This successful recording artist maintains a part-time residence in Atlanta, GA, and became a fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team when he moved there in 1991.
He has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and six Grammy Awards.
He is godfather to David and Victoria Beckham’s sons Brooklyn and Romeo.
He became a father on Christmas Day of 2010. Lady Gaga is one of his son’s godmothers.
He is host of one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry.
He is one of the most successful male solo artists of all time.
Who is he?
Aside from his main home, ‘Woodside’ at Old Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, Elton John splits his time in his various residences in Atlanta, Nice, Venice, and Holland Park in London.
Music awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1994 for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); and the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2000 for Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida (award shared with Tim Rice)
John has six Grammy Awards:
* 1987 – Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “That’s What Friends Are For”, performed by Dionne Warwick & Friends (award shared with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
* 1991 – Best Instrumental Composition for “Basque”, performed by James Galway
* 1994 – Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”
* 1997 – Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Candle In The Wind” 1997
* 1999 – Grammy Legend Award
* 2000 – Best Musical Show Album for Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida (award shared with Tim Rice, Chris Mountain, Frank Filipetti, Guy Babylon, Paul Bogaev and Frank Filipetti)
John has ten godchildren, including David and Victoria Beckham’s sons Brooklyn and Romeo, Sean Lennon, Elizabeth Hurley’s son Damian Charles, and the daughter of Seymour Stein.
John and partner David Furnish entered a civil partnership in 2005 after 12 years together. Their son Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John was born 25 December 2010 in California via a surrogate. Zachary weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces. Ingrid Sischy (and her partner Sandy Brant) and Lady Gaga were named Zachary’s godmothers.
In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a year later began hosting the annual Academy Award Party, which has since become one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $200 million.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on “The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists” (third overall, behind only The Beatles and Madonna).
photo: HRC/WENN