Elton John – Dave DiPaolo’s Deep Dive

Elton John is perhaps one of the most interesting musicians on the face of the earth. That fact was well documented in his 2019 bio pic, Rocketman. But there are plenty of stories about him you may not know from the movie.

Before he was a solo artist, John was in a band called Bluesology, which backed American bands that toured England, including Patti Labelle and her band, the Bluebelles.

He was such a big fan of the Watford Football Club that he bought a controlling interest in the team, and in 1976 became chairman. At the time, they were a Fourth-Division club, but Elton’s investments and shrewd moves got them to the First Division in 1982, or what is now known as the Premier League. He gave up his interest in the team later in the decade, but again took over as chairman in 1996. He resigned in 2002 but continued his support; he was later named Honorary Life-President of the club.

When you hear some of your favorite songs from some of your other favorite rock and roll artists of the era, you just may be listening to an Elton John piano track behind them. Elton played piano on records for artists such as George Harrison, John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, the Hollies, and Bob Dylan.

According to the Buddy Holly Story book, Elton didn’t need glasses as a kid but loved to wear them anyway, just so he could look like Buddy Holly. The bad news is that wearing someone else’s glasses so often damaged his own vision, and now he is forced to wear glasses for real.

For those of you Guns N Roses fans out there, Axel Rose considered it quite an honor to induct Elton John into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1994, citing the piano man as a major influence on his own musical life.

And, Elton John can certainly be cited for his outrageous clothing choices on stage in the 70s. Eventually, that wardrobe became passe for his performance tastes, so he decided to auction all of his wild rhinestone-studded, feather-filled clothes in 1988. The roughly 2,000 items, which included the boots he wore in the Who’s rockopera epic film Tommy, fetched around $8 million dollars for charity.

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