Elton John Net Worth

Elton John's Quotes

• I haven't made a good album in a long while. Not since 1976 and Blue Moves.
• If there is a better singer in England than Craig David, then I am Margaret Thatcher.
• [after being asked about his sexuality in the 1970s] I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats, though.
• Nowadays, record companies want the quick buck from the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, S Club 7, Steps. They've always been around, I'm not knocking the music perhaps, but it's like packets of cereal. There are too many of them, too many of them are just mediocre. And I think it damages real people's chance, real talent, of getting airplay. It's just fodder.
• There's so much you're expected to do and you follow a pattern. You make a record, you do a video. I like to break the rules a little bit more and I did in the 1970s, I should try a little bit more now.

Interesting Facts about Elton John

1. In 1979, he was the first Western rock star to perform in Israel and the USSR.
2. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1996 and awarded Knighthood of the British Empire in the 1998 Queen's New Years Honors List for his services to music and fundraising for AIDS charities.
3. He is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter.
4. On 5 September 1997, he performed a new version of "Candle in the Wind", in tribute to Princess Diana at her funeral, with new lyrics specially written by Bernie Taupin.
5. He changed his name legally to Elton Hercules John. He chose the middle name "Hercules" not after the hero of mythology, but after the horse named Hercules on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962).
6. In 1995, he was awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award.
7. In 1992, he decided that all profits from his singles would be donated to AIDS charities and formed the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The foundation has become one of the world's largest nonprofit AIDS organizations.
8. At age 11, he entered the Royal Academy of Music, but quit just before graduation to pursue a rock career.
9. He was twice a former Chairman of Watford Football Club.
10. He was inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994).
11. He was a close friend of the late rock singer Freddie Mercury and performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness (1992). They were so close, John was one of the first people to be told by Mercury of his AIDS diagnosis in 1987, which was not announced to the public until the day before he died in November 1991.
12. He is a reformed drug addict, alcoholic and bulimic. He also has epilepsy.
13. He recorded the Christmas hits "Step into Christmas" (1973) and "Cold as Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)" (1983).
14. Dusty Springfield sang backing vocals on his song "The Bitch is Back".
15. He covered The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in 1974, for the film All This and World War II (1976). John Lennon is featured in this recording, credited as "Dr. Winston O'Boogie".
16. His song "Philadelphia Freedom" was a tribute to tennis star Billie Jean King.
17. In 1976, he covered The Who's "Pinball Wizard", for the film Tommy (1975); in the film, he is shown performing the song while playing a pinball machine integrated with a miniature piano keyboard. To date (2010), this is the only cover of a Who song to break the top 10. As a tongue-in-cheek revenge, on the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album "Two Rooms" (1991), The Who contributed a cover of the song "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", performed as if it were a Who composition.
18. His hit "Song for Guy" was a tribute to Guy Burchett, Rocket Records messenger who was killed in a motorcycle accident.
19. His song "Empty Garden" is a tribute to John Lennon.
20. Stevie Wonder played harmonica on his song "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues".