Page 3 Profile: Sir Elton John, musician

Singer Sir Elton John performing on stage during the Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace last year (Getty)

Ah Sir Elton, a national treasure.

The people behind the Brit Awards think so. Sir Elton will be the first recipient of the new Brit Icon Award at the music industry’s annual shindig in September. It will celebrate his “lasting impact on the nation’s culture”, such as providing the soundtrack to the 1970s with hits such as Rocket Man and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which helped him sell 250 million records. His rewritten version of ’Candle in the Wind’ in 1997 to mark the death of Princess Diana, became the best selling single of all time.

Has he always been so straight laced?

Don’t be fooled by his super-posh Royal Academy of Music training or his appearance on the Morecambe and Wise show, or appearance at Diana’ funeral. The road to being one of the most successful artists of all time has been colourful, and that’s excluding the enormous light up glasses, flamboyant suits and hair transplant. He’s had two wives, used to snort drugs after having epileptic seizures, and suffered from bulimia. Nowadays, he’s settled down with his partner David Furnish. The couple are the proud parents of two little boys, Zachary and Elijah.

So he’s enjoying the quiet life?

Thankfully nothing keeps Elton down for long. In between selling millions of solo records, he’s financially backed Watford football club, written music for films including Disney’s The Lion King, and collaborated with American rockers Queens of the Stone Age and even found time to guest edit this paper in 2010 with revenues going to his Elton John Aids Foundation.