 inches (1.72 m) |
| Zodiac sign | Aries |
| Spouse | David Furnish (m. 2014), David Furnish (m. 2005–2014), Renate Blauel (m. 1984–1988) |
| Children | Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter, and musician |
Early life
Elton John, the eldest son of Stanley Dwight and only son of Sheila Eileen. His maternal grandparents raised him in a council house in Pinner.
His parents married in 1945, when the family moved into a nearby row house. I attended Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School, and Pinner County Grammar School until I was 17. Then, I left both my A-level exams and pursued a career in music before turning 18.
When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father, who served in the Royal Air Force, tried to steer him towards a more conventional career, such as banking.
The Bob Millar Band, a semi-professional big band that played at military balls, had his father as its trumpeter, along with his musically inclined wife.
The Dwights were keen record buyers, exposing John to the popular singers and musicians of the day.
The people who encouraged Elton to start in the world of music were his grandmother and his mother, who one day surprised him playing a song on the piano at home.
They immediately knew that the boy had great musical talent. At the age of four he already interpreted simple melodies and at seven he sang at family parties.
His favorite artists were Elvis Presley, Bill Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, among others.
Elton John (then known as Reg Dwight) studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London for five years.
For the next five years, John attended Saturday classes at the Academy in central London and has said that he enjoyed playing Frédéric Chopin and Johann Sebastian Bach and singing in the choir during Saturday classes, but he did not he was a diligent classical student.
He left the Academy before taking the final exams.
Elton Hercules John Career
1. Early Life and Career Beginnings: He started performing in local bands and, in 1969, released his debut album, Empty Sky.
2. Breakthrough: His breakthrough came with the release of his self-titled album in 1970, featuring hits like “Your Song.” The collaboration with lyricist Bernie Taupin became one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in music history.
3. Success in the 1970s and 1980s: Elton John’s career soared with a series of successful albums and singles, including Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across the Water, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Hits such as “Rocket Man,” “Candle in the Wind,” and “Bennie and the Jets” cemented his status as a pop icon.
4. 1990s and 2000s: Despite experiencing some turbulence in his personal life and career, Elton John continued to release successful music and remained a prominent figure in the industry. His work on the soundtrack for Disney’s The Lion King earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
5. Recent Work: In the 2010s, Elton John remained active with notable projects, including his autobiography Me and a biographical film, Rocketman (2019), which depicted his rise to fame and personal struggles. He also embarked on his farewell tour, “Farewell Yellow Brick Road,” which started in 2018.
6. Accolades: Throughout his career, Elton John has won numerous awards, including multiple Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. Queen Elizabeth II has honored him with knighthood in 1998.
Elton Hercules John Personal life
Family
In the late 1960s, Linda Woodrow, John’s former mistress, was engaged to him. The woman referred to in the song “Somebody Saved My Life Tonight” was John’s former partner. Woodrow provided financial assistance to John and Taupin at this time.
Taupin and Long John Baldry advised John to end the relationship two weeks before their planned wedding. In 2020, John helped pay for Woodrow’s medical fees at her request, despite having lost contact with her 50 years earlier.
In 1970, just after his first US shows in Los Angeles, he lost his virginity and began his first gay relationship with John Reid, the UK manager of the Tamla Motown label, who later became John’s manager.
The relationship ended five years later, although Reid remained her manager until 1998.
John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on February 14, 1984, in an extravagant wedding ceremony in Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia. Ella Blauel said that she attempted suicide during their honeymoon in St-Tropez after John told her that she wanted to end the union.
Her marriage ended in divorce in 1988. John said, “She was the classiest woman I’ve ever known, but she wasn’t meant to be. She was living a lie.” In 2020, Blauel sued John for writing about her relationship in her 2019 official autobiography Me: Elton John, which she claimed broke the terms of her divorce settlement. Later that same year, the case was settled.
John came out as bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone, and in 1992 he told Rolling Stone in another interview that he was “quite comfortable being gay.”
John with her husband David Furnish in Leicester Square in May 2019 for the London premiere of the John biopic Rocket man.
Relationship
In 1993, John began a relationship with David Furnish, a former advertising executive and now filmmaker originally from Toronto.
On December 21, 2005 (the day the Civil Unions Act came into force), John and Furnish were among the first couples to form a civil union in the UK, which was held at the Windsor Guildhall.
John and Furnish got married in Windsor, Berkshire on December 21, 2014, nine years after their civil union, following the legalization of same-sex marriage in the UK in March 2014.
John and Furnish have two children. The eldest, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born by surrogacy on December 25, 2010 in California.
The youngest, Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, was born on January 11, 2013 through the same surrogate. John also has 10 godchildren, including Sean Lennon, David and Victoria Beckham’s sons Brooklyn and Romeo, Elizabeth Hurley’s son Damian Hurley, and Seymour Stein’s daughter.
Controversy
In 2010, some Christian groups in the US criticized John after he described Jesus as a “super-smart, compassionate gay man who understood human problems.”
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and an opponent of gay marriage, responded: “To call Jesus a homosexual is to label him a sexual deviant.
