Anita Bryant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name Anita Jane Bryant
Born March 25, 1940 (1940-03-25) (age 68)
Origin Barnsdall, Oklahoma
Genre(s) Pop Music
Years active 1956 - 1980
Label(s) Carlton Records, Columbia Records
Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma) is an American singer.
She is widely known for her strong views against homosexuality, and for her prominent campaigning in the mid-1970s to prevent gay equality - specifically her successful move to repeal a local ordinance in Miami, Florida, that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant is a member of a conservative church congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Early life and career
Bryant's belief in God and the Bible had their roots in her childhood. She was initially declared dead at childbirth in her grandparents' tiny frame house in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, but her grandfather would not accept that the baby was dead. When the doctor told her grandfather to get him a pan of ice water, the new grandfather lost no time and the newborn Anita survived.[citation needed]
Her grandfather taught her as a baby to sing when she was six months old. Soon after her sister Sandra was born, her mother and father divorced. Her father went in the Army and her mother went to work, taking her children to live with their grandparents temporarily. When Anita was two years old, her grandfather taught her to sing Jesus Loves Me. Bryant was singing onstage on local fairgrounds in Oklahoma at age six. She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town. Her father at first refused to allow her to go on Godfrey's show, relenting only when he was told his daughter had exceptional talent, and it would be a sin not to share it.
Bryant became Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and was a second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America beauty pageant at age 19, right after graduating from Tulsa's Will Rogers High School.
In 1960, she married Bob Green, a Miami disc jockey, with whom she eventually raised four children, including Gloria and Robert Jr. (Bobby).
Her three biggest pop hits were: "Till There Was You" (1959); "Paper Roses" (1960) (successfully covered 13 years later by Marie Osmond); and "In My Little Corner of the World" (1960). She placed a total of eleven songs in the Top 100, plus some in the "Bubbling Under" chart.
There were several albums on the Carlton and Columbia labels. The 1959 Carlton LP Anita Bryant contained "Till There Was You", "Do-Re-Mi" (from The Sound Of Music), and other show tunes. The 1963 Columbia Greatest Hits LP contained both Carlton and Columbia songs, including "Paper Roses" and "Step by Step, Little by Little". In 1964 came The World of Lonely People, containing, in addition to the title song, "Welcome, Welcome Home" and a new rendition of "Little Things Mean a Lot" arranged by Frank Hunter.
In 1969 she became a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission, and nationally televised commercials featured her singing "Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree" and stating the commercials' tagline: "Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine". In addition, during this time, she also did advertisements for Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Holiday Inn, and Tupperware.
She sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the graveside services for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, and performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl III in 1969.
Political campaigning
Save Our Children
In 1977, Dade County, Florida (now Miami-Dade County) passed a human-rights ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Anita Bryant led a highly publicized campaign to repeal the ordinance. The campaign was waged based on what was labeled "Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation."
Her view was that "What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. [...] I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before." The campaign was called 'Save Our Children', the start of an organized opposition to gay rights that spread across the nation. Jerry Falwell went to Miami to help her.
Bryant made the following statements during the campaign: "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children" and "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters." On June 7, 1977, Bryant's campaign led to a repeal of the anti-discrimination ordinance by a margin of 69 to 31 percent.
Victory and defeat
A boycott was organised against the Florida Citrus Commission, who used Bryant in advertising. In the aftermath, legislation was passed outlawing adoption by gays and lesbians in the state of Florida and Bryant led several more campaigns around the country to repeal local anti-discrimination ordinances. Her success led to a proactive effort to pass landmark anti-homosexual legislation in California that would have made pro- or neutral statements regarding homosexuals or homosexuality by any public school employee cause for dismissal. Grass-roots liberal organizations, chiefly in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, sprang up to defeat the initiative. Days before the election, the California Democratic Party (wary of appearing pro-gay) opposed the proposed legislation, causing it to go down to narrow defeat at the polls.
