GLST5 - Rocket Man

Rocket Man
Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex, England on March 25, 1947, he is more than just a world renowned musical artist; he has a career that spans several decades that has had many ups and downs along the way. He attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, however he dropped out of school two weeks before taking his final exams and graduating in order to pursue his dream of music. In 1961 he formed his first band, Bluesology. Two other members of the band were Elton Dean on saxophone and Long John Baldry the front man. Taking the first name of Dean and Baldry he created his stage name and so was born Elton John as the world knows him.

In 1966 Elton John was teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin. The two worked so well together that by 1970 “Taupin could turn out a lyric in half an hour and Elton could compose to it within an hour.” The two wrote many hit songs together including “Rocket Man” in 1972 which became Elton’s first number one hit in the United States.

During the 70’s when Elton would perform, he would most often have a very outlandish wardrobe. It could be said that he had a very flamboyant fashion style on stage. When asked about this in an interview with “W”, a well known fashion magazine, he stated,

“You have to realize, I was stuck at a piano, which is not a glamorous instrument.
It's a nine-foot wooden plank. You can't utilize it like a guitar: you can't move
with it. Also, I wasn't a sex symbol like Bowie, Marc Bolan, or Freddie Mercury,
so I dressed more on the humorous side, because if I was going to be stuck at the
piano for two hours, I was going to make people look at me. I had to give people a
bit of fun. But, yes, I was totally being myself.”

Since 1969 Elton John has had made many albums, the most recent in 2006, “The Captain and the Kid,” and many number one and hit songs. He has recorded and/or performed with many other well known artists, including but not limited to, George Michael, RuPaul, Tammy Wynette and Eminem. Elton’s favorite songs include “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues,” “I’m Still Standing” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

Besides being a musical performer with many hit songs Elton John has accomplished a great deal more. He has composed music for Broadway musicals such as, “Aida,” “Lestat” and “The Lion King.” He has appeared in many films and T.V. shows including a guest appearance on “Will & Grace” in which he is himself as the “godfather” of the “Gay Mafia.” In 1998 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his work not only in music but also in charity. One of his biggest achievements is starting the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992.

Although Elton John has had much success in his career, his life has not always been a bed of roses. In the 80’s he began to have problems with alcohol, drugs and junk food binge eating. It took a tragedy for Elton to get his life turned back around. In 1990 he heard a story of a young boy who had contracted the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion and he flew out to Indiana to offer the boy, Ryan White, and his family support. He was in Indiana for a week and befriended Ryan and was with him and his mother the day he died at age 18. This was a turning point for Elton, he said,

“It made me realize what an insane fantasy lifestyle I was living, seeing Ryan and
his mother forgive all the people who had been so vile to them, seeing how brave
that kid was. I knew then that my life was completely out of whack.”

Ryan White was neither the first nor the last friend Elton John would loose. In 1991 he lost his friend Freddie Mercury to AIDS. This lost prompted him to do a duet with George Michael, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” which was a hit and all proceeds went to the AIDS charity, Terence Higgins Trust. 1997 was not a good year for Elton, he lost two friends, Gianni Versace was murdered and Princess Diana died in a car accident. Elton John performed at Diana’s funeral, a song originally written about Marilyn Monroe that he rewrote for Diana, “Candle in the Wind.” He vowed never to sing this version in public again but recorded and released the single in which all proceeds went to a charity established in Diana’s name.

One of the factors that lead Elton to drugs and alcohol was his struggle with his sexuality. In 1976 he told “Rolling Stone” magazine in an interview,

“There's nothing wrong with going to bed with somebody of your own sex. I think
everybody's bisexual to a certain degree. I don't think it's just me. It's not
a bad thing to be. I think you're bisexual. I think everybody is.”

Then in 1984 on Valentine’s Day Elton married Renate Blauel, a German born recording technician. After five years the couple divorced and Elton stated,
“Even though I knew I was gay, I thought this woman was attractive and that being
married would cure me of everything wrong in my life.... When you take that amount
[of drugs and alcohol] you can't have any relationship.”

In 1993 Elton met David Furnish, a Canadian filmmaker. On December 21, 2005 Elton and David made it official and had a civil union ceremony at their Windsor Estate in England. The large ceremony was high profile and some of the guest in attendance included Sting, Sharon Stone, Michael Caine and Donatella Versace.

