Renate Blauel
Renate Blauel was born in Berlin on March 1st, 1953 and is the Music Producer. At the age of 71, Renate Blauel biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer.
Bernie Taupin has been working with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967; the two have collaborated on more than 30 albums.
John has sold more than 300 million albums, making him one of the world's top-selling musicians.
He has more than fifty hits, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums in the United States, 58 Billboard Top 40 singles, 27 Top 10 singles, 27 of which have peaked at number one, with four of which reached number one.
His tribute song "Candle in the Wind 1997," written in honor of Diana, Princess of Wales, has sold over 33 million copies worldwide and is the top-selling single in the UK and US singles charts.
He has also produced records and appeared in films occasionally.
Early life
Elton John was born in Pinner, Middlesex, on the 25th child of Stanley Dwight (1925–1991) and the sole child of Sheila Eileen (née Harris, 1925–2017). He was raised in a Pinner council house by his maternal grandparents. His parents married in 1945, when the family migrated to a semi-detached house in a nearby suburb. He attended Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School, and Pinner County Grammar School until he was 17, when he left just before his A-Level exams to pursue a career in music.
When John began to think about a career in music seriously, his father, who served in the Royal Air Force and served at RAF Basrah in 1949, attempted to direct him towards a more traditional career, such as banking. After such a restrictive childhood, John has said that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go. Both his parents were musically inclined, with his father playing trumpet with the Bob Millar Band, a semi-professional big band that performed at military dances. The Dwights were avid record buyers, exposing John to the day's most popular musicians and entertainers, and he's said he was immediately addicted to rock and roll when his mother brought home albums from Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets in 1956. "I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it." As an adult, he remembers his childhood. I didn't want to be someone else. I'm more of a Little Richard stylist than a Jerry Lee Lewis, I guess. Jerry Lee is an intricate piano player and an excellent instructor, but Little Richard is more of a pounder."
As a young boy, John began playing his grandmother's piano, and within a year, his mother heard him reading Waldteufel's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. He began formal piano lessons after performing at birthday and family gatherings at the age of seven. He displayed musical talent at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained a little notoriety by appearing at school functions as Jerry Lee Lewis. He received a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 11. After hearing it for the first time, John immediately played back, like a "gramophone record," according to one of his teachers.
John attended Saturday classes at the Academy in central London, and he has said he enjoyed attending Frédéric Chopin and Johann Sebastian Bach and performing in the choir during Saturday classes, but that he was not a diligent classical student. "I kind of resentted going to the Academy," he said. "I was one of those students who could just about get away without practising and then failing to pass through the grades." On the London Underground, he has stated that he would sometimes skip classes and cycle around. Several teachers have testified that he was a "model student," and over the past few years he took lessons from a private tutor in addition to his Academy classes. He left the Academy before taking the final exams.
Though devoted to her son, John's mother was more vibrant than her husband, and there was a hint of a free spirit. With Stanley Dwight uninterested in his son and often absent, John was raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother. The Dwights had vehement arguments that greatly distressed John when he was home. When he was 14, they divorced. Fred Farebrother, a local painter, married his mother, a caring and sympathetic stepfather who John affectionately referred to as "Fred" backwards. They moved into apartment No. 2. Frome Court, an eight-unit apartment building, is not far from both previous residences. Theresa John wrote the songs that launched his career as a rock star; he lived in the United States Top 40 for a year.
Personal life
John was planning to marry his first love, secretary Linda Woodrow, who is featured in the song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." At the time, Woodrow was assisting John and Taupin with financial assistance. After being consulted by Taupin and Long John Baldry, John and his family decided against marriage two weeks before their intended wedding date. Despite having lost touch with her 50 years ago, John helped pay for Woodrow's medical bills on her own in 2020.
He lost his virginity to and began his first gay friendship with John Reid, the Tamla Motown label manager for the United Kingdom who later became John Reid, who later became John Reid, right after his first American shows in Los Angeles. Reid, the boss, remained his manager until 1998, five years later.
In an extravagant wedding reception held at Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia, John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on February 14, 1984. Blauel said she attempted suicide in St-Tropez after John told her that he wanted to end the marriage. In 1988, the couple's marriage ended in divorce. "She was the most beautiful woman I've ever encountered," John said, but it wasn't meant to be. I was living a lie." Blauel wrote about their marriage in his 2019 Me: Official Autobiography, a novel in which she said she violated the terms of their divorce agreement. The lawsuit was settled later this year.
In a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone, John came out bisexual, and in 1992 he told Rolling Stone that he was "quite keen about being gay."
John began a friendship with David Furnish, a former advertising executive and now filmmaker from Toronto, in 1993. On December 21, 2005 (the day the Civil Partnership Act came into being), John and Furnish became the first couples to establish a civil partnership in the United Kingdom, and they were married at the Windsor Guildhall. On the ninth anniversary of their civil union in the United Kingdom, John and Furnish married in Windsor, Berkshire, on December 21.
