Elton John

Elton John performing on the Cher television show in 1975

Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Dwight in London, 1947) is an English singer/pianist who achieved prominence in the early 1970s. He was made a CBE in 1996 and a Knight Bachelor in 1998. In 2005 he and his long-term partner David Furnish entered a Civil Partnership.

Musical Style and Voice

In his early years, his classical-influenced piano melodies, combined with lyrics by Bernie Taupin and a set of orchestral arrangements by Paul Buckmaster, and his rich tenor voice set him apart from the other singer-songwriters of the time. For many years, John would switch from his normal tenor to a falsetto in most of his songs. In most cases, soft rock is his main genre, but he often sings songs in the genre of country rock, hard rock, and emotional, moving ballads.

In 1986, John received surgery to remove polyps from his vocal cords, which was brought upon by heavy marijuana abuse, which started while he was living in Australia with then-wife Renate Blauel. After the surgery, he discovered that he could not sing falsetto anymore, and he now has a lower vocal register.

Offensive Views on Religion

• In 2006, John stated that he would support "ban[ning] organized religion completely". [1]
• In 2010 he made the bizarre claim that Jesus was homosexual, "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems."

Criticism of a suggestive performance

Elton John is an outspoken liberal and homosexual activist. In December 1999, he performed at a concert celebrating the tenth anniversary of Stonewall. At some point in the show, he introduced a number of male dancers dressed as Cub Scouts, who then proceeded to strip to the tune of "It's A Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys. As part of their routine, they were seen to kneel on the stage and grab their crotches.

The Cub Scouts is for boys aged 7–12, so by wearing the uniform, they were suggesting sexual activity between such boys and adults. The event caused adverse comment in the British press and at that date, before LGBT propaganda had completely saturated British society, and Stonewall apologized as described by the British newspaper the Independent as follows:

“

“THE GAY rights group Stonewall has apologised after Sir Elton John caused outrage by performing a dance act with male teenage strippers dressed as boy scouts at a benefit concert. The Scout Association described the show as "deplorable and in bad taste" and is asking Sir Elton for a formal apology and a charitable donation by way of redress. Sir Elton, 52, introduced the dancers, who peeled off their uniforms and caps to the tune of "It's A Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys. The 18- and 19-year-old dancers knelt on the floor, grabbed their groins, and stripped down to skimpy shorts." ... A letter outlining the concerns of the Scout Association's chief executive, Derek Twine, was sent to Stonewall's chief executive, Angela Mason, yesterday urging the group to seek to "educate and inform, and avoid the reinforcing of stereotypes." Mr Fogg said the association had made the difficult decision formally to allow homosexuals to become troop leaders four years ago amid much controversy, and the dance routine was a major setback. "Many of our members will be upset by the mickey-taking aspect of the dance, but the issue is more serious - it gave out the wrong message about homosexuality and paedophilia," he said.

”

Civil partnership and adoption

In 2005 he entered into a civil partnership with his partner David Furnish in a ceremony in Windsor, United Kingdom. Furnish has publicly described John as "pathologically selfish...unreasonable, demanding, irascible and has the filthiest of tempers"

In December 2011, when John was aged 62, he and Furnish acquired a son using a surrogate mother. Another son followed in early 2013. The high-profile status of the couple means that the children will be under intense media scrutiny and will be under huge pressure to act as advertising mascots for homosexual parenting. In March 2016 Elton John was sued by a male former bodyguard for sexual harassment. The bodyguard Jeffrey Wenninger alleged that Elton had groped and tried to seduce him three times in 2014, sometimes in a car, and had argued with him when he said he was heterosexual and married. The case was eventually settled out of court.

In 2016 Elton John took out a court injunction in the UK to prevent media reporting the sexual behaviour of David Furnish with whom he has an "open" relationship. Furnish was reported in a foreign newspaper as taking part in group homosexual behaviour of various "Kinky" sorts with partners he met through the homosexual dating App Grindr. One of these partners sold the story to a newspaper and reported that Furnish did not use a condom.

Since the relationship of John and Furnish has been held up as a model of cosy single-sex family life, suitable for bringing up children, some have questioned the integrity of John in wishing to suppress the true picture.

Attack on Dolce and Gabbana

In 2015, John publicly displayed his fury when the Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana expressed their support for the natural family, regardless of the fact that they are homosexuals themselves. In an interview with the Italian magazine Panorama, Dolce & Gabbana, said (translation follows)“We oppose gay adoptions.” In fact, they said that they oppose gay ‘marriage’ and adoption and that they find in vitro fertilization unnatural. They said that procreation “must be an act of love.”

