Elton John's first movie soundtrack..?

Answer 1

Friends 1971

Answer 2

The Lion King.

Answer 3

i think it was "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" in the Lion King Soundtrack

Answer 4

The album and movie was called Friends one of his earlier records.

Answer 5

Tommy (1975)

Answer 6

Brilliant is correct.

that one with 20 pages tho...jeez??????

Answer 7

Sir Elton John


Sir Elton John, May 2006.
Born
March 25, 1947
Pinner, England
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE[1] (born March 25, 1947) is a British pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. In a career spanning over four decades, Elton John has sold over 250 million records[2] and made over 50 Top 40 hits, making him one of the most successful musicians of all time.

John was one of the dominant commercial forces in the rock world during the 1970s, with a string of seven consecutive #1 records on the U.S. album charts, 23 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10 ones, and six #1 hits. His success had a profound impact on popular music, and contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. Key musical elements in John's success included his melodic gifts matched with the contributions of his lyricist partner Bernie Taupin, his rich tenor and gospel-chorded piano, aggressive string arrangements, and his flamboyant fashion sense and on-stage showmanship.

In the early 1990s, John publicly revealed the personal costs of his rock-star extravagance: his ongoing struggle with drug abuse, depression and bulimia. He continues to be a major public figure, and has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and was knighted in 1998, and has remained an enduringly successful artist.

Contents [hide]
1 Life and career
1.1 Early years (1947–1969)
1.2 1970s
1.3 1980s
1.4 1990s
1.5 2000s
2 Personal life
2.1 Sexual orientation and extended relationships
2.2 Drugs and health
2.3 Spending
2.4 Sports and other interests
2.5 Charity
3 Musical style and voice
4 Awards
5 Discography
6 Band members
7 See also
8 References and notes
9 External links



[edit]
Life and career
[edit]
Early years (1947–1969)
Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, England the son of Squadron Leader Stanley Dwight, RAF, and his wife Sheila. Young Dwight was raised primarily by his mother and other female relatives, and saw little of his father as a boy. Stanley and Sheila divorced in 1962, when Dwight was 15. His mother then married Fred Farebrother, whom Elton affectionately dubbed "Derf".

Dwight began playing the piano when he was four. A child prodigy, he was able to play by ear any melody he heard. At 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, staying for six years and leaving before graduation to focus on his music career. His early influences included "Gentleman" Jim Reeves.

In 1960, Dwight and his friends formed a band called The Corvettes, which evolved into Bluesology. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul and R&B musicians like The Isley Brothers, Major Lance, Doris Troy and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry's supporting band and began touring cabarets in England. Dwight left soon after, as Baldry's control had increased.

After failing lead vocalist auditions for both King Crimson and Gentle Giant, Dwight answered an advertisement in the New Musical Express placed by Ray Williams, then the A&R manager for Liberty Records. At their first meeting, Williams gave Dwight a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had answered the same ad. Dwight wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, and thus began a partnership that continues to this day. In 1967, what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Scarecrow", was recorded: when the two first met, six months later, Reginald Dwight had changed his name to Elton John, by deed poll, in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.


Empty Sky, Elton John's 1969 debut album, went largely unnoticed.The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James's DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, like 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, disposing of the lyrics if he couldn't come up with anything quickly. For two years, they wrote easy-listening tunes for James to peddle to singers.

On the advice of another music publisher, Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha," and an album, Empty Sky. Despite good reviews, none of the records sold well.

[edit]
1970s

The Pinball Wizard from Tommy (1975)John and Taupin now enlisted Gus Dudgeon to produce a followup with Paul Buckmaster as arranger. Elton John was released in the spring of 1970 on MCA, and established the formula for subsquent albums: gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. After the first single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, in August, backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. Kicking over his piano bench Jerry Lee Lewis-style and performing handstands on the keyboards, John left the critics raving, and drew praise from fellow artists such as Quincy Jones.