In 1998 Dade County repudiated Bryant's successful campaign of 20 years earlier, and re-authorized an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by a 7 to 6 margin. In 2002, a ballot initiative to repeal the 1998 law called Amendment 14 was voted down by 56% of the voters. The Florida statute forbidding adoptions by gay persons, however, remains law; in 2004, a federal appellate court upheld Florida's adoption law against a constitutional challenge.
Anita Bryant's political success galvanized her opponents. She became one of the first persons to be publicly "pied" as a political act (in her case, on television), in Des Moines in 1977; Bryant quipped, "At least it was a fruit pie", apparently making a pun on the derogatory term for a gay man, "fruit". Police authorities refused to prosecute for the assault. Gay activists organized an orange juice boycott. Many celebrities including Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Paul Williams, John Waters, Carroll O'Connor, Mary Tyler Moore, and Jane Fonda publicly supported the boycott. The story was told in the book, At Any Cost (1978). To this day, Bryant is still viewed as one of the most loathed public figures of all time by the gay community, her name being synonymous with homophobia.[1]
Career decline and bankruptcy
The fallout from her political activism had a devastating effect on her business and entertainment career. Her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission was allowed to lapse in 1979 because of the controversy and the negative publicity generated by her political campaigns and the resulting boycott of Florida orange juice.[2]
Her marriage to Bob Green failed at that time, and in 1980 she divorced him, although he reportedly has said that his fundamentalist religious beliefs do not recognize civil divorce and that she is still his wife in God's eyes. Some observers feel that her husband pushed her to get involved in the political activism that eventually led to her downfall and loss of income. Kathie Lee Gifford, who worked as a live-in secretary/babysitter for the Greens in the early 1970s said in her autobiography that Green had a ferocious temper and could be very possessive and emotionally abusive and that Anita was not very happy.
Due to her divorce, many fundamentalist Christians shunned her. No longer invited to appear at their events, she lost a source of income. With her four children she moved from Miami to Selma, Alabama, and later to Atlanta, Georgia. In a Ladies Home Journal article she said, "The church needs to wake up and find some way to cope with divorce and women's problems."
In the 1980s she even renounced her anti-gay ways. In the same article in Ladies Home Journal she said that she felt sorry for all of the hateful things she had said and done during her campaign.[3] She said that she had a more "Live and let live" attitude now.
She married her second husband, Charlie Hobson Dry, in 1990, and they tried to reestablish her career in a series of small venues, including Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Commercial success was elusive, however, due to the controversy from the past; and they left behind them a series of unpaid employees and creditors. Her career decline is detailed in her book, A New Day (1992). They filed for bankruptcy in Arkansas (1997) and in Tennessee (2001).
Anita Bryant returned to Barnsdall, Oklahoma, in 2005 for the town's 100th anniversary celebration and to have a street renamed in her honor. She returned to her high school in Tulsa on April 21, 2007, to perform in the school's annual musical revue. She now lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, and says she does charity work for various youth organizations while heading Anita Bryant Ministries International.
Cultural References
On Will & Grace, the character Karen Walker refers to Anita Bryant as being her enemy who fell in love with her.
On Designing Women, Bryant is mentioned on more than one occasion by Suzanne Sugarbaker, referencing both her beauty pageant history, as well as her political activism.
On an episode of The Golden Girls, an effeminate male guest star is overcome with emotion, causing character Blanche Devereaux to comment, "you're about to go flying right outta here, aren't ya". The man replies, "well, excuse me for living, Anita Bryant!".
In the film Airplane!, Leslie Nielsen's character, Doctor Rumack, upon seeing a large number of passengers become violently ill, vomit, and suffer uncontrolable flatulence, says, "I haven't seen anything this bad since the Anita Bryant concert."
In the song, F*ck Anita Bryant, on his Nothing Sacred album, David Allan Coe expresses his feelings for Anita.
On Gilmore Girls Lorelai says to her father that he could fill huge gap after Anita Bryant because her father always have a half of grapefruit for breakfast. Season 2 espisode 12: Richard In Stars Hollow
In the song "Manana" by Jimmy Buffett, Buffett says he hopes Anita Bryant never sings one of his songs.