Both John and Furnish have two sons. Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, the elder, was born in California by surrogacy on December 25. Elijah Joseph Furnish-John, the younger brother, was born on January 11, 2013 via the same survivor. In addition, John Lennon, David and Victoria Beckham's sons, Brooklyn and Romeo, Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Hurley, and Seymour Stein's daughter are among the many godchildren.
In 2010, several Christian groups in the United States condemned John after he described Jesus as a "compassionate, superintelligent gay man who understood human problems." Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and a critic of gay marriage, replied: "To call Jesus a homosexual is to identify him as a sexual deviant." However, what else can we expect from a man who said, 'I would strictly prohibit religion from my point of view.'" In his autobiography Me, John claimed that he had received several death threats as a result of his words. After posting a YouTube video stating, "We're here today to warn Elton John that we're here to tell him he must die," Neal Horsley, a Christian Reconstructionist from Bremen, Georgia, United States, was arrested for terrorist acts. The charges were then dropped and were subsequently dismissed.
In 2008, John said he preferred civil partnerships to gay marriage in the United Kingdom, but by 2012, he had changed his role and become a promoter of same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom.John said,
He said in 2014 that Jesus would have approved same-sex marriage.
The Sunday Times Rich List estimated John's wealth at £175 million (US$265 million) in April 2009, naming him as the third richest individual in the United Kingdom. In the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List, John was predicted to have a fortune of £320 million, making him one of the top ten richest people in the British music industry a decade later. Outside of Woodside, Berkshire's main home, John has resided in Atlanta, London, Los Angeles, Nice, and Venice. His property in Nice is on Mont Boron. John is an art historian and is said to have one of the world's most important private photography collections.
In 2000, John admitted to investing £30 million in less than two years, less than half of what was expected, at £1.5 million per month. He invested more than £9.6 million on property and £293,000 on flowers between January 1996 and September 1997. In June 2001, John Christie sold 20 of his cars at Christie's, saying he never had the opportunity to drive them because he was out of the country so often. The auction, which included a 1993 Jaguar XJ220, the most expensive at £234,750, as well as many Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys, raised nearly £2 million. In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park house—which was expected to sell for £800,000 at Sotheby's—to modernize the interior and display some of his contemporary art works. Every year since 2004, John has operated "Elton's Closet," in which he sells his secondhand clothing.
In October 2021, John was included in the Pandora Papers, a classified financial contract between politicians and celebrities used tax havens in an attempt to prevent the payment of outstanding taxes.
By 1975, the pressures of stardom had begun to take their toll on John. He had a cocaine overdose on "Elton Week" in Los Angeles last year. Bulimia was also present in his diet. In a 2002 CNN interview with Larry King, King wondered if John was aware of Diana, Princess of Wales' eating disorder. "Yes, I did," John replied. We were both bulimic." John posted a note on Instagram in July 2019 that he had been sober for 29 years. After spending time with Ryan White's family, he cleaned himself up at a 2022 concert in Indianapolis. "I knew that my lifestyle was out of order and out of order." ... I cannot express enough praise because, without them, I'd probably die." In a 2014 interview, he attributed his sobriety to the Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel duet "Don't Give Up" from 1986, in particular Bush's lyric, "rest your head." You're concerned about too much. It's going to be all right. If the times get tough, we can fall back on us. Don't give up. "She [Bush] was a major factor in my rebirth," he says. "It's been a help."
Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis team, the Philadelphia Freedoms, is a long-serving tennis fan who performed "Philadelphia Liberation" in 1975 in honor of his friend Billie Jean King's "Philadelphia Freedom" in honor of his fellow Billie Jean King's "Philadelphia Freedoms." At the time, the King was a player-coach for the team. John and King are both friends and co-chair an annual pro-am event to support AIDS charities, most notably the Elton John AIDS Foundation, of which the King is a chairperson. Since moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 1991, John, who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, became a fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team.
Among other things, John has appeared in advertisements for Diet Coke, the Royal Mail, Snickers, and the John Lewis & Partners department store. Author Roger Blackwell and Tina Stephan wrote "the friendship between Elton John and Diet Coke is one of the best success stories in the role of sponsorship in brand development." He reminisce about his life and work in reverse, eventually culminating in Christmas Day in the 1950s when he received a piano for Christmas from his mother.
Monty Python's admirer was one of a group of musicians who aided finance their film Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975. In 1997, John was given the Empire Inspiration Award by the comedy group The Empire Inspiration Award at the 2nd Empire Awards.
During his return flight home from a South American tour in Santiago, Chile, John was released from hospital after two nights of intensive care for a "delicate and unusual" bacterial infection. He was forced to cancel all of his shows scheduled for April and May 2017. After "falling awkwardly on a hard surface," John required hip surgery in October 2021.