Elton John was followed quickly with the concept album Tumbleweed Connection in October 1970, which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. A frenetic pace of releasing two albums a year was now established.

The live album 11-17-70 (17-11-70 in the U.K.), an ambitious album showcasing Elton's talent as a rock pianist and father of Piano rock. Taped at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City, and introduced by disc jockey Dave Herman, it featured extended versions of John/Taupin's early compositions that illustrate the gospel and boogie-woogie influences on John's piano playing. It also featured much interaction between John, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. During the magnum opus 18:20 version of "Burn Down the Mission", the band interpolates Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and a full rendition of The Beatles' "Get Back" before a rampaging conclusion.

John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends".

In 1972, the final piece of what would become known as the Elton John Band fell into place, with the addition of Davey Johnstone (on guitar and backing vocals). Murray, Olsson, and Johnstone came together with John and Taupin's writing, John's flamboyant performance style, and producer Gus Dudgeon to ceate a hit-making chemistry for the next five Elton John albums. Known for their instrumental playing, the members of the band were also strong backing vocalists who worked out and recorded many of their vocal harmonies, usually in Elton's absence.

The band released Honky Chateau, which became Elton's first American #1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" and "Honky Cat".

The 1973 pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first U.S. number one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.)

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, considered Elton John's best album, followed later in 1973. It gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic. It contained the #1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal".

John then formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it — notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee — in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25-million insurance policy on John's Life.

In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon, resulting in John covering The Beatles's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two No. 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. The concert was recorded and released two years later with another live concert recording on the album Here & There.


Elton John's cryptic personality was revealed with the autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached #1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. It did demonstrate The Elton John Band's rocking ability with "The ***** Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". At the end of the year, the compilation album Elton John's Greatest Hits was released and reached #1.

Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Pinball Wizard" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform the song of the same name. Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the U.S.). The song charted #7 in England. Many still recognize Elton John's rocker version more easily than The Who's original version.

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy Elton John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describe their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that would otherwise be rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.

The album's release signaled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.

Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the U.S. albums chart at #1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. However, the material was almost universally regarded as not on par with previous releases.

Elton owed much of his success at this time to his concert performances. He filled arenas and stadiums worldwide and was the hottest act in the rock world. John was an unlikely rock idol to begin with, as he was short of stature at 5'7" (1.70 m), chubby, and gradually losing his hair. But he made up for it with impassioned performances and over-the-top fashion sense. Also known for his glasses (he started wearing them as a youth to copy his idol Buddy Holly), his flamboyant stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others at his concerts made them a success and created interest for his music.

To celebrate five years of unparalled success since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history.

In 1976, Elton released the downbeat Blue Moves, which contained the memorable but even gloomier hit "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word". His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a peppy duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", a stressed John stated that he was bisexual.

Elton's career took a hit after 1976. In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. John secluded himself in any of his three mansions, appearing publicly only to cheer the Watford Football Club, an English football team that he later bought. Some speculated that John's retreat from stardom was prompted by adverse reactions to the Rolling Stone article.

Now only producing one album a year, 1978's A Single Man employed a new lyricist, Gary Osborne, but featured no Top 20 singles. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became the first Western pop star to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel, then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the U.S. in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (#9, 1979), a song from an EP recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell. A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love, was poorly received.

[edit]
1980s
By 1980, John and Taupin reunited to write songs for 21 at 33 and The Fox. On 13 September 1980 Elton John performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, and within hearing distance of his friend John Lennon's apartment building. A few months later Lennon would be murdered in front of that same building. Elton mourned the loss in his 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)", from his Jump Up! album, his second under a new recording contract with Geffen Records. He performed the tribute at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in August 1982, joined on stage by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, Elton's godchild.

