Elton John

Born in 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Elton experienced a fairly restrictive childhood growing up in Middlesex. His musical talents were clear from an early age, taking up the piano aged 3 and getting a scholarship to the Royal Academy of music at 11.

After a turbulent relationship with Elton’s father, who expressed very little interest in the young musician, Elton’s mother divorced and remarried. The new couple helped Elton secure a job as a pub pianist where he worked until he formed a now legendary partnership with Bernie Taupin in 1967, following an advert in the NME,.

With Bernie writing the lyrics and Elton the music (a tried and tested method that still works today), the duo began writing popular works for other artists such as ‘LuLu’ before beginning on Elton’s solo material. The release of Elton’s self-titled second album saw him take the first leap towards stardom. It spawned the hit single ‘Your Song’ and landed the album at number 4 and 5 on the US charts respectively.

1972’s ‘Honky Chateau’ became Elton’s first number one album and would be followed by 6 more consecutively, most famously ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ which stayed at the top spot for two months.

Outside of music, Elton has been a important figure for LGBT rights around the world. He publicly came out in 1988 and has since been a vocal figure for important social causes such as the AIDS crisis and gay marriage in the UK.