Anita Bryant also narrated the Infamous anti-drugs film, "Drugs are like that".
Aretha Franklin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name Aretha Louise Franklin
Born March 25, 1942 (1942-03-25) (age 66)
Memphis, Tennessee,
United States
Origin Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genre(s) Soul, R&B, gospel, jazz, rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, pianist
Instrument(s) Singing, piano
Voice type(s) Mezzo-Soprano
Years active 1956 - Present
Label(s) Columbia, Atlantic, Arista
Associated acts The Sweet Inspirations, Carolyn Franklin, Erma Franklin, Cissy Houston, George Benson, George Michael, Michael McDonald
Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She is known to the music world as "The Queen of Soul" and is affectionately called "Sister Ree" by her fans. She is renowned for her soul recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera.[1] She is widely acclaimed for her passionate, soulful vocal style, which is aided by a massive and powerful vocal range.
Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history (after Alison Krauss). She has won twenty Grammy Awards, which includes the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Aretha won eight consecutive awards between 1968 and 1975,[2] during which time the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was nicknamed "The Aretha Award".[3]
Franklin has had a total of twenty #1 R&B singles - a record unsurpassed by any other female recording act - and a total of seventeen top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Two of them became #1 hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as well, "Respect" in the 1960s and her 1980s duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)".
Biography
Early life and career
Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in South Memphis, Tennessee to the Rev. C. L. Franklin, a Baptist minister, and Barbara Siggers Franklin. Aretha's parents had a troubled relationship and they separated when Aretha was six. Siggers died of a heart attack when Franklin was ten. The fourth of five siblings, Aretha's father's first pulpit after Memphis was in Buffalo, New York. The family subsequently moved to Detroit, Michigan where Rev. Franklin assumed the pulpit of the New Bethel Baptist Church, and gained national fame as a preacher. Adept at the piano as well as having a gifted voice, Franklin became a child prodigy. By the age of fourteen, she signed a record deal with Checker Records, where her father recorded his sermons and gospel vocal recordings and issued The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin in 1956. Her earlier influences included Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson, both of whom spent a lot of time in Aretha's home.
Teenage pregnancies derailed Franklin's gospel career when she gave birth to the first and second of her four sons in 1955 and 1957. By the time she returned to singing, instead of performing gospel and inspired by the successes of idols Dinah Washington and Sam Cooke, Aretha decided to secure herself a deal as a pop artist. After being offered contracts from Motown and RCA, Franklin signed with Columbia Records in 1960. Her recordings during that time reflected a jazz influence inspired by Washington and moved away from her gospel roots. Franklin initially scored a few hits on Columbia including her version of "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (With A Dixie Melody)", which peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in 1961, and the Top 10 R&B hits, "Today I Sing The Blues", "Won't Be Long" and "Operation Heartbreak". However, by the end of 1966, with little commercial success in six years with Columbia and desperate for a sound, she accepted an offer to sign with Atlantic Records. According to Franklin years later, "they made me sit down on the piano and the hits came."
"Queen of Soul"
In 1967 Franklin issued her first Atlantic single, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)", a blues ballad that introduced listeners to her gospel style. Produced by Jerry Wexler, the song became Franklin's breakthrough single reaching the Top 10 on the Hot 100, and holding the #1 spot for 7 weeks on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. The B-side to the single, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", charted on the R&B side, and introduced a more gospel element to Franklin's developing sound.
Her next single, "Respect", firmly launched Franklin to superstardom. Written and originally recorded by Otis Redding, Franklin's feminist version of the song became a hit reaching #1 on both the R&B and the Pop charts and helping her Atlantic debut album, I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You, reach million-seller status. In the next ten months, Franklin released a number of top ten hits including "Baby I Love You", "Chain Of Fools" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".
