Me

Born Reginald Dwight in 1947 in the London suburb of Pinner, the musician who would become Elton John recounts a life of extremes: from a childhood defined by parental conflict to global superstardom, from addiction and failed relationships to sobriety, fatherhood, and enduring creative partnership.

The memoir opens in 1967, when twenty-year-old Elton was playing organ in Bluesology, the backing band for blues singer Long John Baldry. Baldry's hit "Let The Heartaches Begin" had dragged the band onto the cabaret circuit, and Elton knew he had to leave. A failed audition at Liberty Records yielded one consolation: Ray Williams, a talent scout at the label, handed him an envelope of lyrics by an unknown teenager from Lincolnshire named Bernie Taupin. Elton discovered he could set Bernie's words to music with startling speed. They bonded instantly and began writing together. In December 1967, Elton quit Bluesology and cobbled together a stage name from bandmate Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

Elton traces his musical awakening to 1956, when his mother, Sheila, brought home Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel." His parents' marriage was miserable: His father, Stanley, a Royal Air Force officer, was rigid and distant; Sheila was volatile and harsh. His grandmother provided stability. Elton began playing piano by ear at a young age and at eleven entered the Royal Academy of Music for Saturday studies. When his parents divorced, his mother's new partner, Fred Farebrother, nicknamed "Derf," proved supportive, arranging Elton's first paying gig at a local pub. His father, who remarried and had four more sons, never accepted his son's career, instilling a drive to prove him wrong.

Elton and Bernie signed with publisher Dick James Music, recording demos with engineer Caleb Quaye. Studio manager Steve Brown delivered a pivotal message: Stop writing what you think will sell and write what you want. Their debut album, Empty Sky (1969), sold modestly but earned encouraging reviews. Elton assembled a power trio with drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray and developed a flamboyant stage persona influenced by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.

During this period, Elton became engaged to Linda Woodrow, a woman he met at a Sheffield club, but the relationship lacked physical intimacy. Long John Baldry intervened, bluntly telling Elton he was gay and must not marry. The engagement collapsed, and Derf drove Elton and Bernie back to the family home.

Dick James insisted Elton tour America. In August 1970, at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles, Elton walked onstage in bright yellow dungarees and a star-covered T-shirt, shocking an audience expecting a brooding singer-songwriter. Robert Hilburn's ecstatic review in the LA Times transformed his prospects overnight. During the trip, Elton began a relationship with John Reid, a young Scottish music executive who became his partner and then his manager.

Success accelerated. At the Château d'Hérouville in France, the band recorded Honky Château with remarkable efficiency; Bernie typed lyrics and left them on the piano, and Elton wrote three songs before breakfast on the first morning, including "Rocket Man." A bet led Elton's close friend John Lennon to join him onstage at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving 1974; backstage, Lennon reunited with his estranged wife, Yoko Ono. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy became the first album to enter the US charts at Number One.

Beneath the triumphs, Elton's life was unraveling. Reid's violent temper produced public incidents, and when Reid punched Elton during a party at their home, Elton ended the romantic relationship while retaining Reid as manager. During the 1975 LA Elton John Week, Elton attempted suicide by swallowing Valium and throwing himself into his swimming pool in front of his visiting family. His grandmother's tart response broke through his despair. The Dodger Stadium concerts days later represented the pinnacle of his career, though he recognized such heights could not last.

In a 1976 Rolling Stone interview, Elton publicly identified as bisexual, though the revelation caused little lasting damage. He bought Watford FC, a struggling football club, and hired young manager Graham Taylor; together they transformed Watford from the bottom of the league to First Division runners-up and FA Cup finalists within eight years. Elton credits the club with saving his life during his worst years of addiction.

In 1984, through cocaine-fueled reasoning, Elton convinced himself that marrying a woman would solve his problems. He proposed to Renate Blauel, a German sound engineer, and they wed in Sydney on Valentine's Day. The marriage lasted four years. On tour in 1986, a specialist discovered cysts on his vocal cords; surgery proved cancer-free, leaving him with a deeper, more powerful voice. The Sun newspaper launched a vendetta of fabricated stories; Elton sued and won a record £1 million settlement. He befriended Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with hemophilia who had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. Ryan's courage shamed Elton into confronting his own inaction on AIDS.

Ryan died in April 1990 at eighteen. Watching himself on television at the funeral, Elton was horrified by his bloated, exhausted appearance. When his boyfriend Hugh Williams entered rehab weeks later, Elton locked himself in a London bedroom for two weeks of solitary cocaine and whisky. Hugh arranged a meeting at a halfway house in Arizona, where Elton's addictions were listed aloud. Elton broke down and asked for help.

He checked into the Lutheran Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, on July 29, 1990. After struggling with the program's spiritual elements, he embraced recovery, confronting the low self-esteem that had driven him to seek validation through success rather than connection. He returned to London, took eighteen months off, and attended up to four addiction meetings daily. The death of his close friend Freddie Mercury from AIDS in November 1991 deepened Elton's resolve; he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation, funding its launch by auctioning his vast record collection.

Elton wrote the songs for Disney's The Lion King with lyricist Tim Rice, winning an Oscar and producing his best-selling soundtrack. In the early 1990s, feeling lonely since getting sober, he invited dinner guests to Woodside, his home in Old Windsor; among them was David Furnish, a Canadian advertising executive. Their relationship developed quietly, and Elton found himself in an equal partnership for the first time.

The summer of 1997 brought two devastating losses: the murder of his closest friend, fashion designer Gianni Versace, and the death of Princess Diana weeks later. Elton performed a rewritten "Candle In The Wind" at Diana's funeral in Westminster Abbey; the charity single became the best-selling single of all time. In 1998, an audit of John Reid's management revealed financial irregularities, and Reid settled for $5 million, ending their nearly three-decade professional relationship.

Elton and David entered a civil partnership on December 21, 2005, the first day same-sex partnerships became legal in Britain. Through surrogacy in California, they welcomed son Zachary on Christmas Day 2010 and son Elijah in January 2013. Fatherhood proved transformative for Elton, who had long feared repeating his own parents' mistakes. His relationship with his mother remained fraught; they did not speak for seven years before her death in December 2017.

A prostate cancer diagnosis, successful surgery, and a near-fatal infection following a South American tour confirmed Elton's decision to retire from touring. The Farewell Tour, launched in September 2018, became a celebration of his entire career. The biopic Rocketman premiered at Cannes to a standing ovation, and Elton and Bernie won the Oscar for Best Original Song. The memoir closes with Elton reflecting that nothing in his life turned out as expected, from receiving Bernie's lyrics at a failed audition to finding love in his forties and fatherhood in his sixties, and that the only question worth asking is what comes next.