Watford F.C.'s chairman and chief John was John Morris. Since supporting the team since his youth, he continued to support the team in 1976. As the club's three divisions into the English First Division, John appointed Graham Taylor as manager and invested large sums of money. The club finished runners up in the First Division to Liverpool in 1983 and reached the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in 1984. In 1987, John sold the club to Jack Petchey, but stayed president. John repurchased the team from Petchey ten years ago and became chairman once more. He stepped down in 2002 when the club needed a full-time chairman but not as president. Despite being no longer a majority shareholder, John still has a major financial interest. In 2005 and 2010, John performed a concert at Vicarage Road, Watford's home stadium, where he donated funds to the charity. Pelé and David Beckham, for example, have been friends with a number of top-profile players in football, including Pelé and David Beckham. John was a member of the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1976. He and his partner and sons were on the opening of the "Sir Elton John stand" in Watford on December 13, 2014. The event, according to him, was "one of the finest days of my life."
Roy Dwight, John's paternal cousin, scored for Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final before breaking his leg later in the same match.
Career
John was hired as a pianist at a nearby bar, the Northwood Hills Hotel, in Thursday to Sunday nights, with his mother's and stepfather's assistance. He performed a variety of well-known styles, including songs by Jim Reeves and Ray Charles, as well as his own songs. He rounded out his days with a short-lived company called the Corvettes. Although being a teenager, John began wearing horn-rimmed glasses to imitate Buddy Holly.
In 1962, John and a few colleagues formed Bluesology, a British folk group. He ran errands for a music publishing house by day; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was funding touring American soul and R&B artists, including Isley Brothers, Major Lance and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. The band formed Long John Baldry's support band in 1966 and appeared 16 times at the Marquee Club.
In 1967, John answered an advertisement in the British magazine New Musical Express, directed by Ray Williams, then A&R boss for Liberty Records. Williams gave John an unopened envelope of lyrics by Bernie Taupin, who had previously answered the same ad in their first meeting. John wrote the lyrics and then sent it to Taupin, beginning a friendship that still exists. When the two bands first met in 1967, they recorded "Scarecrow," the first John/Taupin song. Elton John, the saxophonist Elton Dean and vocalist Long John Baldry, were two members of Bluesology six months later. On January 7, 1972, he legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John.
John and Taupin formed J&T Records in 1968 as staff writers and, later, wrote material for several artists, including Roger Cook and Lulu. Taupin would write a batch of lyrics in under an hour and give it to John, who would write music for them in half an hour, if he didn't come up with anything quickly. They produced simple-listening songs for James to peddle to singers for two years. "I Can't Go On (Living Without You)" was one of the early entries in the UK's Eurovision Song Contest 1969, for Lulu. It was the sixth of six songs. John completed a quartet with Roger Hodgson on his first album single, "Mr. Boyd" by Argosy, a quartet that was completed by Caleb Quaye and Nigel Olsson in 1969.
John and Taupin began writing more complicated songs for John that were not suitable for DJM, heeding music publisher Steve Brown's suggestion. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, the former guitarist of Bluesology. With Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John sang "Lady Samantha" and an album, Empty Sky was released in 1969. Elton John, John, John, and Taupin enlisted Gus Dudgeon as producer and musical arranger for their follow-up album. Elton John was born on DJM Records/Pye Records in the United Kingdom and Uni Records in the United States in April 1970, and he created the formula for subsequent albums: gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. "Border Song," the album's first single, debuted at 92nd on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching 92nd place. "Your Song" became John's first hit single as a singer and reached number seven in the UK Singles Chart and number eight in the United States. The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 and number five on the UK Albums Chart, ranking him at number four on the US Billboard 200 and top five on the UK Albums Chart.
Former Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, John's first American concert took place at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on August 25, 1970, and was a success. Tumbleweed Connection was released in October 1970 and ranked second in the UK and fifth in the United States, and fifth in the United States. The live album 17-11-70 (titled 11-17-70 in the United States) was broadcast on WABC-FM in New York City. When an east-coast bootlegger announced the performance several weeks before the official album, not just the 40 minutes chosen by Dick James Music, the live album took home the world by a slew of hits in the United States.
"Levon" and the album's opening track, "Tiny Dancer," were written by John and Taupin after the 1971 film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, which debuted at number eight in the United States and included the hit songs "Levon" and the album's opening track, "Tiny Dancer." Davey Johnstone played guitar and backing vocals with the Elton Johnstone band in 1972. Honky Château was released in 1972 as John's first American number one album, spending five weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, and began a string of seven consecutive US number one albums. The album debuted at number two in the United Kingdom, as well as "Rocket Man" and "Honky Cat."
