[45] At age 15, with his mother's and stepfather's help, John was hired as a pianist at a nearby pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing Thursday to Sunday nights.

[56] The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James's DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, among them Roger Cook and Lulu.

[60][61] Backed by former Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, John's first American concert took place at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California on 25 August 1970, and was a success.

[69] Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a double-album released in October 1973, gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at number one for two months.

It contained the US number 1 "Bennie and the Jets", along with the hits "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding".

[75] Pete Townshend of the Who asked John to play the "Local Lad" in the 1975 film adaptation of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform the song "Pinball Wizard".

[80] Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier backbeat.

[78] John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and costumes such as the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

[88][89] John returned to the US top ten with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9), a song MCA rejected in 1977, recorded with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell.

[85] In 1990, John achieved his first solo UK number one hit single, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it stayed at the top spot for five weeks.

[104] The following year, "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental, and a guest concert appearance at Wembley Arena John made on George Michael's cover of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the UK and the US.

In 2014, it had grossed over $6 billion and became the top-earning title in box-office history for both stage productions and films, surpassing the record previously held by Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera.

[149] In February 2006, John and Dion sang together at the venue to raise money for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. workers affected by the 2005 hurricanes, performing "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" and "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)".

[152] West sampled John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" on his 2007 song "Good Morning" and in 2010 invited him to his Hawaii studio to play piano and sing on "All of the Lights".

[174] At the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards on 30 October, John along with Michael Caine, Richard Branson, Simon Cowell and Stephen Fry, recited Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—" in tribute to the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympics athletes.

[183] On 26 January 2017, it was announced that John would compose the score for the Broadway musical version of the novel The Devil Wears Prada and its film adaptation, with Kevin McCollum as producer and Paul Rudnick writing the lyrics and story.

[185][186] John composed and arranged a lyric by Taupin, "Two Fingers of Whiskey", written specially for the film, live on camera with the help of Burnett and Jack White.

[235] John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on 14 February 1984, in an extravagant wedding ceremony at St Mark's Church, Darling Point, Sydney, Australia.

[243] After same-sex marriage became legal in the United Kingdom in March 2014, John and Furnish married in Windsor, Berkshire, on 21 December 2014, the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and opponent of gay marriage, responded: "To call Jesus a homosexual is to label him a sexual deviant.

[262] Aside from his main home, Woodside, in Old Windsor, Berkshire, John owns residences in: Atlanta, Georgia (US); London, England; Los Angeles, California; Nice, France and Venice, Italy.

Authors Roger Blackwell and Tina Stephan wrote "the relationship of Elton John and Diet Coke is one of the classic success stories in the role of sponsorship in brand building.

[275] John is among the people interviewed for the documentary film If These Walls Could Sing directed by Mary McCartney about the recording studios at Abbey Road which premiered in November 2022.

[276] On 20 June 2023, John said the reaction to Phillip Schofield's secret affair with a younger colleague was "totally homophobic", stating: "If it was a straight guy in a fling with a young woman, it wouldn't even make the papers.

[285] John's paternal cousin Roy Dwight was a professional footballer, who scored for Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final before breaking his leg later in the same match.

"[287] John was also a friend of Blair's successor Gordon Brown, but despite being called "one of the Labour Party's most stalwart supporters" by The Daily Telegraph, the newspaper described him as a "floating voter" in 2009.

[319] After the death of Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, John paid tribute to her during a show by saying "She led the country through some of our greatest and darkest moments with grace, decency and a genuine caring warmth.

He founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and to provide services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

[14] To raise money for his AIDS charity, John annually hosts a White Tie & Tiara Ball on the grounds of his home in Old Windsor in Berkshire, to which many celebrities are invited.

[348] On 23 February 2023, The Elton John AIDS Foundation donated $125,000 via United24 to purchase ten biochemistry analysers, to help assure that all Ukrainians living with HIV can continue to access high-quality care and treatment.