Elton John

 Sir Elton Hercules John CH, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a British musician and singer. John is known as the "Rocket Man" has enjoyed an impressive solo career from the late 1970s. He has released 31 albums in total since 1969. John has been collaborating with Bernie Taupin, lyricist, since the year 1967. He is well-respected by musicians and critics alike in particular for his work in the 1970s as well as his contribution to the music industry. John's music and showmanship have been a major influence on popular music. [3] His songwriting collaboration with Taupin is among the most successful in history John was born in the Pinner suburb of London and was taught piano at an early age, forming the blues band Bluesology in the year 1962. After the band disbanded in Bluesology in the year 1967 to embark on an independent career John became acquainted with Taupin after they both replied to an advertisement for songwriters. For the next two years, they composed songs for other artists, and John performed as a session musician for artists. John's debut album Empty Sky was released in 1969. A year later was when he founded the Elton John Band, and his first single to chart, "Your Song", was released. John's popularity with critics was at its highest in the 1970 when he released several top-charting albums in the US, UK and Canada. The first was Honky Chateau (1972), and culminated with Blue Moves (1976). John's success continued through the 1980s, 1990s. He had several hits albums and singles and has continued to record music ever since. He also has had great success in musicals and in theatre, writing music for The Lion King, Aida and Billy Elliot the Musical. John started his farewell tour Farewell Yellow Brick Road in 2018 and will be ending in 2023. His life and music career was dramatised in the 2019 biopic Rocketman.Outside of the music industry, John is an HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser and has been actively involved in the fight against AIDS since the latter half of the 1980s. In 1992, he launched the Elton John AIDS Foundation, that has raised more than PS300 million. The following year began hosting the Foundation Academy Awards Party. It's now one of the most prestigious Oscar events in the Hollywood film industry. 14 John was director and chairman of Watford F.C, from 1976 until 1987, and then between 1997 and 2002 and is also an honorary chairman of the club. Between the late 1970s through the latter part of the 1980s John suffered from a severe addiction to drugs and alcohol, but has been clean since 1990. In 2005, he entered into a civil partnership , and was married David Furnish, a Canadian filmmaker from Canada. The couple was married in 2014 after the legalization of marriage between gays and lesbians in England and Wales. John has sold more than 300 million records all over the world. There are over fifty Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100 with nine of the top ten in the UK and US, as well as seven consecutive albums that have reached the top spot in the US. The single he dedicated to Princess Diana "Candle in the Wind 1997" was which was a rewritten version 1974 single, dedicated to Diana, Princess of the Sea Diana has sold more than 33 million copies across the globe and is the most-sold chart single of all time. [25][26][2726][27 John was the first solo artist to have a UK Top 10 single in 2021. John has won a variety of awards , including five Grammy Awards and five Brit Awards. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He is a fellow of The Ivors Academy. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music and charity work in 1998, and was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) in 2020.