In 1972, John appeared at the Royal Variety Show, where he was upstaged by Larry Smith, the drummer with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, upstaged him. Smith was invited to join John's second US tour; Smith later reported: "...... I suggested using various other weird things like me doing "Singin' in the Rain" as a song and dance performance with Elton playing piano. Kubrick's Clockwork Orange film had just been released. In addition, I made crazy, over-the-top costumes, and massive stage sets for 'Legstraganzas.' "Elton loved it."
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973 and ranked first in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, among other nations. "Crocodile Rock," his first US Billboard Hot 100 number one, and "Daniel," were two of the album's top hits and number four in the United Kingdom and number four. The album and "Crocodile Rock" were respectively the first album and single on the consolidated MCA Records label in the United States, replacing MCA's other brands, including Uni.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which opened in October 1973, received instant fame and topped the charts on both directions of the Atlantic, remaining at number one for two months. It also established John as a glam rock star for a short time. It featured "Bennie and the Jets," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Candle in the Wind," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding."
John formed The Rocket Record Company (Distributed in the United States by MCA and briefly by Island in the United Kingdom), and, later, signing artists to it, including Neil Sedaka (John sang background vocals on Sedaka's "Bad Blood") and Kiki Dee, in whom he cited a personal interest. He signed an $8 million deal with MCA instead of releasing his own records on Rocket. MCA had an insurance policy covering John's life when the deal was signed in 1974. MCA also published Elton John's Greatest Hits, a UK and US number one that has been certified Diamond by the RIAA for US sales of 17 million copies.
In 1974, John Lennon worked with John Lennon on his cover of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," the B-side of Lennon's "One Day at a Time." In the United States, it was the number one for two weeks. On Lennon's album Walls and Bridges, John was included on "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night." The pair performed these two number one hits alongside Lennon's last major live performance at Madison Square Garden in New York later this year. Lennon kept the promise he made that if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a top-one single on television, he would appear with him on stage. Caribou was first introduced in 1974 and is now the third most popular in the United Kingdom and the top charts in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It was reported that it was in two weeks between live performances and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." In November 1973, "Step into Christmas" was released as a stand-alone single and appears in the album's 1995 remastered reissue.
Pete Townshend of the Who asked John to appear in the 1975 film version of the rock opera Tommy "Local Lad" and to perform the song "Pinball Wizardry." John's version, which was based on power chords, was recorded and used in the film. The album debuted at number 7 in the United Kingdom. John, who had developed a glam aesthetic on stage, would later state glam rock icon Marc Bolan "had a big influence on me."
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first album to do so, debuted at number one in the United States, and stayed there for seven weeks. John revealed his ambiguous image on the album, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling writers and performers in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo book are infused with a certain sense of place and time that is otherwise unhearded in his music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," a hit single from this album, represented an early turning point in John's life. The album's release indicated that the Elton John Band had come to an end, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray. According to Circus, a spokesman for John Reid, the decision was reached mutually by phone while John Reid was in Australia promoting Tommy. Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope were released, and Kenny Passarelli was the new bassist; this rhythm section featured a heavier backbeat. James Newton Howard learned how to organise in the studio and to play keyboards. John Wembley Stadium inserted him in June 1975.
The rock-orientated Rock of the Westies debuted at number one on the US albums chart, as had Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, a previously unnottained feat. Obstrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and costumes such as the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were among John's stage wardrobe staples. He appeared on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975. "Island Girl" is the album's fifth US number one single. John played a two-night, four-show stand at the Troubadour to commemorate five years since he first appeared at the venue in 1975. The chance to buy tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner receiving two tickets. Everybody who attended the performances was given a hardbound "year book" detailing the band's past. He appeared on Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver piano and was one of the first and few white artists to appear on the African-American television series Soul Train this year. At the first annual Rock Music Awards in Santa Monica, California, John was named the year's best rock celebrity of the year on August 9, 1975. The live album Here and There was released in May 1976, and the album Blue Moves, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," was released in October. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," a duet with Kiki Dee that topped a variety of charts, including the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Canada, was his best success in 1976.
1970-1976, which was John's most commercially lucrative period, is also remembered with the highest regard. John had seven consecutive albums debut in the United States from 1972 to 1975, something that had not been achieved before. Both six of his albums to be included in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" are from this decade, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91. He had six singles reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1972 to 1976.
John announced that he would be retiring from performing in November 1977, and Taupin began collaborating with others. With only one album a year, John released A Single Man in 1978 with Gary Osborne; the album had no hits beyond the top 20 in the United States, but the album's two singles, "Part-Time Love" and "Song for Guy," reached the top 20 in the UK, with the latter making the top ten, with the former reaching the top five, with the former reaching the top five. John became one of the first Western artists to tour the Soviet Union and Israel in 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper. With "Mama Can't Buy You Love," a song MCA rejected in 1977 and recorded with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell, John returned to the top ten in the United States. Bell was the first one to teach voice lessons and encouraged him to perform in a lower register, according to John. Victim of Love, a disco-influenced album, was poorly received. John and Taupin reunited in 1979, but they did not work on a full album until 1983's Too Low For Zero. The 33-year-old, who was unveiled in the United States in January, was his best hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number 3 US), with the lyrics by Gary Osborne. In May 1979, John performed eight concerts in the Soviet Union; four dates in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and four in Moscow. Elton performed as a whole with French couple France Gall and Michel Berger on the albums "Donner pour donner" and "Les Aveux," which were released together in 1980 as a single.
