Trivia

In 1974, during one of his concerts at Madison Square Garden, John Lennon joined him on stage to perform three songs. This was part of a bet that if Lennon's song "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" went to #1, he would join Elton on stage. This proved to be Lennon's last on-stage performance.

Stevie Wonder played harmonica on his song "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues".

He is a reformed drug addict, alcoholic and bulimic. He also has epilepsy.

He began wearing glasses to copy one of his idols, Buddy Holly. After a while, his eyes adjusted to the lenses and he's worn glasses ever since. He owns a thousand pairs of glasses.

In 1992, he decided that all profits from his singles would be donated to AIDS charities and formed the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The foundation has become one of the world's largest nonprofit AIDS organizations.

His song "Empty Garden" is a tribute to John Lennon.

He was close friends with the late rock singer Freddie Mercury and performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness (1992). They were so close, John was one of the first people to be told by Mercury of his AIDS diagnosis in 1987, which was not announced to the public until the day before he died in November 1991.

His 1976 song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was about his real life suicide attempt. It happened when he was engaged to a woman and he was so severely conflicted with that commitment and his closeted homosexuality that he contemplated suicide. Fortunately, he mentioned this to his friend, singer Long John Baldry, and he successfully persuaded Elton to break off the engagement and focus on his music instead. As such, Elton John found considerable success and personal fulfillment and expressed his deep appreciation to Baldry for caring by explicitly conveying his thanks by addressing Baldry in the song by his nickname, Sugar Bear.

On 5 September 1997, he performed a new version of "Candle in the Wind", in tribute to Princess Diana at her funeral, with new lyrics specially written by Bernie Taupin.

In a 2017 poll conducted by Britain's ITV Network, it was determined that the nation's favorite Elton composition was "Your Song" (1970). With lyrics by Bernie Taupin, Elton claims to have completed the song in 15 minutes.

He has had at least one charted Billboard hit every year from 1970-2009.

He collaborated with Kiki Dee at Cherokee Studios for a duet "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in 1976. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was also his first No. 1 single in the United Kingdom, topping the chart for six weeks in mid 1976. This also became his sixth No. 1 single in the United States, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.

The godmother of his sons Zachary and Elijah is Lady Gaga.

Dusty Springfield sang backing vocals on his song "The Bitch is Back".

His son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, with David Furnish, was born via surrogacy on December 25, 2010. The identity of the biological mother is a secret.

The collaborative process between Elton and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin is unique in that Bernie writes the song lyrics alone, presents them to Elton who then proceeds to compose the music to the words alone. They never collaborate in the same space. When they wrote the smash hit "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in 1976, they used the pseudonyms Ann Orson (Elton) and Carte Blanche (Bernie).

His song "Song for Guy" was a tribute to Guy Burchett, Rocket Records messenger who was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Elton's father Stanley had never in his life seen him perform, and his mother Sheila had never met Elton's children Zachary and Elijah before her death in 2017. She apparently never liked his husband David Furnish either.

Being the technophobe he is, Elton does not even own a cellphone. However, he does have an iPad that he uses to keep in touch with his children on Facetime whenever he's away or on tour.

In January 1987, he underwent laser surgery to remove nodules from his vocal chords in Australia. This followed a televised concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in which his voice sounded noticeably rough. In 2004, he admitted this problem had been caused by smoking too many drugs, including marijuana.

He resides in London, England, United Kingdom; Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Venice, Veneto, Italy; and what he considers his main home, Woodside (purchased in 1974), in Old Windsor, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom.

In 2019, he met Dan Levy and the cast of Schitt's Creek (2015) backstage at one of his shows in Italy. Dan had revealed to him that he had been named after his song "Daniel" (1973).

In 1976, he covered The Who's "Pinball Wizard", for the film Tommy (1975); in the film, he is shown performing the song while playing a pinball machine integrated with a miniature piano keyboard. To date (2010), this is the only cover of a Who song to break the top 10. As a tongue-in-cheek revenge, on the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album "Two Rooms" (1991), The Who contributed a cover of the song "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", performed as if it were a Who composition.

He sang a song with Tupac Shakur called "Ghetto Gospel".

His longtime collaborator is lyricist Bernie Taupin.

He plays Yamaha concert grand pianos. Yamaha have also produced the Elton John Limited Edition Signature Series Red Piano, based on his Vegas show, The Red Piano.

As of March 2006, he has 10 godchildren, including John Lennon's son Sean Lennon, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham's sons Brooklyn Peltz Beckham and Romeo Beckham, Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Hurley, and music executive Seymour Stein's daughter Mandy Stein.

Elton's Golden Globe win for Best Original Song "I'm Gonna Love Me Again" from Rocketman (2019), is the first time he has ever won an award with writing partner Bernie Taupin (Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles / January 5, 2020).

He changed his name legally to Elton Hercules John. He chose the middle name "Hercules" not after the hero of mythology, but after the horse named Hercules on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962).

His song "All the Girls Love Alice" is a tribute to Alice Cooper.

He gave his friend Rod Stewart the nickname "Phyllis".

He came up with the name Elton John from Soft Machine saxophone player Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. However, his name is a reverse of the name of the British shipbuilder and seaman John Elton.

When he was still a session musician, Elton played piano on British band The Hollies' 1969 smash hit, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", for which he was paid £12.

He covered The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in 1974, for the film All This and World War II (1976). John Lennon is featured in this recording, credited as "Dr. Winston O'Boogie".

In 1979, he was the first Western rock star to perform in Israel and the USSR.

He was inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994).

He won the Tony Award for Original Musical Score in 2000 alongside Tim Rice for their work on "Aida". He was also nominated in the same category in 1998 for the musical version of The Lion King (1994) (alongside Tim Rice, Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer) and in 2009 for the musical version of Billy Elliot (2000) alongside Lee Hall.

He is one of the few artists such as Madonna and Kylie Minogue with #1 hits in both 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

In 2009, The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his net worth at $287 million.

He was a guest at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert.

He is close friends with David Beckham, Billy Connolly and Billy Joel.

In 2004, he was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honours, along with Joan Sutherland, John Williams, Warren Beatty, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 23, 1975.

In April 2017, he contracted a bacterial infection after his South American tour and canceled all of his Vegas performances through the next month on account of the illness, which had forced him to be hospitalized.

He names The Beatles as a major musical inspiration and became friends with all the members of the band.

At age 11, he won what was then termed a junior scholarship (the "junior" reference having to do with age, and not with less than full tuition subsidy) and was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music, but quit just before graduation to pursue a rock career.

In 2006, he was estimated to have sold 250 million albums during his career.

He covered the John Lennon song "Give Peace a Chance" on his four-CD boxed set "To Be Continued...".

He registered his civil partnership with long-term partner David Furnish at Windsor Town Hall on December 21, 2005, the first day that civil unions between same sex persons became legal in England and Wales. The ceremony was performed by Registrar Clair Williams, who also presided over the union between King Charles III and Queen Camilla. On the same date in December 2014, they upgraded their relationship to a marriage following the legalization of same sex marriage earlier in the year. Their wedding was attended by the likes of Lulu, Kate Bush, Gary Barlow, Ed Sheeran, David Beckham, David Walliams and Elizabeth Hurley. Both civil unions and marriage create spouses, which is why the civil union ceremony in 2005 is listed for the date of his marriage to David Furnish.

His song "Philadelphia Freedom" was a tribute to tennis star Billie Jean King.