With original band members Johnstone, Murray and Olsson together again, Elton was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album Too Low For Zero, which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and reached #4 in the U.S., giving Elton John had his biggest hit there since 1980. Indeeed while he would never again match his 1970s success, he placed hits in the Top Ten throughout the 1980s — "Little Jeannie" (U.S. #3, 1980), "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (#5, 1984), "Nikita" (#7, 1986), an orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" (#6, 1987), and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (#2, 1988). His highest-charting single was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder on "That's What Friends Are For" (#1, 1985); credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but of the six released in the latter half of the 1980s, only Reg Strikes Back (#16, 1988) placed in the Top 20 in the U.S.

And the 1980s were years of personal upheaval for John. In 1984 he suprised many by marrying sound engineer Renate Blauel. While the marriage lasted four years, John later maintained that he had realized that he was gay before he married. In 1986 he lost his voice while touring Australia and shortly thereafter underwent throat surgery. John continued recording prolifically, but years of cocaine and alcohol abuse, initiated in earnest around the time of Rock of the Westies' 1975 release, were beginning to take their toll. In 1987 he won a libel case against The Sun who had written about his allegedly having underaged sex; afterwards he said, "You can call me a fat, balding, talentless, old queen who can't sing—but you can't tell lies about me." In 1988 he performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden, giving him 26 for his career, breaking the Grateful Dead's house record. But that year also marked the end of an era. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London, as John bade symbolic farewell to his excessive theatrical persona. (Among the items withheld from the auction were the tens of thousands of records John had been carefully collecting and cataloguing throughout his life.) In later interviews, he deemed 1989 the worst period of his life, comparing his mental and physical deterioration to Elvis Presley's last years.

[edit]
1990s
Elton John was deeply affected by the plight of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with AIDS. Along with Michael Jackson, John befriended and supported the boy and his family until White's death in 1990. Himself a mess and confronted by his then-lover, John checked into a Chicago hospital in 1990 to combat his drug abuse, alcoholism, and bulimia. In recovery, he lost weight and underwent hair replacement, and subsquently took up residence in Atlanta, Georgia. Also in 1990, John would finally achieve his first U.K. number one hits on his own, with "Sacrifice" and "Healing Hands" from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past.

The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the unusual writing style that John and Bernie Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. Also in 1991, John's "Basque" won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, and his guest concert appearance on George Michael's reverent treatment of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" topped the singles charts in both the U.S. and U.K.

In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, intending to direct 90 percent of the funds it raised to direct care, 10 percent to AIDS prevention education. He also announced his intention to donate all future royalties from sales of his singles in the U.S. and U.K. to AIDS research. That year, he released the U.S. #8 album The One, his highest-charting release since 1976's Blue Moves, and John and Taupin signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. John performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Show Must Go On" with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, an AIDS charity event held at Wembley Stadium, London in honour of Queen's late front man Freddie Mercury. "Bohemian Rhapsody" featured a duet with Axl Rose, a reconciling gesture given Rose's previous homophobic reputation. In September of the same year, he performed "November Rain" with Rose's band Guns N' Roses for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The following year, he released Duets, a collaboration with 15 artists ranging from Tammy Wynette to RuPaul.

In 1994, along with Tim Rice, he wrote the songs for the Disney animated film The Lion King. (Rice was reportedly stunned by the rapidity with which John was able to set his words to music.) The Lion King went on to become the best-grossing traditionally-animated feature of all time, with the songs playing a key part. Three of the five songs nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song that year were John and Rice songs from The Lion King, with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" winning. (John acknowledged his domestic partner, Canadian filmmaker David Furnish, at the ceremonies.) In versions sung by John, both that and "Circle of Life" became big hits, while the other songs such as "Hakuna Matata" achieved popularity with all ages as well. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. After the release of the soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On November 10, 1999, the RIAA announced that the album The Lion King had sold 15 million copies and therefore was certified as Diamond® with room to spare.

Elton John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. Elton John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995.

In 1995 John released Made in England (#13, 1995), which featured the hit single "Believe" (#13, 1995).