The Fox's 1981 album The Fox was recorded at the same sessions as 21 and 33 years old, and it featured collaborations with Tom Robinson and Judie Tzuke. With Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, Richie Zito on lead guitar, Tim Renwick on rhythm guitar, and James Newton Howard on keyboards, John performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 viewers on The Great Lawn in Central Park, New York, on September 13th. He appeared on the set as Donald Duck.The album Jump Up!
In 1982, the first hit from which was "Blue Eyes" was announced.Johnstone, Murray, and Olsson's bandmates were back to the charts with the 1983 album Too Low for Zero, which also included the singles "I'm Still Standing" (No. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues," the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and debuted at number four in the United States and number five in the United Kingdom. By performing at Sun City, John caused uproar when he broke the United Nations' cultural boycott against apartheid-era South Africa. On Valentine's Day 1984, he married Renate Blauel, his closest friend and sound engineer; the relationship lasted three years.
John was one of many performers at Live Aid in 1985, which was held at Wembley Stadium. He appeared on "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man" and "Rocket Man" with Kiki Dee for the first time since the Hammersmith Odeon, and George Michael, who was then of Wham, performed "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" on Sunday. He released Breaking Hearts in 1984, which featured the song "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," number five in the United States and number seven in the United Kingdom, and number seven in the United Kingdom. In 1985, John sang of Millie Jackson. He appeared on two tracks on the Saxon's album Rock the People in 1986.
In 1987, John was awarded a libel lawsuit against The Sun, which published inaccurate charges that he had sex with rent boys. He appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1988, bringing him 26 years to a close. At Sotheby's in London, a total of over $20 million, 2,000 pieces of John's memorabilia were auctioned off.
During the 1980s, John had other hits, including "Nikita," whose music video was directed by Ken Russell. The song reached number three in the United Kingdom and number seven in the United States, and it ranked seventh in the United States. In 1986, a live orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" reached number six in the United States, while "I Don't Want to Go on with You Like That" debuted at number six, while "I Don't Want to Go on With You Like That" debuted at number six in 1988. "That's What Friends Are For" was John's highest-charting single, along with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder. In 1985, it reached number one in the United States, and Dionne and Friends, the artist, received funds for HIV/AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but only Reg Strikes Back (number 16, 1988) made the top 20 in the United States from those released in the second half of the 1980s.
With "Sacrifice," a few years' album Sleeping with the Past), John achieved his first solo UK hit single in 1990 (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's Sleeping with the Past; it remained at the top spot for five weeks. "Basque" received the Grammy for Best Instrumental in the United Kingdom, and George Michael's tribute to "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the UK and the US. John was named Best British Male at the 1991 British Awards in London.
In 1992, John released the US number eight album The One, which featured the hit song "The One." It was his first album to be purely sober. "I was used to making records under the smoke of alcohol or drugs," John said in 2020, and here I was, 100 percent sober. However, I managed to produce a good album, which was also the record's name." He also produced "Runaway Train," a duet he recorded with his longtime friend Eric Clapton, with whom he appeared on Clapton's World Tour. John and Taupin then signed a music publishing contract with Warner/Chappell Music worth $39 million over 12 years, the highest cash advance in music publishing history. John appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in April 1992, with the remaining members of the Queen's "The Show Must Go On" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses and the Queen's remaining members. At the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards in September, John performed "The One" and concluded the performance with Guns N' Roses in "November Rain" on September. Duets, which featured collaborations with 15 artists, including Tammy Wynette and RuPaul, appeared in the following year. This included a new venture with Kiki Dee, "Reality Love," which reached the top ten of the UK charts. The Bunbury Tails, a multi-artist charity album, was released in the same year as the soundtrack to the British animated television series of the same name. "Up the Revolution" was John's course, as well as contributions from George Harrison, the Bee Gees, and Eric Clapton. The album was only available in the United Kingdom for a brief period, but only in the United Kingdom.
John, along with Tim Rice, wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. Three of the five Academy Awards for Best Original Song were from The Lion King soundtrack, three of the five finalists for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 67th Academy Awards. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was John's winner. Both the "Circle of Life" and "Circle of Life" have become hits. At the 37th Annual Grammy Awards, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" also received the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. For nine weeks, The Lion King's soundtrack remained at the top of the Billboard 200. The RIAA had rated The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies on November 10, 1999.
Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose in 1994 inducting John into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He began releasing Made in England in 1995 (number 3). The title track is an autobiographical retracing of particulars of his life. The album also included the song "Believe." At the 1995 British Awards, John performed "Believe" on the occasion of being voted Outstanding Contribution to Music.
Luciano Pavarotti's "Live Like Horses" hit number nine in the United Kingdom in December 1996. Love Songs, a compilation album, was released in 1996. John held his 50th birthday party, dressed as Louis XIV of France, with 500 guests. He appeared with the company's remaining members of Queen at Le Presbytère N'a Rien Perpetu Dé Son Éclat, a Le Pertoire N'a Rien Perpetu etée, on January 17th, a work by French ballet legend Maurice Béjart that focuses on the AIDS crisis and the company's principal dancer, Jorge Donn, who died in Paris. Gianni Versace was murdered on July 15th, and Princess Diana of Wales died in a Paris car accident on August 31.
In early September, John begged Taupin to rewrite the lyrics of their 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" to honor Diana, which Taupin agreed. John performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" live at Diana's funeral in Westminster Abbey on September 6th, 1997. The song was the country's fastest and most popular single of all time, selling over 33 million copies worldwide. It is the first single certified Diamond in the United States and the best-selling single in Billboard history, selling over 11 million copies. It's the ninth best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s, with global sales of 33 million copies. Via the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, the singer's proceeds of about £55 million were donated to Diana's charities. At the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in 1998, it was named for Best Male Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards. As a double A-side, the album "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" was released as a double A-side.
John appeared at the Music for Montserrat charity concert on September 15, 1997, performing three songs solo ("Your Song") and "Live Like Horses") before ending with "Hey Jude" alongside Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Sting. He appeared on the BBC's Children in Need charity single "Perfect Day" two months later, ranking No. 1 in the United Kingdom. In December 1997, John appeared as himself in the Spice Girls film Spice World.
In 1997 and 1999, the Lion King musical premiered on Broadway and the West End. It had earned over $6 billion in 2014 and became the top-earning title in both stage and film, beating the record set by Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 film The Phantom of the Opera. In comparison to The Lion King, John composed music for a Disney's musical production Aida in 1999, winning the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 54th Tony Awards, as well as the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The musical performed at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and then on to Chicago and eventually Broadway. Elton John One Night Only – The Greatest Hits, a live compilation album released by John, capturing hits from the show's appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York City the same year. The musical Aida, Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, was released as part of LeAnn Rimes' "Written in the Stars" and "I Know the Truth" with Janet Jackson.
By this time, John disliked appearing in his own music videos; "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" featured Justin Timberlake as a young John; and "I Want Love" featured Robert Downey, Jr. lip-syncing the song. John sang of "Stan" with Eminem at the 2001 Grammy Awards. As a result of the 11 September attacks, John appeared on "I Want Love" as well as "Your Song" as a duet with Billy Joel at the Concert for New York City one month after the 11 September attacks. "Are You Ready for Love," John's fifth UK number one single, "Are You Ready for Love" reached the top of the charts in August 2003.
John composed music for a Billy Elliot the Musical's West End production in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall, bringing him back to musical theatre. After seeing Billy Elliot, a British coming-of-age film, "he's like me." The show premiered to strong reviews, winning four Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. The London production, which starred Tom Holland as Billy for two years, ran through April 2016, with 4,566 performances. Billy Elliot has been seen by over 5.25 million people in London and nearly 11 million people worldwide (on Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Musical in Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Seoul, Seoul, So Paulo, Brazil, etc. The total production of the over $800 million worldwide has exceeded 80 theatre awards around the world. Lestat: The Musical, John's only stage production with Taupin, is based on Anne Rice's vampire books. Following 39 performances, it received critical feedback and closed in May 2006. In July 2005, John was interviewed on rapper Tupac Shakur's posthumous single "Ghetto Gospel," which topped the UK charts.
John revealed in October 2003 that he had signed an exclusive deal to appear 75 shows at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip for three years. The Red Piano performance, which featured massive props and video montages by David LaChapelle, was a multimedia concert. He and Celine Dion performed at Caesars Palace throughout the year; while one performed, the other rested. On February 13, 2004, the first of these shows took place. In February 2006, John and Dion performed together at the Royal Highlands to raise funds for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. workers impacted by the 2005 hurricanes, with "Sorry Seems to Be the Most Sacred Word" and "Saturday Night's Alright" (for Fighting).
On October 9, 2006, the Walt Disney Company recognized John a Disney Legend for his contributions to Disney's films and theater performances. He told Rolling Stone in 2006 that he planned for his next record to be in R&B and hip hop. "I want to work with Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Snoop [Dogg], Kanye [West], Eminem, and just see what happens," he said. West performed "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" on John's "Good Morning" in 2007 and invited him to his Hawaii studio to play piano and sing on "All of the Lights" in 2010.