In early 1968 Franklin won her first two Grammies (for "Respect"), including the first Grammy awarded in the "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" category. Franklin went on to win eight "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" awards in a row.[2] Over the next seven years, Franklin continued to score hit singles including "Think", "The House That Jack Built", "I Say A Little Prayer" (a cover of Dionne Warwick's hit), "Call Me", "Don't Play That Song" and "Spanish Harlem".[4]
By the end of the 1960s, Franklin's position as The Queen of Soul was firmly established. Her albums were also hot sellers; one in particular, 1972's Amazing Grace, eventually sold over two million US copies, becoming "the best-selling gospel album of all time".[5] Franklin's hit streak continued into the mid-1970s. 1973's emotional plea "Angel", produced by Quincy Jones and written by Franklin's sister Carolyn, was a stand out single that became yet another #1 on the R&B chart. The subsequent album Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky), however, was not successful.
1974's Gold-certified single "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" hit #1 R&B and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. By 1975, however, with the expanding exposure of Disco and the popularity of fellow Atlantic artist Roberta Flack, relations between Franklin and Atlantic Records were starting to strain. As a result, Aretha was recording poor material such as 1975's listless You album, and her record sales declined dramatically. Franklin had peaked while the music industry was moving on to younger black female singers such as Natalie Cole, Chaka Khan, and Donna Summer.
Decline and tragedy
In 1976, Franklin's Curtis Mayfield-produced soundtrack of the film, Sparkle, briefly brought Franklin out of her funk. It was her first album to reach Gold status since the landmark Amazing Grace. The suggestive "(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel" became a number-one R&B smash and reached #28 on the Pop side. However, it was Aretha's only Pop Top 40 appearance during the second half of the 1970s. Her later period Atlantic albums including Sweet Passion, Almighty Fire and La Diva were critical as well as sales failures and to top it off Franklin owed major debts to the IRS for failure to pay back taxes. Her recording contract with Atlantic ran out at the end of 1979 and neither Aretha nor the company had any desire to renew it. On June 10, 1979, Franklin's minister father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was seriously wounded during what was said to be an attempted robbery at his Linwood Avenue home in Detroit, leaving him in a comatose state in which he remained until he died in the summer of 1984.
Return to prominence
In 1980, Franklin's career was given a much-needed boost thanks to a cameo appearance on The Blues Brothers, singing Think as Mrs. Matt Murphy. That same year, Clive Davis signed Aretha to his Arista Records. The singles "United Together" and "Love All The Hurt Away" - a duet with George Benson - returned her to the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. But it was the spectacular 1982 album, Jump To It, produced by longtime admirer Luther Vandross, and the title-track 45 that gave Aretha her first R&B chart-topping and pop success since "(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel". The Jump To It album enjoyed a long run at #1 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart (even the Zoomin' album only reached #3). It won an American Music Award, was nominated for a Grammy and was certified Gold in early 1983 - Aretha's first Gold disc since the 1976 Sparkle album.
The following year Franklin and Vandross collaborated again on the disappointing Get It Right. But in 1985, Franklin's sound was commercialized into a glossy pop sound as she experienced her first-ever Platinum-certified album, Who's Zoomin' Who?. Yielding smash hits like the Motown-influenced "Freeway of Love", the title track, and her duet with rock duo Eurythmics, "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves", the album became the first Platinum certification of Aretha's entire career, reintroducing her sound to a younger generation of fans. In 1986, Franklin did nearly as well with an album simply titled Aretha which yielded her first number-one pop single in two decades with the George Michael duet, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". The album is noteworthy for the striking cover which was Andy Warhol's last work before his death. Other hits included her cover of The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the girl group-inspired "Jimmy Lee". When Aretha was taken out of print, it had sold over nine million copies worldwide.
Aretha returned to gospel in 1987 with her album One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism which was recorded live at her New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. However, the disc was a far cry from her 1972 effort Amazing Grace and had middling sales. Subsequent follow-ups such as 1989's Through The Storm and 1991's What You See Is What You Sweat sold poorly and failed to produce any major mainstream hits - other than the former album's Elton John-featured title track - but her career got a slight boost in 1993 when she scored a dance-club hit with "Deeper Love" off the Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit soundtrack. In 1994, she scored a top forty hit with the Babyface-produced ballad, "Willing To Forgive".
