Elton John 015

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Look closer for four song titles and four song lyrics: Your Song; Honky Cat; Rocket Man; Crocodile Rock; “I can see the red tail lights”(Daniel); “I’m going back to my plough”(Goodbye Yellow Brick Road); “But these cuts I have”(Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me); “It’s seven o’clock and I want to rock”(The Bitch is Back)

Sir Elton Hercules John 

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on the 25^th of March 1947. As an English singer, pianist, and composer, he has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriting partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. In his five-decade career Elton John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 58 Billboard Top 40 singles (27 Top 10, four No. 2 and nine No. 1). For 31 consecutive years (1970–2000) he had at least one song in the Billboard Hot 100.

Elton John started playing the piano at the age of three, and within a year, his mother heard him picking out Winifred Atwell’s “The Skater’s Waltz” by ear. After performing at parties and family gatherings, at the age of 7 he took up formal piano lessons. He showed musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. According to one of his instructors, the young John (Dwight) promptly played back, like a “gramophone record”, a four-page piece by Handel that he heard for the first time.

In 1962, “Reggie” Dwight and his friends formed a band called Bluesology. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-60s, Bluesology was backing American soul and R&B music acts like the Isley Brothers.

In 1967, Dwight answered an ad for song writers, the same ad Bernie Taupin had submitted written lyrics to. Dwight put the lyrics to music and the result was the first collaboration of the partnership that remains to date. Six months later, Dwight was going by the name “Elton John” in homage to two members of Bluesology: saxophonist Elton Dean and vocalist Long John Baldry. His name was legally changed to Elton Hercules John in January 1972.

Elton John was a session musician for other artists including playing piano on the Hollies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” and singing backing vocals for The Scaffold.

In the late 1960s, Elton John was engaged to be married to his first lover, secretary Linda Woodrow, who is mentioned in the song “Someone Saved My Life Tonight“

He married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on February 14^th, 1984. There was speculation that the marriage was a cover for his homosexuality. John came out as bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone. After his divorce from Blauel in 1988, he told the magazine he was “comfortable” being gay. 

In 1993, he began a relationship with David Furnish. On 21 December 2005 (the day the Civil Partnership Act came into force), John and Furnish were amongst the first couples in the UK to form a civil partnership.

John owned Watford Football Club from 1976 to 1987, and 1997 to 2002. 

-credit Wikipedia

The artwork: 

The artist’s wife, Lisa, asked for the first print of this illustration. It was sold at a community-wide benefit for a work-mate of Lisa, Holly Willie. Holly’s husband is surviving brain cancer and the entire county of Bastrop and more showed up to support the fundraising efforts at Saint Mary’s Church in Rosanky, Texas.

Digital Print on Archival Matte – Original illustration done in graphite and prisma colors top to bottom: Process Red-being a musician is a process; Canary Yellow-Elton sings like a bird; True Green; and True Blue-he has truly lived true
Artist: Tobin Bortner of Bastrop, Texas – drawn in September of 2018 – ©Tobin Signs/Look Closer Illustrations
DERIVATIVE Work – photo credit: JamBase.com Go See Live Music – Promo Photo