Mark Bego - Rocket Man: The Life of Elton John

Rocket Man

THE LIFE OF ELTON JOHN

Mark Bego

ROCKET MAN

Pegasus Books Ltd.

148 W. 37th Street, 13th Floor

New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2020 by Mark Bego

First Pegasus Books cloth edition January 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-64313-313-3

ISBN: 978-1-64313-378-2 (ebook)

Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company

To the memory of

Donna Sturm Panken and Susan Gilbert Maggiora:

Both of you have been dear close friends of mine for decades. Donna, we go back to the wild and crazy 1970s in New York City!

We shared our love of designing jewelry, Tucson gem shopping, and having crazy adventures together. Susan, you took me under your wing at a time my life needed an upswing, and we certainly made Paris our own playground together on our epic trip.

I will always miss the two of you.

This ones for you!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

It is February 28, 2016, the day of the Academy Awards presentation. It is the most important and most celebrated day in Hollywood, California. In nearby West Hollywood, the hottest ticket to have is an invitation to the 24th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party.

Eltons date this evening is his husband, David Furnish, who looks handsome in a black and sliver jacket embroidered in an artistically swirling pattern. The guest list is a whos who of the show business realm, including Mariah Carey, Boy George, Dave Grohl, Caitlyn Jenner, Kelly Rowland, Dave Navarro, Heidi Klum, Mary J. Blige, Hilary Swank, Brandy, Andie MacDowell, and Verdine White and Phillip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire. Everyone is dressed to the nines, and the atmosphere in the pre-show cocktail lounge is nothing short of electric.

My glamorous date for the evening is my dear friend, the stunning Mary Wilson of The Supremes. She and Sir Elton have been friends for decades. Elton is a self-confessed fan of Motown music, and he once wrote the liner notes for one of the albums of Mary and The Supremes. Mary looks dazzling in a black and sliver checkered sequined bustier and gown, and a glowing necklace of iridescent blue beads.

Lets go and find our table, Mary says to me as we picked up our champagne glasses and head into the dining room. When the entrance to the main dining room opens up, we are amongst the very first guests inside the inner-sanctum. Formally dressed waiters and waitresses are going from table to table making the final adjustments to everyones place settings.

On the table are elaborate programs, printed descriptions of tonights dinner, and autographed copies of Eltons newest CD, Wonderful Crazy Night , for each of us. The menu to be served this evening is a five-course cuisine mavens dream, planned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey.

So far there is only one celebrity in the room, seated at a large round dining room table. It is Elton John, in all his glory. He is surrounded by three bodyguards and his personal photographer. Elton looks stunning in his metallic black and blue shirt. Over it he wears a midnight blue suit, and on the jackets lapel, he wears a large round, glittering diamond and sapphire pin.

Since Elton and Mary are the first two celebrity singers in the room, reporter James Patrick Herman of Billboard magazine comes over to ask Miss Wilson, Who is the biggest diva in the room? Without missing a beat she jokingly laughs, In size? Elton, not me!

As we walk over to find our table in the middle of the room, there, at the very next table, is the host himselfElton Johnlooks up to see us approaching. Instantly he leaps up from his seat, and with a huge smile on his face Elton delightedly exclaims, Mary!

Mary introduces me to Elton, and as I shake his hand he directs his cameraman, Michael Kovac: We need a photo!

The three of us put our arms around each others back in a warm embrace, and we flash our best Hollywood smiles for the cameras. We are no longer in West Hollywood. Mary and I find ourselves in the divinely magical place where The Yellow Brick Road leads. Clearly, we are now in Elton Land.

PLACE: The Monte Carlo Sporting Club, Monaco

DATE: August 1, 2008

MARK BEGO, author: So, Bill, have you thought of a quote for my Elton John book?

BILL WYMAN, former member Rolling Stones: (laughing) You mean Reg Dwight of Watford?

GARY BROOKER, Procol Harum lead singer: (rolling his eyes) You mean Sharon?

Elton John represents many different things to many different people. To rock & roll devotees, he is the creator of the classic album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . To English rock musicians who have known him since the early 1960s, he is still chubby Reg Dwight of Watford, England. To film buffs, he is the outrageous Pinball Wizard of Tommy fame or the starring subject of the glamorous 2019 biopic Rocketman . To British subjects and the royal family, he is Sir Elton John. And, to those close friends whove always known about his gay/bisexual personal life, he is still jokingly known as Sharon. But as crazy and as outlandish as he can be, it is his pop and rock music that has made the most enduring and lasting impression on the world. Legendary songs spanning six decades, such as Crocodile Rock, Your Song, Daniel, Island Girl, Bennie and The Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Dont Let the Sun Go Down on Me, The Bitch Is Back, and I Guess Thats Why They Call It the Blues, are all part of Eltons incredibly prolific musical catalogue.

He has sold over 300 million records and CDs worldwide, endured the rise and fall of disco, New Wave, and synthesizer rock, and won five Grammy Awards, one Tony Award, and an Academy Award, outlasting enough one-hit-wonders to fill a football stadium. As recently as 2017, Elton was still scoring Top Ten albums internationally. No one has had a musical career quite like the self-proclaimed Captain Fantastic. He has had so many incarnations that he has had to invent dozens of personas to accommodate his many moods, including both male and female pseudonyms for himself. Through it all, whenever someone announces that The Bitch is back, there is no doubt that they are talking about Elton John.

Elton has never been shy about expressing whatever is on his mindno matter how controversial it is at the time. His collaborations with songwriters, such as Bernie Taupin, Tim Rice, and Gary Osborne, have produced songs about topics that are deeply personal to Elton: Someone Saved My Life Tonight, about his own suicide attempt; Empty Garden, about the death of John Lennon; American Triangle, about the murder of Matthew Sheppard; and The Last Song, about a man dying of AIDS. He recorded a song about his own self-centered behavior (Ego), an ode to his own self-endurance (Im Still Standing), and even a bawdy ballad about having gay sex with a sailor on the top of an amusement park ride (Big Dipper). In the 1970s, his string of Number One albums, including Honky Chteau (1972), Dont Shoot Me, Im Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Caribou (1974), Elton John: Greatest Hits (1974), Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975), and Rock of the Westies (1975), made him one of the most recognizable stars on the planet. His first Greatest Hits album spent two months at the top of the American album charts, and his Captain Fantastic album was the first LP ever to enter the Billboard charts at Number One. By the end of the 1970s, Elton John had delivered an astonishing 20 albums and 37 singles.