Franklin returned to prominence with her 1998 album, A Rose Is Still A Rose. The album's mixture of urban contemporary, hip-hop soul and soul was a departure from Franklin's previous material. The title track, produced by Lauryn Hill, gave her a smash hit on the R&B and Pop charts and earned a gold single while the album was certified gold also, the first time since 1986's Aretha that any of the singer's albums went gold. That same year, with less than twenty-four hours to prepare, Franklin stepped in for Luciano Pavarotti to sing "Nessun Dorma" at the 1998 Grammy Awards. (Pavarotti, who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award that night, was too sick to attend.) She gave a soulful and highly improvised performance in the aria's original key, while firmly stamping out the year with a captivating performance during VH-1's "Divas Live" telecast.
Recent years
Following the success of A Rose Is Still A Rose, Franklin has continued recording if only sporadically. Her most recent release was 2003's So Damn Happy, which included the Grammy-winning track "Wonderful". Shortly after its release, Franklin left Arista Records after twenty-three years with the company. She has since started her own label, Aretha Records, and plans to issue her long-promised new album, A Woman Falling Out Of Love in 2008. She is also coaching young actors during auditions for a musical based on her autobiography, From These Roots.
In 1998, Franklin also took again her role of Mrs. Murphy in Blues Brothers 2000, this time singing her old hit "Respect". Like in the 1980 movie, she plays the possessive wife of the lead guitarist of the Blues Brothers Band, singing the song during a row with her husband about his joining his former band.
Aretha has released a new album "Jewels In The Crown: All-Star Duets With The Queen" The disc features duets performed with Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Richard Marx, John Legend, Annie Lennox, Mary J. Blige, Frank Sinatra, George Michael, Christina Aguilera, George Benson, Fantasia, and Gloria Estefan. A duet with Faith Hill has been recorded but it's not on the album. The album includes two new recordings with Fantasia, on the lead single "Put You Up On Game" and John Legend. The lead single "Put You Up On Game" hit radio on October 1, 2007 and became the number one most added song on Urban AC radio the following week. The album also includes Aretha's historical rendition of "Nessun Dorma" from the 1998 Grammy telecast. The album was released November 13, 2007 on Arista Records.
On February 8, 2008, Franklin was honored as MusiCares "Person of the Year", two days prior to the 50th Annual Grammy Awards where she was awarded her 20th Grammy.
Personal life
Twice divorced, Franklin is the mother of four grown sons. Two of her sons, Kecalf and Teddy, are active in the music business. Teddy is the musical director and guitarist of Franklin's touring band. From 1961 to 1969, Aretha was married to her manager and co-writer Ted White. In 1978 she married Cooley High actor Glynn Turman. White had been a decade older than Aretha while Turman was four years younger. The marriage lasted until late 1982 when Franklin and her family returned permanently to Detroit. She and Turman officially divorced in early 1984.
She is the godmother of Whitney Houston, who also grew up to be a pop star, rising to fame in the mid 1980s. A still image of Franklin was shown in the closing scene of Houston's late 1985 video for the single How Will I Know.
Voice
Aretha Franklin is known for her powerful, refined, and very agile voice. She also possesses a voice spanning numerous octaves and vocal ranges. Earlier in her career, her voice extended well beyond the Soprano C, approaching E6. Additionally, with extensive use of her profound chest voice, she has reached baritone notes, such as the B below Middle C. As a singer most comfortable in the middle of her vocal range, she is perhaps best classified as a coloratura mezzo-soprano, thanks to the agility and bright color of her voice, coupled with her ability to project both high notes typical of a soprano as well as low notes that sopranos are otherwise incapable of approaching.
Awards and achievements
On January 3, 1987, she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In May 1987, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Musicology degree from the University of Detroit.[citation needed]
In September, 1999, she was awarded The National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked her #9 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[6]. To give perspective to this honor, only the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, and Little Richard finished ahead of her on this list. Ray Charles finished at number ten, right behind Franklin.
