History Music / EltonJohn

Elton saw new fame in TheNewTwenties following team-ups with Music/DuaLipa ("Cold Heart", which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100) and Music/BritneySpears ("Hold Me Closer").

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Surprisingly subverted when he said, "I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span." He wasn't necessarily referring to online piracy, but more that he felt that the Internet was making people [[LuddWasRight emotionally detached and over-reliant on technology]] and that it allowed {{Dreadful Musician}}s to [[SturgeonsLaw flood the market with poorly produced material]].

!!This musician provides examples of:

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947, in Pinner, England, classically-trained Sir Elton John began his career in various blues bands and as a session musician, before answering a newspaper ad by Creator/LibertyRecords for aspiring songwriters. He was given his first set of lyrics by Bernie Taupin, a struggling lyricist, to set them to music. Taupin liked what he heard, and the two formed a [[HeterosexualLifePartners platonic and professional bond]] -- they have been a songwriting team (Taupin lyrics, John music) for most of John's career.

** "Candle in the Wind". Considering it was written about the death of one of the iconic women of the 20th century (Creator/MarilynMonroe) and repurposed for another (Princess Diana) it's arguably the most famous of his grief songs.

* NiceHat: In TheEighties, prior to his hair weave operation, he started to wear hats more and more often, straw boaters in the middle of the decade and odd triangular caps and baseball hats later in the decade to cover up his balding pate.

** "The Bitch Is Back". Often, his outrageous costumes and goofy glasses ran on this, in a more clean-cut way, along with RuleOfFun and UpToEleven. WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck suits, EiffelTower hats, six-foot tall Mohawks, the glasses that lit up E-L-T-O-N. His 50th birthday saw him attend a costume party in a Louis XIV costume with a giant wig, where he had to be lifted off a truck via a crane. And that was ''after'' he toned down the costumes/glasses.

* ''Regimental Sgt. Zippo'' (recorded 1967–1968; released 2021)[[note]]This album was meant to be his debut studio album, but it was shelved in favour of ''Empty Sky''; it was given a limited vinyl-only release of 7,000 copies in 2021 for Record Store Day.[[/note]]

He has had numerous comebacks in TheEighties and TheNineties, and successfully rehabilitated himself from drugs, alcohol, and bulimia in 1991. He later helped score ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' with Tim Rice in 1994 (winning an Oscar), and co-authored several Broadway musicals, including ''The Lion King'', ''Lestat'', ''Aida'', and ''Billy Elliot''. He received a star on the Hollywood Hall of Fame in 1975, inducted into the UsefulNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame in 1994, and was [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever knighted]] in 1998. A theatrical revue of his songs, featuring Sir Elton in concert amid elaborate staging, films, and props, titled "The Red Piano'', opened in Las Vegas in 2004 and closed in 2009.

He has performed at Live Aid, Live 8, the Freddie Mercury Concert For Life and the Concert For Diana. He has also performed at the funeral for Princess Diana in 1997, singing a revised rendition of his 1973 hit "Candle in the Wind". "Candle in the Wind 1997", produced by Beatles producer Sir George Martin, became the most successful single of all time at 37 million copies, all royalties donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

Elton is chairman of Watford Football Club, and founding chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), which he founded in 1992 after Ryan White's death.

* ''The Lockdown Sessions'' (2021)[[note]] This album is made up of a series of collaborations recorded during a break of his farewell tour caused by [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic something a bit familiar by now]], with some of the artists on the album including Music/StevieWonder, Music/LilNasX, and Music/DuaLipa.

* ArtistAndTheband: He did a fictional example with "Bennie and the Jets" from his ''Music/GoodbyeYellowBrickRoad'' album.

* ArtistAndTheband: He did a fictional example with "Benny And The Jets" from his ''Music/GoodbyeYellowBrickRoad'' album.

* CampFollower: "Sweet Painted Lady"

** "Levon" is an interesting case. While a fair length, the original song is only 5 minutes long, not quite "epic". But in concerts? It's almost like Elton and the band forget the song they're playing and insert lengthy guitar and piano solos before coming back for the final chorus, making it run sometimes up to ''12 minutes''; nearly double the album length.

* AirVoyance: "Daniel" is all about this.

* IdolSinger: "I'm Going to Be a Teenage Idol" from ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player'' is a depiction of one. It was written in tribute to Elton's friend Music/MarcBolan at the height of "[=TRexstacy=]".

* SomethingBlues: "Blues for Baby and Me" from ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player''.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of his music falls between 1 and 3, but he's also made songs that score as high as 6.

* ''The Lockdown Sessions'' (2021)[[note]] This album is made up of a series of collaborations recorded during a break of his farewell tour caused by [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic something a bit familiar by now]], with some of the artists on the album including Music/StevieWonder, Music/LilNasX and Music/DuaLipa.

* ''17-11-70'' (1971) – titled ''11-17-70'' in the US[[note]]The album was recorded on the date of its title. Most of the world renders calendar dates day-first, but the US, and to a lesser extent Canada, use month-first format.[[/note]]

* The Lockdown Sessions (2021)[[note]] This album is made up of a series of collaborations recorded during a break of his farewell tour caused by [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic something a bit familiar by now]], with some of the artists on the album including Music/StevieWonder, Music/LilNasX and Music/DuaLipa.

* ''Live in Australia (with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)'' (1987)

* BeyondTheImpossible: With "Simple Life" in 1993, Elton John achieved 24 consecutive years with a Top-40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, breaking a record held by Music/ElvisPresley. He would extend it another six years, ending it at 30 in 1999 with "Written in the Stars". The streak finally ended when his only single of 2000, "Someday out of the Blue", peaked at number 49.
* BreakupSong: Plenty to choose from. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "Cold As Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)", "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", "High Flying Bird", "I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)", "I'm Still Standing" (a more vitriolic variety), "Sacrifice", "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (more of a rebound song).

* TheOner: The videos for "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore"[[note]]Although not a ''complete'' one: it's more like 3 separate Oners.[[/note]] and "I Want Love".

* ProtestSong: Some of his songs have subtle elements of this. "Daniel" is a UsefulNotes/VietnamWar vet (although it's subtle; a cut verse would have made this clearer), while "Ticking", an account of a gun massacre that killed 14 people, is a protest of UsefulNotes/AmericanGunCulture. Furthermore, as mentioned above, "Belfast" is a protest against UsefulNotes/TheTroubles in Northern Ireland.

* WarWasBeginning: Also according to the ''New York Times''. It's unclear if Levon Tostiger got his war wound in the aforementioned war.

* ''The Big Picture'' (1997)

* ''Too Low for Zero'' (1983)

* ''Ice on Fire'' (1985)

* ''[[Music/TheOneAlbum The One]]'' (1992)

* ''Caribou'' (1974)