Sir Elton Hercules John
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Sir Elton Hercules John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947), was educated in the Royal Academy, thanks to a scholarship obtained in this institution at the age of 11 years. He left six years later to dedicate himself to pop music. As of 1964 he began to collaborate with local groups like Bluesology, where John Baldry knew the singer. As a tribute to him and the saxofonista Elton Dean he adopted the stage name of Elton John.
In the Sixties Sir Elton Hercules John participated in several groups, but without too much success. Until in 1967 he knew the letrista and poet Bernie Taupin. Together they achieved his first great success in 1970 with the album “Elton John” by the song “Your Song”. In 1971 four albums between the ten first of the lists of the United States were placed simultaneously, something that did not happen from the Beatles. Also in that same year, Elton began to develop a galloping alopecia that would later lead years to him to the wig use.
The Seventies was the decade of Elton’s consecration as an authentic star. He began to act adorned with outlandish disguises and other usando los adornments characteristic of glam rock in multitudinal concerts. At that time Sir Elton Hercules John was having great success with the likes of Crocodile Rock (1972), Candle In The Wind (1973) Bennie And The Jets (1973) and Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (1974). Between 1972 and 1975, seven of their discs entered the first positions of the lists of British sales.
In 1975 Sir Elton Hercules John participated in the Tommy film, directed by Ken Russell and written by Pete Townshend, guitarist of The Who. By that time it was scandalised to the public opinion with certain declarations on Elton’s homosexuality.
When entering the decade of 1980, Sir Elton Hercules John left the side temporarily the relation with Taupin in addition to that moderated his image and his music, doing it more melodica. It already produced new successes like “Im Still Standing” and “Little Jeannie” but with less frequency and Elton’s private life also lived up to some problems. The 14th February 1984 Elton got married to the engineer of sound Renata Bauer.
In 1985 July, Sir Elton Hercules John participated in the concert Live Aid, made in the Wembley Stage of London. Other stars of Live Aid were David Bowie, Sting, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and Queen, among others.
In 1990 Sir Elton Hercules John was deeply affected by the death of haemophiliac friend, Ryan White (contracted AIDS). After the funeral Elton confirmed to be in treatment to surpass his addiction to alcohol, drugs and bulimia. In 1992 Elton founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation, one of the greater non-lucrative organisations for the eradication of the AIDS disease. All singles dedicated to this cause had all the benefits of his donated.
Elton John already renewed and more sober achieved a new success in 1994 with his participation in the sound track of The Lion King in collaboration with Tim Rice. Also it gained two awards, a Grammy and an Oscar.
In 1997, the murder of their friend Gianni Versace and the death of The Princess of Wales (Lady Diana), in a traffic accident, was a strong blow for Elton to accept. The tribute to Princess Diana, Candle in the Wind, achieved a massive success that broke all the records and turned out to be the biggest selling single in the history of music.
“Candle in the Wind 1997 – Wikipedia” is a re-written and re-recorded version of Elton John’s own 1973 hit “Candle in the Wind” that was released as a tribute single to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. In many countries it was pressed a double A-side with “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”.It was produced by Sir George Martin.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, with certified sales it is “the best-selling single of all time.”
The Guinness World Records 2009 states that the song is “the biggest-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s, having accumulated worldwide sales of 33 million copies,” and is the best-selling single worldwide of all time.
On release in September 1997, “Candle in the Wind 1997″ entered at number one in the UK, John’s fourth UK number one single, and became the best-selling single in UK Chart history. In October it became John’s ninth U.S. number one single, where it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks, and is the best-selling single in Billboard history, and the only single ever certified Diamond in the U.S.
“Candle in the Wind 1997″ topped the German Singles Chart for seven weeks, the Australian ARIA Charts for six weeks, reached number one in Japan, Canada, France and music charts around the world.
The 1997 version won John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1998. The lyrics of the earlier version of “Candle in the Wind”, written by Bernie Taupin, were a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. The opening lines of the 1973 version, “Goodbye Norma Jeane, though I never knew you at all,” were adapted to “Goodbye England’s rose, may you ever grow in our hearts.” In fact, most of the lyrics were adapted to suit the circumstances of Diana’s life and death, but a notable omission was the line, “Even when you died, the press still hounded you…” which was replaced with the lyric, “Even though we try, the truth brings us to tears…”
The following year Elton Hercules John was knighted and became Sir Elton Hercules John, he also later received a honorary Grammy by his musical trajectory. In 2001 he recorded once again with his letrista of head Bernie Taupin, Songs From the West Coast followed in the 2004 album (number 43). In December of 2005, Sir Elton Hercules John contracted to marry his partner of 12 years, the director of Canadian cinema David Furnish, when entering use the new British law of same sex civil partnerships.