In 2005, she was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
In 2005, she became the second woman (Madonna being the first, a founding member) to be inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
On May 13, 2006, she was presented with an honorary Doctor of Music degree by the Berklee College of Music.
On May 14, 2007, she was presented with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
She is the youngest recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor.
First black woman to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
On February 8, 2008, Franklin was honored as MusiCares "Person of the Year".
On February 14, 2008, Franklin was given the Vanguard award at the NAACP Image awards.
In 2008, Franklin was added to PETA's ?'Worst-Dressed Celebrities of 2008' after appearing at the Grammy awards in a full length fur coat. [7]
Grammy Awards
Franklin has won twenty Grammy Awards in total during her nearly half-century long career (she first charted in 1961), and holds the record for most Best Female R&B Vocal Performance award with eleven to her name (including eight consecutive awards from 1968 to 1975 - the first eight awarded in that category).
Elton John
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Also known as Sir Elton Hercules John
Born March 25, 1947 (1947-03-25) (age 61)
Origin Pinner, Middlesex, London, England
Genre(s) Rock
Pop
Piano rock
Glam rock
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, producer
Instrument(s) Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active 1964?-present
Label(s) Uni, MCA, Geffen, Rocket/Island, Universal, Interscope, Mercury, UMG
Associated acts none
Website EltonJohn.com
Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist.
In his four decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold more than 250 million albums[citation needed] and over one hundred million singles,[3] making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive #1 U.S. albums, 59 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, 4 #2 hits, and nine #1 hits.[4] He has won five Grammy awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.[5]
Some of the characteristics of John's music are his ability to quickly craft melodies for the lyrics of songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, his former rich tenor (now baritone) voice, his classical and gospel-influenced piano, the aggressive orchestral arrangements of Paul Buckmaster among others and the flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship, especially evident during the 1970s.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s and was knighted in 1998. He entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for the LGBT social movements.
Biography
Childhood
John was born in Pinner, Middlesex in a council house of his maternal grandparents, with whom his newlywed parents (Sheila Eileen (Harris) and Stanley Dwight) were living.[6][7] He then moved to a nearby semi-detached house.[8] He was educated at Pinner County Grammar School until the age of 15 before pursuing a career in the music industry.[9][10]
When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father tried to steer him toward a more conventional career such as banking.[9] He has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood.
Both of John's parents were musically inclined, his father having been a trumpet player with a semi-professional big band that played military dances. The Dwights were avid record buyers, exposing the boy to all the popular singers and musicians of the day. John remembers being immediately hooked on rock and roll when his mother brought home records by Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets in 1956.[9][10]
Musical interest
But the young Reginald Dwight was not merely interested in music?-he was a piano prodigy. He started playing the piano at the age of 3, and at the age of 4, his mother was astonished to hear him picking out Winifred Atwell's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear.[9][10] It wasn't long before the boy was being pressed into service as a performer at parties and family gatherings. He began taking piano lessons at the age of 7. He showed great musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. One of his instructors reports that, when he entered the Academy, she played a four-page piece by Handel, which he promptly played back like a "gramophone record."[10]
For the next five years, John took the tube into central London to attend Saturday classes at the Academy, in addition to his regular school duties at Pinner County Grammar School. John has since stated that he enjoyed playing Chopin and Bach and singing in the choir during Saturday classes, but that he was not otherwise a diligent classical student. "I kind of resented going to the Academy," he says. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practising and still pass, scrape through the grades." He even claims that he would sometimes skip classes and just ride around on the Tube. However, several instructors have testified that he was a "model student", and during the last few years he was taking lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the Academy.[10] Therefore, whatever his internal attitude might have been, it seems clear that he was dedicated to learning his craft.
