Elton John – The Genius

Elton John is indeed a unique performer who has managed to stand the test of time for he has been performing for over 30 years now. He has also stood the test of popularity as he manages to appeal to such a wide age range of admirers.

Early Life

The beginning for Elton was in 1947, when he was born, in England. He was mostly brought up by the women in his life as his father, a squadron leader in the RAF, was absent from home a lot.

Elton had a great talent for being able to hear a tune just a few times on the radio, and then being able to play it by ear. His talent on the piano kept growing until by the age of 11 he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.

John studied at the Academy for six years, but left before he graduated because he felt he was ready to concentrate on his professional music career. John played in his share of bands while he was a student, and it was during this time that his professional attitude and style were formulated in such a way that they would serve him throughout his career.

Elton’s career in the early days.

His early career consisted of playing in such bands as The Corvettes and Bluesology, and as well as performing in their own right they also acted as support bands for a number of big name artists.

John soon became disillusioned with the tight-fisted control that Baldry exerted over Bluesology and left the band soon thereafter. Even though there were initial failures, as John auditioned for lead singer roles with King Crimson and Gentle Giant without being hired, this part of his life led him to a partnership that exists to this day.

Career Success

John once again failed in an audition with Liberty Records, but as he was leaving the audition, he was given a group of lyrics without music that were written by Bernie Taupin, who has also tried out for a role with Liberty Records. John wrote music to support the lyrics, and the two began corresponding. John and Taupin met six months later, and it was during this time that John changed his name to what it is today. After a couple of years of writing music together, the partners were ready to encounter the 1970s, which was a decade where they experienced a level of success that was unmatched in history.

The first such success was the release of his album Honky Chateas, in 1972. It spent five weeks at number one and included such hits as Rocket Man and Honky Cat.

And that first hit was just the start of many as over the years his releases have sold hundreds of millions of copies all around the world.

His Public Acknowledgement

He has rightly been acknowledged for his outstanding contribution to the world of music by being awarded an Academy award, a Tony award, and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Perhaps the highest honour he has received is to be Knighted by Queen Elizabeth.