Elton John

On March 25th, 1947, in Pinner, Middlesex, England a child was born. His name? Reginald Kenneth Dwight, but we know him as Elton John. Reginald was born a musician. How do I know this? Look at him! At age three Reginald began learning Piano and it really got him far when he was eleven. Reginald received a scholarship to the Royal Music Academy. Elton studied at the academy for a while. Then sometimes in the sixties Reginald began a band named "Bluesology." "Bluesology's" main members were Reginald Dwight, Elton Dean, and Long John Baldry. "Bluesology" became quite famous in '65 but Reginald broke up the band to start his solo career. Reginald knew that his name wasn't suitable for the music Biz sp he changed his name to Elton John. His new name, Elton John, came from the first name of previous band mates Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. At the start of Elton's solo career he recorded to major things: "Lady Samantha" and his first album "Empty Sky." "Lady Samantha" was never a huge Hit and "Empty Sky" was greatly reviewed but was poorly sold. These two failures made Elton start to regret some things about his past, but his luck changed when Elton released the self-titled album "Elton John." This album included the Hit song "Your Song." In this research paper I will explain the recording experience of Elton's self-titled album "Elton John," The meaning of Elton's Hit song "Daniel" and how it resembles Elton's other Hit song "Levon," I will describe some of Elton's famous outfits and how they affected his life and career, I will also talk about some charities Elton has given to and how his charitable soul helped him receive the honor of being knighted, and I will also talk about why Elton had throat surgery and how it affected his career and singing. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me..." I don't think Elton should worry about that.

In 1967 Elton released his first album "Empty Sky." This album was more of a failure than a success and Elton knew that. This is when Elton started wondering if he'd ever succeed, but what Elton didn't know started on October 27th, 1969 while he was sitting at home and cam up with a song idea. Elton wrote down the lyrics. After he finished writing the lyrics he came up with a name for the song... "Your Song." "Your Song" is a beautiful ballad about a man who wants to show how much he loves his girlfriend/wife, but he doesn't have money to by her a "great big house" they could both live in, so he decides to write her a song. So after the lyrics were written Elton showed the lyrics to Bernie Taupin (Elton's musical partner) and then recorded a demo of the song. It is said that Elton seems to whisper the lyrics of "Your Song" during the demo version of the song.

After recording the demo, Elton and Bernie talked to Steve Brown, man who produced "Empty Sky." Steve didn't really like the project idea at all, even when Paul Buckmmaster wanted to orchestrate the song and the album it was going to be on. Steve then made an appointment for Elton and Bernie to see legendary producer Gus Dudgeon, the man who produced David Bowie's legendary "Space Oddity." During the meeting with Gus, Elton recalled Gus "not being too excited about the John/Taupin compositions." Steve Brown was annoyed by Gus's "seem-to-be

cold reaction to the project. Steve says "I could of punched him in the nose." Gus denies not liking the "John/Taupin Compositions." He says that he was amazed by the ideas Elton and Bernie had but he says he didn't want to risk losing the project by looking "too" enthusiastic about the "John/Taupin Compositions." "So I was Johnnie Cool" Gus said. Gus Dudgeon agreed to produce the "John/Taupin Compositions." Steve Brown coordinated the compositions. So after the meeting the demo tapes were sent to Dick James music. Elton and Bernie were granted $12,000 for the project. An unknown sum for unknown musicians. The album was planned note-for-note, and the hired classical musicians would be an important part in the recording process. In 1980 Elton made a quote on this project. "All the notes were written down, even the rhythm notes," Elton said. "I had to play live with everything. Can you imagine? I mean, they all had these brilliant session musicians standing there... and I had to play live... It was a very, very disciplined album for me to make." The album was completed in Trident Studio sometimes in January 1970. An enraptured Dick James launched the final product April 10th, 1970. Meanwhile, in America, another record deal was made. Dick James Music tried to get an American license, Bell Records, interested in "Lady Samantha" and "Empty Sky." Bell Records only release "Lady Samantha" to no affect, but sometimes in 1970 the president of Uni Records, Russ Regan, was approached by Dick James Music representative Lennie Hades in Los Angeles. Lennie Hodes informed Russ Regan that Elton John was thrown from Bell Records and That Elton's only album "Empty Sky" had been rejected by five other record companies. Russ Regan wondered how bad "Empty Sky" was since it was rejected by five other record companies, so he listened to it. "Somebody's crazy, because this album is very good!" Russ Regan said after listening to "Empty Sky." It would be years before "Empty Sky" would be released in America.

After the release of Elton's self-titled album, "Elton John", was released Elton released "Honky Chвteau" which includes the hit song "Honky Cat." After that Elton released his first live album "17-11-71." It was a total failure. Then, after a