Dolce said, “You are born to a mother and a father – or at least that’s how it should be.” Gabbana added, “The family is not a fad. In it, there is a supernatural sense of belonging.” Dolce stated, furthermore, that he opposed changing nature to create “children of chemistry, synthetic children, uteri for rent, semen chosen from a catalog.”

All of this outraged Elton John, who called for a boycott of Dolce & Gabbana's clothing. He said they had insulted his IVF children. However, a few days later in Las Vegas he seemed to recant and said that he and his band were all wearing D&G clothing. There was little sign of the boycott catching on and the business of the pair of Italian designers continued to boom globally. They even chose to do a "mother-and-child" themed fashion collection.

Ambassadorial status

In 2016 Elton John was the victim of a hoax when two comedians telephoned him pretending to be Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation and invited him to meet for a talk about homosexual rights when in Russia. John was very proud to accept and the supposed ambassadorial role was reported duly in all the press outlets for homosexuals. Even when the hoax was revealed, left-wing newspapers continued to claim that John had received a genuine call from Putin. During John's subsequent tour of Russia no meeting with Putin took place.

Rush Limbaugh's wedding

In June 2010, John was criticized by homosexual rights activists for performing at the wedding of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. John reportedly received $1 million for his participation.[2]

Discography

• 1969 - Empty Sky
• 1970 - Elton John
• 1971 - Tumbleweed Connection
• 1971 - Friends Soundtrack
• 1971 - 11-17-10 (17-11-70 in Britain)
• 1972 - Madman Across the Water
• 1972 - Honky Chateau
• 1973 - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
• 1973 - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
• 1974 - Caribou
• 1974 - Greatest Hits
• 1975 - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
• 1975 - Rock of the Westies
• 1975 - Here and There
• 1976 - Blue Moves
• 1977 - Greatest Hits Vol. 2
• 1978 - A Single Man
• 1979 - Victim of Love
• 1980 - 21 at 33
• 1981 - The Fox
• 1982 - Jump Up!
• 1983 - Too Low For Zero
• 1984 - Breaking Hearts
• 1985 - Ice on Fire
• 1986 - Leather Jackets
• 1987 - Live in Australia With the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
• 1988 - Reg Strikes Back
• 1989 - Sleeping With the Past
• 1990 - The Very Best of Elton John
• 1992 - The One
• 1993 - Rare Masters
• 1993 - Duets
• 1994 - The Lion King Soundtrack
• 1995 - Made in England
• 1995 - Love Songs
• 1997 - The Big Picture
• 1999 - Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
• 1999 - The Muse Soundtrack
• 2000 - The Road to El Dorado Soundtrack
• 2000 - One Night Only
• 2001 - Songs From the West Coast
• 2004 - Peachtree Road
• 2006 - The Captain and the Kid
• 2010 - The Union
• 2012 - Good Morning to the Night
• 2013 - The Diving Board

Track listing of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is widely regarded as his best album. All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

• 1. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding (11.08)
• 2. Candle in the Wind (3.50)
• 3. Bennie and the Jets (5.23)
• 4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (3.34)
• 5. This Song Has no Title (2.23)
• 6. Grey Seal (3.58)
• 7. Jamaica Jerk-Off (3.39)
• 8. I've Seen That Movie Too (5.59)
• 9. Sweet Painted Lady (3.52)
• 10. The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909–34) (4.24)
• 11. Dirty Little Girl (5.01)
• 12. All the Girls Love Alice (5.08)
• 13. Your Sister Can't Twist (But she Can Rock 'n Roll) (2.42)
• 14. Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (4.54)
• 15. Roy Rogers (4.08)
• 16. Social Disease (3.44)
• 17. Harmony (2.45)

Elton John Band

• Elton John - piano/keyboards, vocals
• Bernie Taupin - lyrics
• Davey Johnstone - electric guitars, acoustic guitars, mandolins, banjos, backing vocals
• Bob Birch - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Nigel Olsson - drums, backing vocals
• John Mahon - percussion, backing vocals
• Guy Babylon - keyboards

Past members

• Dee Murray - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Caleb Quaye - guitars, backing vocals
• Ray Cooper - percussion
• Roger Pope - drums
• Kenny Passarelli - bass, backing vocals
• James Newton-Howard - keyboards