established himself as a legend in the
music industry with his talent in composition and songwriting. Born as Reginald Dwight, the
British musician learned piano at an early age and earned a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at 11 years old. John studied at the school for five years before forming his own band, Bluesology, in 1962. While working at a music publishing company, John took solo gigs at a
London hotel bar and played with his band. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology backed musicians like the and and became the supporting band for
Singer . John left Bluesology and met lyricist in 1967. Shortly after recording their first song, “Scarecrow,” John began going by the name Elton John in homage to Baldry and the saxophonist of Bluesology, . John and Taupin formed one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships in music history, collaborating on albums (1973), (1975), (1980), (2001) and (2013). They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. After finding success with 1973 albums and , John and Taupin founded the Rocket Record Company. By 1975, the pressures of stardom took a toll on John, and he developed a drug and alcohol addiction along with bulimia. John shared more about his battle with addiction and his in a 2002 interview with the late . “It took me 16 years to say those three words — I need help,” John said at the time. “My pride was killing me. It’s — you think you don’t have a problem.” Despite the AIDS epidemic surfacing in the 1980s, John still couldn’t bring himself to change his lifestyle. It wasn’t until he met , an
American teenager who contracted HIV through a contaminated blood transfusion, that John decided to embark on the path to sobriety. Upon White’s death in 1990, John entered recovery and created the Elton John AIDS in 1992. You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly Check our latest news in
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Apple News “I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family. I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more,” John said during a Harvard University talk in 2017. “Ryan was the spark that helped me recover from my addictions and start the AIDS Foundation. Within six months [of White’s death], I became sober and clean, and have been for 27 years.” John continued his career sober, and has toured around the world and performed at Madison Square Garden over 70 times. He announced his in 2018 and embarked on a three-year farewell tour in September of that year. The tour took a two-year pause because of the
Coronavirus pandemic but concluded in 2023 in Stockholm. Keep scrolling to see the singer’s life in photos: Getty Images (2) Elton John Through the Years: From ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Rocket Man’ to His Farewell Tour established himself as a legend in the music industry with his talent in composition and songwriting. Born as Reginald Dwight, the British musician learned piano at an early age and earned a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at 11 years old. John studied at the school for five years before forming his own band, Bluesology, in 1962. While working at a music publishing company, John took solo gigs at a London hotel bar and played with his band. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology backed musicians like the and and became the supporting band for singer . John left Bluesology and met lyricist in 1967. Shortly after recording their first song, “Scarecrow,” John began going by the name Elton John in homage to Baldry and the saxophonist of Bluesology, . John and Taupin formed one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships in music history, collaborating on albums (1973), (1975), (1980), (2001) and (2013). They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. After finding success with 1973 albums and , John and Taupin founded the Rocket Record Company. By 1975, the pressures of stardom took a toll on John, and he developed a drug and alcohol addiction along with bulimia. John shared more about his battle with addiction and his in a 2002 interview with the late . “It took me 16 years to say those three words — I need help,” John said at the time. “My pride was killing me. It’s — you think you don’t have a problem.” Despite the AIDS epidemic surfacing in the 1980s, John still couldn’t bring himself to change his lifestyle. It wasn’t until he met , an American teenager who contracted HIV through a contaminated blood transfusion, that John decided to embark on the path to sobriety. Upon White’s death in 1990, John entered recovery and created the Elton John AIDS in 1992. “I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family. I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more,” John said during a Harvard University talk in 2017. “Ryan was the spark that helped me recover from my addictions and start the AIDS Foundation. Within six months [of White’s death], I became sober and clean, and have been for 27 years.” John continued his career sober, and has toured around the world and performed at Madison Square Garden over 70 times. He announced his in 2018 and embarked on a three-year farewell tour in September of that year. The tour took a two-year pause because of the coronavirus pandemic but concluded in 2023 in Stockholm. Keep scrolling to see the singer’s life in photos: Chris Walter/WireImage 1967 to 1970 John met songwriter Taupin when they both answered an advertisement in the British music paper New Musical Express. They formed a partnership and joined DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968. After writing music for artists including and , John and Taupin started writing music for John to record. They released songs including “Lady Samantha,” “Border Song” and “Your Song” and released the 1969 album . The duo’s second studio album, titled , was released the following year. It became John’s first hit album and produced his first hit single, “Your Song.” John formed the Elton John Band with drummer and bassist to play his first American concert at the Troubadour in