The cover of the Princess Diana tribute, Candle In The Wind.The year 1997 found extreme highs and lows for John. Early in the year, vestiges of the flamboyant Elton resurfaced as he threw a 50th birthday, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends (the costume cost more than $80,000). But later that year he lost two close friends, designer Gianni Versace and Diana, Princess of Wales. In September, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest selling single of all time, eventually going on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide, with the proceeds of approximately £55 million going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. John would later win the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the single.

Elton John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 February 1998, granting him the title of "Sir". The honour was officially for his charitable work.

John closed out the decade by writing the score for The Muse in 1999. He also had a pacemaker installed to overcome a minor heart problem.

[edit]
2000s
In the 2000s, John began frequently collaborating with other artists. In 2000, John and Tim Rice teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks' animated film The Road To El Dorado. In the musical theatre world, addition to a 1998 adaptation of The Lion King for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of Aida in 2000 with lyricist Tim Rice, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

In 2001, he dueted with Eminem on the rapper's "Stan" at the Grammy Awards. This went a long way towards absolving Eminem of charges of homophobia and thus paving the way for Eminem's greater mainstream acceptance. That same year, his 1970s track "Tiny Dancer" was prominently featured in the film Almost Famous, and then his "The Heart of Every Girl" was the end title song from 2003's Mona Lisa Smile.

In 2001 he declared that Songs from the West Coast would be his final studio album, and that he would now concentrate on just live performances. In 2004, however, he released a new album, Peachtree Road which, despite some favorable reviews, was his least commercially successful album in every country it was released in.

He achieved yet another #1 single in the UK, being featured on 2Pac's posthumous song "Ghetto Gospel" in 2005, from the rapper's album, Loyal to the Game. The song sampled "Indian Sunset" from John's 1971 album, Madman Across the Water. In May 2006, Pet Shop Boys released their album Fundamental, the limited edition of which included "In private", a new version of the Dusty Springfield single, which is a duet with John.

Elton's concert projects in the decade have included:

In October 2003 Elton announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The show, entitled The Red Piano, is a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle. Effectively, he and Celine Dion share performances at Ceasers Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004. [3]
A two year global tour sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas, some of the venues of which are new to Elton.
Face-to-Face tours with fellow pianist Billy Joel have been a fan favourite throughout the world since the mid-1990s.
On 2 July 2005, John performed at the Live 8 concert at Hyde Park in London. Here he sang "The ***** is Back", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and lastly, T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution" with The Libertines and Babyshambles' frontman, Pete Doherty. Another measure of fame came that July when Madame Tussauds made a statue of Elton John to his measurements; it took more than 1,000 hours to complete.

Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End production of Billy Elliot in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is Lestat: The Musical, based on the Anne Rice vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances. [4]

Finally, rumour has it, Elton and Bernie Taupin are creating a sequel to their Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album with another work about their last 30 years since in the record industry. A possible name for this effort may be The Captain and the Kid.

[edit]
Personal life

Document of Civil PartnershipJohn has had a complicated personal history in both his sexual orientation, as well as personal battles with drugs and spending.

[edit]
Sexual orientation and extended relationships
Elton John disclosed his bisexuality in 1976 in a Rolling Stone magazine interview. He married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on Valentine's Day, 1984, but they divorced four years later. John later renounced the bisexual claim and announced he was gay.

He has lived with his partner David Furnish, a former advertising executive, since the early 1990s. On 21 December 2005, they entered into a civil partnership. A low-key ceremony with only their parents in attendance was held at the Guildhall, Windsor, followed by a lavish party at their Berkshire mansion. Guests at the party included Victoria Beckham, Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan, Boy George, Joss Stone, Ringo Starr, George Michael, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, Bryan Adams, Michael Caine, Donatella Versace, Claudia Schiffer, Elizabeth Hurley, Sting, Sharon Stone, The Pet Shop Boys, Stephen Gately, Elvis Costello, Jamie Cullum, Sarah Ferguson, Kid Rock, Cilla Black, Lulu, James Blunt, Rowan Atkinson and The Osbournes. The Sun newspaper marked the event with the headline "Elton Takes David Up the Aisle".

