By Brandon Engel When Elton John released his first album quietly in 1969 to relatively solid success, few could have expected that the timid singer/songwriter from a working-class family would become Sir Elton John, the most successful male solo artist in the world, LGBT icon, and one of the public biggest voices in the fight against AIDS. To help celebrate the release of his upcoming 31st studio album The Diving Board, let’s take a look at that long and winding road that led a young Reginald Dwight to become Sir Elton John.
After his first album release in 1969, John followed with two albums in 1970 and the release of his first hit single, “Your Song”. His star steadily rose during 1971 when he released Tumbleweed Connection, but his 1972 album, Honky Chateau is what really shot him to the top. The album hit #1 in the U.S., and began his record-breaking run as the first artist to ever have seven consecutive #1 albums in America. His over-the-top personality and outrageous stage costumes captivated audiences across the globe, but by the time the 70’s ended his success began to wane.
During the 80’s, Elton produced a few hit singles like “Little Jeannie”, “Nikita”, and “That’s What Friends Are For”, which raised funds for AIDS research. Having fully come out of the closet as gay (not bisexual as he had previously stated) in 1988, John slowly became familiar with a new disease gripping the LGBT community. That disease was, of course, AIDS and John saw its impact in both the LGBT community but also the world as a whole and vowed to do whatever he could to help. He made the decision to publicly support the family of Ryan White, the poster child for HIV/AIDS in the 80’s after having contracted it from a blood transfusion. John helped the family move from their frequently vandalized home and spent the last week of White’s life with him in the hospital. After White’s death in 1990, and of John’s friend Freddie Mercury in 1992 (also of an AIDS-related illness) John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has since raised over $300 million to help the fight against AIDS. It was shortly after the creation of his charity that he met his longtime partner David Furnish.
Read more after the jump.
In addition to the creation of his charity in the early 90’s, John expanded beyond studio albums by teaming up with Tim Rice to create the soundtrack for the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. The film and soundtrack were huge successes and earned John not only an Academy Award but also a Grammy. In 1996 he was given the incredible honor of being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, though unfortunately in 1997 tragedy struck again as two of John’s closest friends, Gianni Versace and Princess Diana of Wales, both passed away. To honor his late friend, the Princess of Wales, John performed a revised version of his well-known song “Candle in the Wind” at her funeral. When the song was released as a single, it became the best selling single in both U.K. and U.S. history, and the only single to ever be certified platinum after selling over 11 million copies.
John continued to explore the musical theater world with lyricist Tim Rice when they adapted The Lion King for Broadway in 1998, the same year he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his charitable services and contributions of music. Rice and John teamed up again in 2000 to create the soundtrack to the film The Road to El Dorado and that same year saw the Broadway debut of the duo’s musical Aida. In 2004 John began his Las Vegas show The Red Piano at Caesars Palace, and never one to rest, he returned to theater again in 2005 to create the songs for Billy Elliot the Musical.
John and his partner David Furnish were among the first couples to be granted civil partnership when it was made legal in England in 2005. In most recent years John has continued performing at Caesars Palace, raising his sons Zachary and Elijah, and working on his thirty-first studio album, The Diving Board, which is set to be released on September 16th.
Brandon Engel is an entertainment blogger for Direct-ticket.net. Among his chief interests are cult films, rock music from the seventies, and anything and everything camp. His favorite Elton John record is, of course, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