Los Angeles in 1970. Michael Putland/Getty Images 1972 to 1973 1972’s became John’s first No. 1 album in the U.S. He reached No. 1 in multiple countries with the albums and in 1973. Later that year, John founded the Rocket Record Company with Taupin, producer and music publisher . Steve Morley/Redferns 1974 John collaborated with on his of the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” In return, John was featured on “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” on Lennon’s fifth solo album, . Later that year, the two performed together in Lennon’s last major live performance at Madison Square Garden. The pair sang both hits along with the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” Getty Images 1975 The autobiographical album described John and Taupin’s early days as struggling musicians and songwriters. It was the last album from the Elton John Band before John dismissed Olsson and Murray. Later that year, John received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ian Dickson/Redferns 1977 to 1980 John announced his retirement from performing and started producing only one album a year while Taupin went on to collaborate with other artists. For the next three years, John released the albums (1978) and (1979) and collaborated with and on the songs “Donner pour donner” and “Lex Aveux” (1980). Paul Natkin/Getty Images 1983 to 1984 Taupin and John reunited in 1979 but did not collaborate on a full album until 1983’s , which also brought back the Elton John Band. The album included the hit single “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” featuring on harmonica. John married close friend and sound engineer on Valentine’s Day in 1984. They divorced three years later. Ebet Roberts/Redferns 1988 John performed five sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden almost a decade after . Niels van Iperen/Getty Images 1992 John released his eighth U.S. album, , which featured a hit single of the same name. It was his first album recorded entirely sober. “I felt such trepidation coming out of treatment about how I might function and what impact sobriety would have on my music,” John shared in a 2019 interview with . “Thankfully, I was able to write songs in the same prolific way I always had.” John went on to collaborate with later in 1992, producing the hit song “Runaway Train.” Steve Eichner/Getty Images 1994 to 1995 Along with lyricist , John wrote songs for Disney’s 1994 film . He earned three Oscar nominations for Best Original Song, with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” winning. The song also earned him the Grammy Award for best Male Pop Vocal Performance the following year. Later in 1994, John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Guns N’ Roses frontman . Anwar Hussein/WireImage 1997 John revised the lyrics of “Candle in the Wind” to honor his close friend at her funeral following her death in a car accident. The revised version was titled “Candle in the Wind 1997,” and the funeral performance marked the only time he ever performed the new version live. Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images 1999 to 2001 John collaborated with Rice again for Disney’s musical production of . They received the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 54th Tony Awards and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. Mick Hutson/Redferns 2003 to 2006 In 2003, John announced he signed an agreement to perform 75 shows over three years with Caesars Palace on the Strip, the first of which took place in February 2004. He and shared performances at Caesars Palace throughout the year, and they performed together in 2006 to raise money for Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. workers affected by the 2005 hurricanes. Kevin Mazur/WireImage 2007 John performed at Madison Square Garden for a record-breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday. The concert was broadcast live and produced a DVD recording titled . Getty Images 2010 to 2014 John performed a piano duet with at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. In 2011, John collaborated with on the song “Snowed in at Wheeler Street” for her album . He went on to perform a joint concert with and the following year for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and performed a duet at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards with . John married his longtime partner, , in December 2014 after same-sex marriage became legal in the U.K. They share sons Zachary and Elijah, born via surrogacy in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images 2017 The “Rocket Man” singer starred as himself in He also appeared in the documentary . Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty Images 2018 John announced that he was retiring from touring and would embark on a three-year farewell tour starting in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, in September of that year. “Ten years ago, I was going to just tour and make records. And I had nothing planned for the rest of my life except making music and touring,” John told in 2021. “And then we had two fabulous little boys. And then David, my husband, said, ‘Well, what do you want out of life now? Do you still want to tour?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t.’” He continued, “As much as I love playing, I want to be with my boys now. I want to be there for them.” Karwai Tang/WireImage 2019 Paramount Pictures produced a , , about John’s life from his childhood through his early career in the '80s, starring as John. John and Egerton performed “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” for the movie, and it won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Later that year, John released his autobiography, , which was narrated by Egerton for the audiobook version. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia 2021 John released , which was made during the first coronavirus lockdown and featured artists , , and more. Simone Joyner/Getty Images 2023 John concluded his farewell tour with the last show in Stockholm,
Sweden. “What a journey this tour has been and now we find ourselves at the end of it,” he wrote via
Instagram before the show. In order to view the gallery, please allow