Why Elton's Still Standing At 70

    • Daily Mirror
    • Publish Date: Mar 29 2017 3:04PM
    • |
    • Updated Date: Apr 3 2017 12:15PM
Why Elton's Still Standing At 70

And why he's desperate for another hit record

As birthday boys go, Sir Elton John has never been a shrinking violet. Take those images of him arriving at his £500,000 50th bash as a cross between Louis XIV and the abominable snowman, for example. As the iconic singer-songwriter turned 70 last week, one can only wonder what he might have in store for the celebrations. 

Elton John's song writing partner Bernie Taupin poses with his wife Heather and daughters at Elton John's 70th Birthday and 50-Year Songwriting Partnership with Taupin benefiting the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles
 
Speaking on the eve of his landmark birthday, Sir Elton said this one is about giving back. "It's a great year," he says. "It's the 25th anniversary of the AIDS Foundation, 50 years of Bernie and me, and 70 years of me. Life is fabulous. Life is fantastic and I like to celebrate things. "I intend to celebrate it, and celebrate it with thanks and gratitude because I want to live another 20 years. Some people don't like birthdays, they don't want to know about them. I've always enjoyed my birthday." 
 
Sir Elton is most definitely still standing. Like so many of his peers, such as Sir Rod Stewart, Sir Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones, he continues to perform, but with a relentless frequency which leaves them all lagging behind. 
Even being dad to Zachary, six, and Elijah, four, with David Furnish has not slowed him down. Insiders close to the star say he cannot let go of his superstardom and desperately wants one more hit. There are whispers he needs to work due to his infamous spending habits. Industry sources hint those around him are keen for him to keep going, too. Referred to as Yoko - after John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono - by those who have seen some of Sir Elton's closest circle axed, it is said to be husband David, 54, who is keen for the star to regain success. 
 
 
Sharon Osbourne and daughter Kelly Osbourne pose at Elton John's 70th Birthday
 
 
An insider said: "The sales of Elton's last album were really poor worldwide, he's just not making the right music. "The management are desperate for Elton to have a hit and to keep him relevant, but they haven't got the right music. How hard can it be? Even Dame Vera Lynn is number three in the charts." 
Despite a past history of drug and drink addiction, and having a pacemaker fitted in 1999, it seems nothing can stop Sir Elton. A quick scan of this year's tour dates reveals gigs from Rio to Blackburn, plus a tour Down Under in September. Sir Elton says: "I don't just do a tour every two to three years. I work all the time because I love to. I'm different from Springsteen and The Stones and that. I don't go out on tour, I am on tour." There is an enlightening moment in the 1995 documentary Tantrums and Tiaras, directed by David in which the notoriously fastidious pop legend is filmed poring over a print-out of the Billboard Top 100. He highlights every record which has climbed the chart that week, tracking each artist against his own performance. It was weird to see a global megastar still so consumed with measuring success. 
 
 

 

By 1974 he had already recorded seven albums in five years, all but the first of which turned gold or platinum, turning the session musician born Reg Dwight into a megastar. He has a reported £100million fortune. But Sir Elton's last number one was the 2003 re-release of Are You Ready For Love. Since 2013 there have been no UK hits. His last album Wonderful Crazy Night, released last year, reached number six in the UK, but sold fewer than 200,000 copies. He has brushed it off, saying: "I make an album every year and a half, it's not an event when I make an album." But he is clearly aware of his popularity. 

 
 
 

Speaking to Zane Lowe for a special Beats 1 radio broadcast, he says: "I had a Top 40 record every year for 34 years. And the first record to come in at number one. Those things didn't make me big-headed. Ed Sheeran's like that. I helped manage Ed Sheeran, he is the same as I am. "He loves the pressure. It's not really pressure, it's momentum and it's the joy of being in that situation where you're like, 'Oh I'll just write this now'." Though the source says: "Elton can't live off his old songs as he doesn't own full publication rights, so he has to keep going with new material. His huge outgoings mean he'll keep performing as that's a big income for him." But what Sir Elton says of his love for crazy costumes might sum it up: "That's what an addict does, takes things too far. I don't regret it." 
 

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