As mentioned before, one of Elton’s biggest accomplishments is the founding the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. There were many factors that lead to the creation of this organization including the deaths of Ryan White and Freddie Mercury. Elton also had a different outlook on life when he started the foundation, he stated,
“I’m a gay man and have had a lot of my friends die…I slept with half of America
and came out of it HIV-negative. I was a lucky, lucky person. I have a second
chance to lead a decent life.”

The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) “is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations supporting innovative HIV/AIDS prevention education programs and direct care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS.” The EJAF helps support programs in 55 countries around the world and has raised more than $125 million since it was founded in 1992.

In 1999 Delta airlines became an official and the largest sponsor of the EJAF. In 2002 the government voted to increase funds for AIDS programs after Senator Edward Kennedy invited Elton to speak before the Senate Health Committee to get support from Congress. Elton was noted as asking the committee,
“When our lives are done, won’t we want it to be said that we saw millions of people
suffering with disease, millions more at risk, millions more abandoned, a whole
continent in danger of dying, and we refused to let it happen.”

The EJAF consist of a Board of Directors including Elton, David Furnish, Billie Jean King, Jane Fonda, and Whoopi Goldberg and has very few employees, four in the US office and nine in the UK office.

Every year the EJAF gives millions of dollars in grants to many deserving organizations around the world. Since 2006 some of the local bay area organizations that have benefited are the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Hope’s Voice in San Francisco, The Firelight Foundation in Santa Cruz and the Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park.

Funding for the EJAF comes from several sources. Annual fundraisers which include an Academy Award Viewing Dinner and After Party, Smash Hit a tennis event started by Billie Jean King and Ilanna Kloss in which top athletes play to raise money, An Ending Vision a dinner and auction, and the White Tie and Tiara Ball a lavish event in which each years theme is inspired by one of the countries the foundation works in. Elton has released a line of home fragrances which will be sold in Bath & Body Works and more than ten percent of total sales will go to the foundation. In April of 2006, the Elton’s Closet fundraiser was held in which actual items of clothes from Elton’s closet were sold at a temporary shop in New York City for five days. For Christmas of 2005 Elton put himself for sale in the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog in which anyone who donated $1.5 million would get a 90 minute performance by Elton John.

In a letter to the public Elton John states his commitment to this organization by writing,

“Forty million people are infected with HIV. Eight thousand die every day. We have both
the moral obligation and the power to end this epidemic. Do we have the will? I know I
do, and I pledge to remain committed to this cause for the rest of my life.”

Sir Elton Hercules John – a singer, a songwriter and a humanitarian.

Bibliography

"Dear John: for Elton, sacrifice is no longer just a song title, it's a governing principle. Here he talks about charily and a life beyond music.(Interview)." W 35.9 (Sept 2006): S90(2). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A151200375&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.

“Elton John: Home.” 3 July 2007. http://www.eltonjohn.com.

“Elton John AIDS Foundation.” 3 July 2007. http://www.ejaf.org.

Himelfarb, Ellen. "An ideal husband: in December, David Furnish wed Sir Elton John. How a nice boy from Scarborough became one half of the most famous gay couple in the world." Toronto Life 40.3 (March 2006): 50(6). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A142434287&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.

"How Elton beat the demons of drink and drugs - and became the self-anointed 'Queen Mum of Pop' How Elton beat the demons of drink and drugs - and became the self-anointed 'Queen Mum of Pop'; THE REAL ELTON JOHN/FINAL DAY." The Daily Mail (London, England) (Sept 22, 1997): 34. Custom Newspapers. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=IPS&docId=CJ110761511&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.

Jahr, Cliff. “Elton John: It’s Lonely at the Top.” Rolling Stone 7 October 1976. 3 July 2007 http://www.ccsf.edu/Library/instruct/olcite.pdf.

"John, Elton (1947-).(Narrative biography)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Thomson Gale, 1998. NA.. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=IPS&docId=A148360234&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.

"Lucky in life. (Elton John on how fortunate and grateful he is that he is not HIV-positive) (Brief Article)." Entertainment Weekly n261 (Feb 10, 1995 n261): 8(1). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A16419711&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.

Williams, Grant. "Charity on a Grand Scale.(Elton John AIDS Foundation)." Chronicle of Philanthropy 19.03 (Nov 9, 2006): NA. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A153998212&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.

Williams, Grant. "How Elton John's Charity Raises Big Money.(Elton John AIDS Foundation)." Chronicle of Philanthropy 19.03 (Nov 9, 2006): NA. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. City College of San Francisco. 2 July 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A153998213&source=gale&userGroupName=ccsf_main&version=1.0.