In March 2007, John performed at Madison Square Garden for his 60th birthday; the concert was streamed live; and a DVD compilation of his most popular songs, Rocket Man—Number Ones, was released in 17 different formats around the world; and his back catalog, which contains more than 500 songs from 32 albums, was available for free download.
On July 1, 2007, John appeared at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in honor of Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 46th birthday, as well as the charities of which her sons Prince William and Prince Harry are patrons. "Your Song" opened the show and "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting," "Tiny Dancer," and "Are You Ready For Love" followed it.
John performed his 200th appearance at Caesars Palace on June 21, 2008. In November 2008, Best Buy released The Red Piano as a DVD/CD set. In a GQ interview in September 2008, John says, "I'm going back on the road with Billy Joel again next year," referring to "Face to Face," a series of concerts starring the two performers. In March, the tour began.
John accepted Jerry Cantrell's invitation to perform with his band Alice in Chains in 2009. In the song "Black Gives Way to Blue," a nod to the band's late lead singer Layne Staley, who died in September 2009, John played the piano. Staley's first concert was one of John's, and his mother said he was blown away by it. "Elton has a tremendous musical influence on many of us, particularly to me." My first album was Elton John's Greatest Hits. We were also told by Layne's stepfather that Elton was his first performance, so it was all very appropriate." John said he had long admired Cantrell and could not refuse the offer.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, John performed a piano duet with Lady Gaga, which consisted of two songs of Gaga's, before climaxing in "Your Song." He appeared at the Ramat Gan Stadium on June 17th, 17 years to the day after his previous appearance in Israel; this was significant considering other then-recent cancellations by other artists in the aftermath of an Israeli raid on Gaza Flotilla the month before. In his address to that festival, John said that he and other musicians should not "cherry-pick our conscience" in reference to Elvis Costello, who was supposed to appear in Israel two weeks after John did but had to cancel in the aftermath of the aforementioned attack, citing his conscience.
On October 19, 2010 John was the president of the United Kingdom. The album, which was a joint effort with American singer, songwriter, and sideman Leon Russell, has been a new chapter in his recording career, saying, "I don't have to make pop records anymore." On September 28, 2011, he opened his new show The Million Dollar Piano at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, and spent the next three years. On October 8, 2011, he appeared at Caesars for his 3000th concert. Also in 2011, John appeared on "Snowed in at Wheeler Street" with Kate Bush for her album "Words for Snow." For the first time, he travelled to Costa Rica on February 3rd, 2012, where he appeared at the newly constructed National Stadium.
On June 4, 2012, John appeared at Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, performing a three-song set. He appeared in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 30th, alongside Queen + Adam Lambert for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. In July 2012, Good Morning to the Night, a compilation of remixes of songs he recorded in the 1970s, was released. Pnau, an Australian company, made the remixes, and the album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom. In honor of the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympics athletes, John Bingham, Michael Caine, Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, and Stephen Fry recited Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—" at the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards on October 30.
At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2013, John performed a duet with singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. He recorded and performed on "Fairweather Friends" later in 2013. He said he was a fan of frontman Josh Homme's side project, Them Crooked Vultures, and he'd phoned Homme to ask if he'd be able to perform on the album. In September 2013, John was given the first British Icon Award for his "long-term" influence on the United Kingdom's culture. Rod Stewart received the award on stage at the London Palladium before the two artists performed a duet of "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (Say So Much). The Diving Board, John's 31st album, was released in September 2013 and ranked third in the United Kingdom and number four in the United States. On October 5, 2016, it was announced that Wonderful Crazy Night, his 32nd studio album, would be released on February 5th. Burnett also made it. "Looking Up," the album's first single, was released in the same month. This album was John's first full album with his touring band since 2006's The Captain & the Kid. He appeared in the action film Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which was released in September 2017, in which he was also an actor.
On January 26, 2017, it was announced that John will compose the score for The Devil Wears Prada and its film adaptation, with Kevin McCollum as the producer and Paul Rudnick writing the lyrics and story. The musical's release date is yet to be revealed. In June 2017, John appeared in Bernard MacMahon's award-winning documentary The American Epic Sessions. He filmed live on the restored first electrical sound recording device from the 1920s in the film. John wrote and arranged a lyric by Taupin's "Two Fingers of Whiskey," which was written specifically for the film and aided by Burnett and Jack White. Danny Eccleston in Mojo said, "Elton John arrives toting a box-fresh lyric by Bernie Taupin and it all comes up in a flash," the song appears in front of the viewers' eyes before John and Jack White take the plunge. "The magic is right there." "Two Fingers of Whiskey" was released on Music from The American Epic Sessions: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on June 9, 2017.
