Legendary performer Sir Elton John is turning 76 today. The singer, who is worth £450 million, has faced tough times in his life including battles with drug and alcohol addiction, hip problems and a prostate cancer scare.
Nowadays the performer is in a much better place, retiring from touring last year after completing The Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, to spend more time with his family. We take a look at his life out of the limelight...
Husband
Sir Elton met David Furnish, an advertising executive turned filmmaker, at a dinner party thrown by a mutual friend in 1993 and they were instantly smitten. The couple entered a civil partnership in 2005 and wed in 2014 when same-sex marriage became legal.
"If you'd had said to me 10 years ago I'd be sitting on your show married to the man I love and have two beautiful children I would have said 'You put acid in my drink'," the star told chat show host Ellen DeGeneres. "But life throws you challenges and life throws you curveballs — great curveballs."
Elton is married to filmmaker David with two sons, Zachary and Elijah (Getty Images for EJAF)Very sweetly the couple celebrate Saturdays, the day of the week they met, as a way of staying connected. "We write down, in like a little card that you put next to the bed: 'Happy Anniversary'," he said to R&B artist 6LACK on his confessional series about love. "You write about the week that’s passed and the week that’s coming, you connect and you tell each other you love each other."
Meghan Markle 'to unleash her own memoirs' as Prince Harry's drops next week
The performer credits David, 61, with transforming his life financially as well as emotionally, jokingly comparing him to the wife of late Beatles star John Lennon. "David came into my life and in the last two years has been very involved in sorting the dross that we had surrounding me," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2016. "We had so many people who were earning vast amounts of money that weren’t pulling their weight. David doesn’t mind being Yoko Ono but he’s doing it on my behalf."
Kids (and pets)
Sir Elton and David are dads to sons Zachary, 14 and Elijah, 11 and says the boys are the "great decision I've made" and "our primary concern". "They're the things that come first and foremost," he said.
Despite the singer's incredible wealth, the family of four enjoy a relatively normal life in Berkshire. Zachary played junior football for Watford FC Academy - his famous father is the club's Honorary Life President - and a few years ago his father revealed he has a passion for fishing. The family have also been spotted holidaying at Disneyworld.
"Before we had the children we just had our lives and we would spend money because we didn't have anything else to focus on," said the star, who famously once spent over £40m during a 20 month period. "I've learned that the simplest things in life, like having a minute with them, are worth more than any painting, any photograph, any house or hit record."
Elton and David are pet parents to many dogs too, including labrador Jacob and French bulldogs Regine and Nicole.
If you can't see the poll, click here
Showbiz pals
Sir Elton is known to have a host of famous friends, with his ten godchildren including Romeo and Brooklyn Beckham and Damian Hurley. Lady Gaga is godmother to his own boys Zachary and Elijah.
The musician's pals include Lady Gaga and Prince Harry (Mark Allan/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock)After his farewell tour finished last year, the singer headed to St Tropez in the South of France for a holiday on his £21m superyacht. Celebrity pals spotted joining him included Dame Joan Collins, actress Liz Hurley, actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his movie director wife Sam, David Walliams and Susannah Constantine.
Victoria Beckham revealed watching the talented musician perform in Las Vegas convinced her to leave the Spice Girls. “He performed Tiny Dancer as if it were the first time," she told British Vogue. "And you realised this was like oxygen for him. It was a life-changing moment - while singing and dancing was fun for you, it wasn’t your passion."
The loyal icon was famously close to the late Princess Diana, playing a reworked version of Candle In The Wind at her funeral. He went onto defend her son Prince Harry when he was criticised for taking a private jet to holiday at Sir Elton's home in the South of France. "Prince Harry’s mother, Diana Princess Of Wales was one of my dearest friends," he said. "I feel a profound sense of obligation to protect Harry and his family from the unnecessary press intrusion that contributed to Diana’s untimely death."
Harry and Meghan convinced 'royals were against them' after New Year photo snub
Property portfolio
Sir Elton bought the family's main residence, a mansion in Windsor, for £400,000 back in 1975. Now worth £5m, the eight bedroom manor house, which has a lake and 37 acres of gardens, was built in the 1500s for Henry VIII's surgeon. It has since burned down and been rebuilt three times, the last in 1947.
The Rocketman singer has occasionally shared snaps from the family home he describes as "tastefully over the top", including a spectacular playroom of dreams filled to the brim with Marvel figures, Lego toys and books. "If I weren't a musician, I would love to be a decorator," he said in an interview with Architectural Digest. The star certainly has plenty of space to decorate at his mansion - it has a library, tennis courts, an 18th-century orangery and a private chapel too.
Sir Elton owns a townhouse in London's Holland Park and two mega mansions in Los Angeles which combine into an incredible compound. Holidays can also be taken at their £15m villa in Nice in the South of France, where the star has hosted many of his celebrity pals including Harry and Meghan.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