But what else would we expect from a man who previously said, ‘From From My point of view, I would ban religion altogether.'” John stated, in his 2019 autobiography Me, that he had received many death threats as a result of his statements.
Neal Horsley, a Christian reconstructionist from Bremen, Georgia, USA, was arrested for making terrorist threats after posting a video on YouTube saying: “We are here today to remind Elton John that he has to die.” The charges were later dropped.
In 2008, John said that he preferred civil unions to gay marriage, but in 2012 he changed his position and became a supporter of same-sex marriage in the UK. Juan said,
He was an author involved in the politics of his country, in 2008 he gave a concert in New York to raise funds for the campaign of Hillary Clinton, Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States.
Elton has received a large number of awards and distinctions. He has not only made a living from music, but he also bought a football team from London, Watford.
In 2014 with the approval of the law that allowed equal marriage in the United Kingdom, Elton married the Canadian David Furnish in the Windsor City Hall with whom he had had a romantic relationship since 2005.
Discography
| Studio albums | |
| Empty Sky | 1969 |
| Elton John | 1970 |
| Tumbleweed Connection | 1970 |
| Madman Across the Water | 1971 |
| Honky Château | 1972 |
| Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player | 1973 |
| Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | 1973 |
| Caribou | 1974 |
| Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy | 1975 |
| Rock of the Westies | 1975 |
| Blue Moves | 1976 |
| A Single Man | 1978 |
| Victim of Love | 1979 |
| 21 at 33 | 1980 |
| The Fox | 1981 |
| Jump Up! | 1982 |
| Too Low for Zero | 1983 |
| Breaking Hearts | 1984 |
| Ice on Fire | 1985 |
| Leather Jackets | 1986 |
| Reg Strikes Back | 1988 |
| Sleeping with the Past | 1989 |
| The One | 1992 |
| Made in England | 1995 |
| The Big Picture | 1997 |
| Songs from the West Coast | 2001 |
| Peachtree Road | 2004 |
| The Captain & the Kid | 2006 |
| The Diving Board | 2013 |
| Wonderful Crazy Night | 2016 |
| Regimental Sgt. Zippo | 2021 |
| Collaboration albums | |
| Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | 1986 |
| Duets | 1993 |
| The Union (with Leon Russell) | 2010 |
| Good Morning to the Night (with Pnau) | 2012 |
| The Lockdown Sessions | 2021 |
| Soundtrack albums | |
| Friends | 1971 |
| The Lion King | 1994 |
| Aida | 1998 |
| Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida | 1999 |
| The Muse | 1999 |
| The Road to El Dorado | 2000 |
| Billy Elliot | 2005 |
| Lestat | 2005 |
| Gnomeo & Juliet | 2011 |
| Rocketman | 2019 |
filmography
In various films, Elton John, the renowned musician and singer-songwriter, has acted and taken on other roles. Here’s a list of some notable works:
Acting Roles
“Tommy” (1975) – Elton John played the role of the “Pinball Wizard” in this film adaptation of The Who’s rock opera.
“The Pink Panther” (1976) – He had a cameo appearance in this comedy film.
Music and Production
“The Lion King” (1994) – Elton John composed the music for this iconic Disney animated film, including the songs “Circle of Life,” “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” and “Hakuna Matata.”
“Gnomeo & Juliet” (2011) – Elton John was both a composer and producer for this animated film, contributing several songs and serving as a producer.
Biographical Film
“Rocketman” (2019) – This biographical musical film chronicles Elton John’s rise to fame and personal struggles. Taron Egerton played Elton John, and Elton himself was heavily involved in the film as an executive producer.
Elton Hercules John Net Worth
Elton John’s net worth is estimated to be around $550 million to $650 million. This substantial wealth is attributed to his successful music career, including record sales of over 300 million albums worldwide, extensive concert tours, and numerous business ventures.
Additionally, his real estate portfolio and art collection significantly contribute to his net worth (Wealthy Gorilla) (Singer Fortune).
John’s influence extends beyond music into philanthropy, notably through the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised millions for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Elton Hercules John Honours and awards
Elton John has received numerous honors and awards throughout his career.
Academy Awards: Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1995) and “The Lion King” (1995).
Golden Globe Awards: Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1995), “The Lion King” (1995), and “The Road to El Dorado” (2001).
Grammy Awards: Numerous awards including Best Pop Male Vocal Performance and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
BRIT Awards: Outstanding Contribution to Music (1986), among others.
Tony Awards: Best Original Score for “Aida” (2000) and “The Lion King” (1998).
Kennedy Center Honors: Honored in 2004 for his contributions to American culture through the performing arts.
Order of the British Empire (OBE): Knighted in 1998 for his services to music and charity.
Web
FAQ
Who was Elton John’s first lover?
John Reid
Why is Elton called Hercules?
Why did he choose Hercules? As for his new middle name, he did not choose the middle name ‘Hercules’ after the hero of mythology, but after a horse named Hercules from the British sitcom Steptoe and Son.
What was Elton John’s first famous song?
Your song
John released his debut album, Empty Sky, in 1969, and a year later he formed the Elton John Band and released his first single, “Your Song.”
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