On January 24, 2018, it was revealed that John was pulling out of touring and that a three-year farewell tour would be announced shortly. On September 8, 2018, Allentown, Pennsylvania, would host the first concert. "If I asked me if I would stop touring, I would not have said no." John cited spending time with his family as the cause for his retirement: "When you asked me if I would not stop touring." We had children but that changed our lives. I have had a wonderful life and work, but my life has changed. My children and my husband and my family are now my top priorities. The tour is expected to conclude in New Zealand in January 2023, with a total number of more than 300 concerts around the world. In September 2018, John reportedly signed an agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) to represent his new music "for the remainder of his career" in comparison to his previous careers in the last 50 years.
Paramount Pictures, a documentary about John's life from his childhood to the 1980s, Rocketman, was published in May 2019. It was directed by Dexter Fletcher, who had also directed Bohemian Rhapsody, and Taron Egerton as John; John appeared in the film Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) as a fictionalized version of himself alongside Egerton. John and Egerton performed "I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," a Rocketman song that premiered on BBC Radio 2 in 2019. For the second time, John will win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Me, John, published what he called his "first and only autobiography" in October 2019. Egerton narrated Me, with John reading the Prologue and Epilogue.
During a ceremony at the Élysée Palace in Paris in June 2019, John was awarded France's highest civilian award, the Legion d'honneur. Macron referred to John as a "melodic genius" and one of the first gay artists to speak out about the LGBT community. The first show at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, was cancelled on February 16, 2020. He had been diagnosed with walking pneumonia and had lost his voice during the program. He was confirmed to appear on February 19th at the next show. On March 7, John was playing at the Western Sydney Stadium before the tour was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. John performed piano on Ozzy Osbourne's "Ordinary Man," which was released in Osbourne's album of the same name in early 2020. Lady Gaga's duet with "Sine from Above" from her album Chromatica was revealed on May 29. Regimental Sgt. John was sent by the Government to serve in the Republic of Regimental Sgt. Zippo was founded on June 12, 2021, in Zippo. The album was shelved in favour of 1969's Empty Sky, and it was released vinyl-only in 2021 for Record Store Day.
John revealed his new collaboration album The Lockdown Sessions, which he made during the first COVID-19 lockdown, which was announced on October 22nd 2021. Eddie Vedder, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, Rina Sawayama, and Stevie Nicks are among the artists who collaborated on the album. 'I realized there was something strangely familiar with working like this,' John said in a tweeting about the project. I began working as a session musician at the start of my career, in the late 1960s. During lockdown, being with various artists reminded me of this. I'd come full circle: I was a session musician again. It was also a blast." The album's first single, "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)," was released on August 13, 2021. In October 2021, it reached its highest level in the United Kingdom, becoming John's first UK number one in 16 years after 2005's "Ghetto Gospel." With this success, he became the first solo artist to have top ten singles in the United Kingdom in six decades. In November 2021, "Cold Heart" reached its peak in Australia. John became the first artist to reach the top of the ARIA Singles Chart for the fourth year, 7 months, and 14 days. John contributed to the Metallica Blacklist, which was released in September 2021, by supporting Miley Cyrus on a front of the Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters."
"Merry Christmas," John's festive duet with Ed Sheeran, was published in December 2021. The pair recreate a scene from the classic romantic-comedy film Love Actually, in which they pay homage to scenes from British Christmas hits, including "Last Christmas" and "Merry Christmas Everyone." All of the UK proceeds from the album went to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation. On December 10, the song debuted on the UK Singles Chart as John's ninth UK number one. Later this month, John and Sheeran co-produced "Sausage Rolls for Everyone," a comedic version of "Merry Christmas" with a sausage roll theme. The album debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, giving John his first Christmas number one, John's third top-one of 2021, and his 10th overall position, putting him joint ninth on the list of artists with the most top-one singles on the UK Singles Chart (with Calvin Harris and Eminem). John began his farewell tour in January 2022, the first time since the pandemic began, with his first appearance in New Orleans, Louisiana. After testing positive for COVID-19 and suffering mild signs of mild inflammation, John had to cancel two shows in Dallas and resumed the tour after making a complete recovery. Until 2022 and 2023, John has tour dates around the UK, where the tour will end. On YouTube, John unveiled a digitally remastered edition of his Diamonds compilation album to commemorate his 75th birthday.
At the memorial service for Australian cricketer Shane Warne on March 30, 2022, John sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." On June 4th, 2022, John was projected on to the facade of Buckingham Palace performing "Your Song" (pre-recorded at Windsor Castle) at the Platinum Party at the Palace to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. In August, John worked with Britney Spears on the song "Hold Me Closer." Also in the month it was revealed that John had written the music for a new musical about televangelist Tammy Faye Messner's life, with book by playwright James Graham and lyrics by Jake Shears. In October 2022, Tammy Faye, a musical, opens at the Almeida Theatre in London.