| > | | | | friends as a performing star of the family. His career |
| Elton John was born in England on March 25, 1947. His | | | | had begun. At the age of seven, he began to take |
| name at birth was Reginald Kenneth Dwight and in his | | | | formal piano lessons and showed talent and aptitude |
| early musical career sometimes went by the nickname | | | | immediately. He started to compose songs and |
| of Reggie. Elton John has had a colorful career as a | | | | became well known at school functions. He went to |
| musician. He’s still going strong at age sixty-two. | | | | the Royal Academy of Music after winning a |
| Elton John was born in Pinner, Middlesex, England on | | | | scholarship to the school at age eleven. |
| March 25, 1947. His name at birth was Reginald | | | | He traveled to the music academy on Saturdays |
| Kenneth Dwight and in his early musical career | | | | along with attending his regular local school. |
| sometimes went by the nickname of Reggie. His | | | | Elton John has had a fabulous and long career. He has |
| parents were interested in the world of music, as well. | | | | been called one of the most successful artists of all |
| They were collectors of record albums and so | | | | time, having sold more than 250 million records. He has |
| exposed their son to many artists, including Elvis | | | | won Grammy, Tony, Academy, and Golden Globe |
| Presley and Bill Haley and His Comets. John’s | | | | awards. He became a Knight in 1998 and a member |
| dad played the trumpet in the Bob Millar Band, which | | | | of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. |
| was a big band with the military. | | | | He has also been active in helping with the fight against |
| His dad, Stanley Dwight, was in the Royal Air Force | | | | AIDS. All of his life has not been smooth, however. |
| and was a strong disciplinarian. His mother, Sheila | | | | John has had his share of tough times dueling with his |
| Eileen Harris, was much more footloose and fancy | | | | own personal demons. He’s had trouble with |
| free. His parents reportedly had intense bouts of | | | | drug addition, bulimia, alcoholism and losing his hair. |
| bickering that finally ended in their divorce when h was | | | | He’s been in rehab, suffered with a drug |
| fifteen. Because Stanley Dwight was absent so often, | | | | overdose and has had some rather severe money |
| the boy ended up being raised for quite some time by | | | | spending compulsions. It has reportedly spent |
| his mother and grandmother. Sheila later remarried to | | | | multi-millions of dollars in short amounts of time on |
| an artist named Fred Farebrother. Fred was a kind | | | | items ranging from flowers to fancy cars. He has |
| and supportive stepfather and Elton playfully gave him | | | | been quoted as saying, simply, that he liked |
| the nickname of Derf, which was Fred in reverse. | | | | flowers. |
| Elton John began to play the piano at the age of three. | | | | At age sixty-two, Elton John is still going strong. His |
| He was a natural at it and by the age of four years | | | | music is well loved around the world and has been |
| old, he was playing waltzes by ear. It wasn’t | | | | sung by many famous performers as well as by |
| long before he was paraded before relatives and | | | | himself. |