Legends of Rock & Roll: Elton John

By James Hoag

One of the greatest performers of the past 40 years, Elton John has sold over 200 Million albums worldwide. He is the only person in the history of rock and roll to place a song in the Top 40 for every year for a span of 25 years. (1969 - 1995)

The Legends of Rock & Roll series is written to honor the great people who have provided us with the music of our lives. While the book talks about the life of Elton John, the emphasis is on his music, how it came to be and maybe some inside stories as to what a particular song really means.

From his early days getting started to the highs and the lows to becoming a super star. I cover most of his more popular songs and albums and how they came to be. Come along on a fascinating journey through the life of one of the most exciting and talented people in the world. A man, in some ways just like you and me and in other ways, he is like no one else on earth. This is Elton John.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Hoag
• Release date: May 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311727152

James Hoag

James Hoag has always been a big fan of Rock & Roll. Most people graduate from high school and then proceed to "grow up" and go on to more adult types of music. James got stuck at about age 18 and has been an avid fan of popular music ever since. His favorite music is from the Fifties, the origin of Rock & Roll and which was the era in which James grew up. But he likes almost all types of popular music including country music.After working his entire life as a computer programmer, he is now retired and he decided to share his love of the music and of the performers by writing books that discuss the life and music of the various people who have meant so much to him over the years.He calls each book a "love letter" to the stars that have enriched our lives so much. These people are truly Legends.

Book preview

Legends of Rock & Roll – Elton John

By

James Hoag

~~~

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Copyright © 2014 by James Hoag

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Cover by James Hoag

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Publishers Notes

Disclaimer

Legends of Rock & Roll – Elton John Copyright 2014 James Hoag.

All rights reserved.

No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher. The only exception is for a reviewer. A reviewer may quote brief passages in a review.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The Early Life of Elton John

Bluesology

Bernie Taupin

A Song Writing Machine

Your Song

Madman Across the Water

Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Caribou

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Tommy

Blue Moves

Bernie Takes Some Time Off

Hanging On in the Eighties

Getting Married

Finally Kicking Drugs and Alcohol

Tantrums and Tiaras

Aida

Legacy of Elton John

Afterword

Selected Discography

About the Author

Introduction

It was sometime in the late Eighties. My friend, Mike, and I had tickets to see the great Elton John in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We lived in Rochester which is about 80 miles away, so we drove the distance, very excited, and spent the evening seeing the master at work.

This was when Elton was at his most flamboyant. The costumes were changed after every song and the music was great. He did all of his hits, and Mike and I came away feeling like we had had a once in a lifetime experience. In fact, it was. This was the one and only time I have ever seen Elton John in concert. As we left the concert hall, we had just entered the on-ramp to the freeway when the car suddenly died. We coasted over to the side of the road and tried to see what we could see.

The car was going nowhere, it seemed, so Mike called a friend of his in Minneapolis who came and rescued us, and we spent the night in the city. Of course, we called our wives to tell them what had happened. The next morning, we called a tow truck to pick up the car (still sitting on the side of the freeway) and had it taken to be fixed.

To make a long story shorter, we ended up taking the bus back to Rochester and leaving the car in Minneapolis to be fixed. It ended up costing over $400 to fix the car and two more trips to the city to pick it up. So, the evening cost $400 plus the price of the tickets to the concert and other expenses. My wife, looking at me like I had just squandered our life savings, wondered if it was worth it just to see Elton John. I told her, oh yes, it was totally worth it. I would do it all over again.

It was that good.

Elton John started out as an unlikely rock star. He was a little chubby and not really that attractive to the girls. He wore thick glasses and just didn’t look the part. Thank goodness he could play the piano. He could play it like no one else and soon the public realized that it didn’t matter what Elton looked like, he was a rock star.

In 1974, Elton John was responsible, himself, for 3% of all the records sold that year in the United States. He most definitely was a star.

The Early Life of Elton John

I think everyone knows that Elton John is not his real name. Elton was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight March 25, 1947, the only son of Stanley and Sheila Eileen Dwight (née Harris). Stanley and Sheila had just been married a couple of years earlier, in 1945. It was the first marriage for Sheila and the second for Stanley.

They lived on Pinter Hill Road in Manchester, near London, England. It was the home of Sheila's parents and still stands there to this day. You can drive by and view the house but don't try to take a tour. It is now private property, and they don't take kindly to strangers trespassing.

There was always music in the home. Stanley's father had played in a band, and Stanley played in a band in his spare time. He played the trumpet for Bob Miller and the Millermen, a British band that had limited success in the Fifties and the early Sixties.

Reggie learned to play the piano at a very young age. When he was three, he started picking out notes on the piano and by the age of four, his parents caught him playing Skater's Waltz on the instrument. He could hear a tune and repeat it on the piano. By the age of seven, he was already taking lessons.

Fortunately, his parents loved music and filled the home with the recordings of current popular artists. People like Kay Starr and Frank Sinatra were heard often, molding Reggie's life forever. One person that greatly affected the young Reggie was a lady named Winifred Atwell. Atwell, a native of Trinidad, had come to the U.K. to play at the Royal Academy of Music. She didn't invent boogie-woogie but oh how she could play it. Reggie was very impressed, especially with her rendition of Poor People of Paris which hit number one in the United Kingdom. The same song by Les Baxter was also number one in the United States. Reggie was nine years old at the time. It was Atwell’s version of Skater’s Waltz that Reggie had played when he was three.

Unfortunately, it turned out the piano was just about Reggie's only friend. He was a lonely child. He had difficulty talking to people and of his two parents, only his mother encouraged him. His dad pretty much ignored him. Being in the Air Force, Stanley was away a lot and when