John does not have any children, but does have ten godchildren as of March 2006. Besides the aforementioned Sean Ono Lennon, these include Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Charles and David and Victoria Beckham's son Brooklyn.

Within the music industry, Elton is sometimes known as "Sharon", a nickname originally given to him by good friend Rod Stewart. [5] In return, Elton calls Rod "Phyllis".

[edit]
Drugs and health
During his career, John has battled addictions to cocaine and rumoured financial difficulties caused by his profligate spending. In the mid-late 1990s, John formed a friendship with colleague Michael Jackson. Because of the help John gave him during his addiction to painkillers, Jackson dedicated the 1997 album Blood on the Dance Floor to him. John remained silent during the Jackson trial in 2005.

Elton's excess drug taking and bulimia has not aided his health. As an admitted Epilepsy sufferer, in 1987 he had an operation to remove polyps from his vocal cords as a result of his excessive usage of marijuana [6]. In July 1999, he was fitted with a pacemaker due to an irregular heart beat

[edit]
Spending
Aside from his main home in Windsor, England, John splits his time in his various residences in Atlanta, Georgia; Nice, France; Holland Park in London, England; and Venice, Italy. Elton John is a noted art collector, and is believed to have one of the largest private photography collections in the world.

During the 2000 court case, where John sued both his former manager John Reid, the CEO of Reid's company and accountants Price Waterhouse Coopers, he admitted spending £30 million in just under two years - an average of £1.5 million a month, the High Court in London heard. The singer's lavish lifestyle saw him spend more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers between January 1996 and September 1997. John accused the pair of being negligent, and PWC of failing in their duties. Mark Hapgood QC for defendants PWC suggested that John went "spending mad" following a £42m deal with recording company Polygram in February 1996. When quizzed by Mr Hapgood about the £293,000 spent on flowers, John said: Yes, I like flowers. John stated that the terms of the contract, where by John paid Reid 20% of his gross earnings, were agreed in St Tropez in the summer of 1984 - but that he could not remember the exact occasion on which the deal was made, probably due to his addiction to drinks and drugs at the time [7]

After losing the case, he faced an £8 million bill for legal fees. So he decided with his fleet manager John Newman to sell 20 of his collection of 28 cars at Christie's - including several Ferraris, Aston Martins, and six post-war Bentleys. His reason for selling them was stated as: I do not find enough time to drive them The sale raised £2 million [8] The cars sold included:

1993 Jaguar XJ220 - The most expensive car in the collection, with a 213mph top speed and only 852 miles on the clock - sold for £234,750. The auction room was told how Sir Elton's chauffeur refused to drive the car after he "twitched it" on a flyover and was scared by its power.
1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe - known as "The Beast" because of its roar went for £80,750. The car was painted in black, red and yellow; the colours of Sir Elton's favourite Watford Football Club.
Two Ferraris - a 1992 512 Testarossa and a 1987 Testarossa given to John by MCA Records on the occasion of his 40th birthday. Rod Stewart had been among a group of friends who had ridden in the car[9].
1973 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI - Lawrence Cohen from Hertfordshire spent over twice as much on a car valued at £110,000. It was fitted with a 36-speaker stereo system which cost £28,000. It was so powerful that it once blew out the rear window, after which the glass in the car had to be reinforced.
1985 Bentley Continental Convertible - In Tudor Red, the car used in the video for Nakita. The car's body was specially crafted by coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward of Harlesden, and a long list of special fitments include colour-coded radiator veins and parchment trim piped in red.
1969 Rolls-Roce Silver Cloud Mk3 - Supplied new in Arizona, it was a purchase by John in Atlanta and named Daisy after the film Driving Miss Daisy which was filmed close to his Atlanta home. Flown to the UK in 1994 by KLM, it spent two years being restored at the cost of £100,000. It sold for £90,000.
In 2003, Elton John sold the contents of his Holland Park home in a bid to create more room for his collection of contemporary art. The auctioneer's Sotheby's catalogue had a list of more than 400 items, expected to fetch £800,000, including: Biedermeier furniture; early 16th and 17th century items including an Edward Bower estimated at £20,000-£30,000 and a portrait of Elizabeth Honeywood from the circle of William Larkin, which was estimated at £30,000-£40,000. John's bedroom featured a painting by 19th-century French artist Jacques-Noël-Marie Frémy, which was exhibited at the 1814 Paris Salon, and is estimated at £12,000-£18,000 [10].

[edit]
Sports and other interests
In 1976, Elton John became involved in Watford Football Club and fulfilled a childhood dream by becoming its chairman and director. He invested large sums of money and the club rose into the First Division after a number of key acquisitions. He sold the club to Jack Petchey in 1987, but remained their life-long president. In 1997 he re-purchased the club from Petchey and once again became chairman. He stepped down in 2002 when the club needed a full-time chairman although he continued as president of the club. Although no longer the majority shareholder, he stills holds a significant financial interest. In June 2005 he held a concert at Watford's Vicarage Road ground, donating the funds to the club.

He also supports the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (it's where he lived when married to Renata Blauel), and regularly checks on the website for news about them.

John is a co-owner of the Sunset Strip restaurant “Le Dome” in Hollywood.

[edit]
Charity
John has long been associated with AIDS charities after the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won Elton and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage hemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, Elton donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation

Every year since 2004, he has opened a shop (this year in Manhattan, before in London and Atlanta), selling his second hand clothes. Called "Elton's Closet" the sale this year of 10,000 items was expected to raise $400,000 [11]

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Musical style and voice
In the 1970s, Elton John's sound immediately set him apart from most others by being piano-based in a rock 'n' roll world dominated by guitars. Another early characteristic was a set of dynamic string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster. Coupled with Taupin's often opaque but emotionally resonant lyrics, the results were unique in the history of music. Songs in this style included "Sixty Years On", "Burn Down the Mission", "Take Me to the Pilot", "Levon", "Madman Across the Water", and the best-known of these, "Tiny Dancer".

"Your Song", one of his earliest popular hits, incorporates some other features found in many of his songs:

It is in binary form, with the verse repeated before the chorus begins;
The piano accompaniment is prominent, though the song also features an orchestra;
It uses a slowly building crescendo that brings the song to a tutti climax. Other songs that follow this pattern include "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" and "Rocket Man".
John also has a distinctive vocal style. In particular, his phrasing is often a bit metronomic and sometimes has a curiously off-kilter, "rushed" quality especially at the end of lines (example: the phrase "like a puppy child" in the song "Amoreena"). He also, at least in his classic period in the 1970s, would sometimes sweep up from his normal tenor into a Four Seasons-like falsetto.

Elton John underwent throat surgery to remove potentially cancerous nodules from his vocal chords in January 1987 while on tour, a necessity he originally said was due to an infection, but later said was the result of excessive drug abuse [12] The problems with his voice can clearly be heard in his raspy singing on the Live In Australia album (released 1987). He made a full recovery from the surgery, but he continued to indulge in illegal drugs until 1990. The surgery in 1987 also had an after-effect on John's voice, and he found that he could no longer sing in falsetto as well as he previously could, and that he now sang in a lower range. During an interview with James Lipton, John had claimed to embrace this new tone, feeling it gave a more "masculine" quality that contrasted with his earlier work.

The change in Elton John's voice has been largely played down, though Elton, commenting fifteen years after the surgery, stated that he was "singing better than ever." Studio effects were evidently added to his voice on his first UK #1 Hit "Sacrifice" (1990). The release of Songs From The West Coast, his 2001 album, showed very clearly how different his voice is to his prime. It is a matter of opinion which singing style is better, but few would deny that Elton John remains an excellent singer.