With much ease, I can say Elton John is my all-time favorite artist. Everything about him is bloody magnificent, from his heartfelt lyrics to his big glasses- that only match about a third of how big his personality. Here are 9 things you probably didn’t know about Sir Elton John.
1. Elton owned his favorite childhood football team
When Reginald Dwight was six, he attended his first-ever Watford football match at its home stadium of Vicarage Road. Later, during the peak of his success, Elton became the chairman and president of the Watford Football Club. When Elton’s son reached 7, he was signed up for the junior division team.
2. He names his pianos
When Elton was six years old, he taught himself to play the piano. It’s been his trademark – along with glasses and outrageous costumes- for ages that took up most of the stage when he performed, and he’s not ‘humble’ about showing them off. However, you can’t really hide a piano that large. In 2011, he used a Yamaha that took four years to assemble. It highlighted a range of LED screens that displayed images and videos.
3.Elton’s small obsession
It’s clear he wears glasses in every performance, any human being who just barely knows the name Elton John or perhaps Rocket Man or Tiny Dancer knows this as a fact: he wears bloody glasses. But have you ever wondered how many glasses he owned? Over a thousand. Seriously, goals. His obsession has made headlines. For example, in 2013, he had to deny claims that he always booked a second room – while staying at hotels – for his glasses. Okay, Elton. Of course, you didn’t.
4. Where “Elton John” came from
Elton was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight. Though once he started to be noticed, he wanted to change his name; he hated the nickname Reg and the unhappy memories that went with it. “Elton” was to play tribute to saxophonist Elton Dean and “John” to vocalist Long John Baldry. He took his middle name, “Hercules,” after a British sitcom rather than the greek mythology hero.
5. CBE?
In 1995, Elton achieved the title CBE or “Commander of the Order of the British Empire.” Formally he’s introduced as “Sir Elton Hercules John.” This rank is third-highest Britain’s Order of Chivalry
6. He didn’t finish school
With talent like his, how was school supposed to help him become well, literally Elton John? At just 11 years old, Reg was granted a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. He was the perfect model student while attending. However, he dropped out just prior to graduation to pursue his dreams of rock and roll.
7. Godfather
Elton is a Godfather to many famous children, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s child, Sean Lennon. There is also Brooklyn and Romeo Beckham.
8. Dough
With a net worth of about $500 million, he’s the richest singer in the UK, just behind Paul McCartney. He’s sold 300 million albums worldwide. He’s also achieved 26 gold, 38 platinum, 1 diamond, 40 platinum, 23 gold albums, and over 50 Top 40 hits.
9. Overcoming
I assure you that almost every celebrity has taken drugs, but not all of them come out clean. Elton John is proud to have over three decades of sobriety. He claims he’s taking it “one day at a time.”
Elton turned to cocaine to try to overcome his shyness; however, they nearly killed him. From the 60-the 70s, he lived a drug haze.
“I always said cocaine was the drug that made me open up. I could talk to people,” he told NPR. “But then it became the drug that closed me down, because the last two weeks of my use of cocaine I spent in a room in London, using it and not coming out … So, it started out by making me talk to everyone and then ended up by me isolating myself alone with it, which is the end of the world, really.
“Very close,” he said when talking about death. “I mean, I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later I’d be snorting another line.
Elton overcame the horrible addiction by helping others with theirs – such as George Michael- and meeting children with AIDS.
I absolutely love Elton John. I can’t say that enough. He changed the way I think and made me cry nearly a thousand times. However, there’s much more to Elton John than the few things I listed in this post.