John's mother Sheila, though also strict with her son, was more vivacious than her husband, and somewhat of a free spirit. With Stanley Dwight uninterested in his son and often physically absent, John was raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother. When his father was home, the Dwights would have terrible arguments that greatly distressed their son. John was 15 when they divorced. Sheila was soon remarried to a local painter named Fred Farebrother, who turned out to be a caring and supportive stepfather. John affectionately referred to him as "Derf", his first name in reverse.[10] They moved into flat #1A in an eight-unit apartment building called Frome Court not far from both previous homes. It is here that John would write the songs that would launch his career as a rock star. In fact, he would live here until he had four albums simultaneously in the American Top 40.[11]
Early career (1962-1969)
At the age of 15, with the help of mother Sheila and stepfather "Derf", Reginald Dwight became a weekend pianist at the nearby Northwood Hills pub, playing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. He played everything from Jim Reeves country songs "He'll Have to Go" to Irish tribute numbers "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling", old pub favourites such as, "Roll Out The Barrel", hits of the day, "King of the Road", and songs he had written himself. He received a modest, steady income and substantial tips. "During that whole period, I don't think I ever missed a gig", he said later. A stint with a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time.
In 1964, Dwight and his friends formed a band called Bluesology. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul and R&B musicians like The Isley Brothers, Major Lance, Doris Troy and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry's supporting band and began touring cabarets in England.
After failing lead vocalist auditions for King Crimson[12] and Gentle Giant, Dwight answered an advertisement in the New Musical Express placed by Ray Williams, then the A&R manager for Liberty Records. At their first meeting, Williams gave Dwight a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had answered the same ad. Dwight wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, and thus began a partnership that continues to this day. In 1967, what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Scarecrow", was recorded; when the two first met, six months later, Dwight was going by the name "Elton John", in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.
Empty Sky, Elton John's 1969 debut album, went largely unnoticed.The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James's DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, like Roger Cook and Lulu. Taupin would write a batch of lyrics in under an hour and give it to John, who would write music for them in half an hour, disposing of the lyrics if he couldn't come up with anything quickly. For two years, they wrote easy-listening tunes for James to peddle to singers.
Their early output included an entry for British song for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969, called "Can't Go On (Living Without You)" It came sixth of six songs.[13]
During this period John also played on sessions for other artists including playing piano on The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and singing backing vocals for The Scaffold.[14]
On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha", and an album, Empty Sky. Despite good reviews, none of the records sold well.
1970s
John and Taupin now enlisted Gus Dudgeon to produce a follow-up with Paul Buckmaster as arranger. Elton John was released in the spring of 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song", only made the US Top 100 peaking at #92. After the second single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles (his introduction was provided by Neil Diamond), in August, backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. Kicking over his piano bench Jerry Lee Lewis-style and performing handstands on the keyboards, John left the critics raving, and drew praise from fellow artists such as Quincy Jones and Bob Dylan.
In the spring of 1970, John was recruited to provide piano and backing vocals on "Back Home", the song recorded by the England football squad which was about to depart to Mexico for the World Cup finals.
Elton John was followed quickly with the concept album Tumbleweed Connection in October 1970, which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. A frenetic pace of releasing two albums a year was now established.
The live album 17-11-70 (11-17-70 in the US) showcased John's talent as a rock pianist and father of piano rock. Taped at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City, and introduced by disc jockey Dave Herman, it featured extended versions of John/Taupin's early compositions that illustrate the gospel and boogie-woogie influences on John's piano playing. It also featured much interaction between John, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. During the magnum opus 18:20 version of "Burn Down the Mission", the band interpolates Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and a full rendition of The Beatles' "Get Back" before a rampaging conclusion. Ironically, sales of the live album were reportedly heavily hit in the U.S. when an east coast bootlegger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.[15]
John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends".
Elton John's sixth album, Madman Across the WaterIn 1972, the final piece of what would become known as the Elton John Band fell into place, with the addition of Davey Johnstone (on guitar and backing vocals). Murray, Olsson, and Johnstone came together with John and Taupin's writing, John's flamboyant performance style, and producer Gus Dudgeon to create a hit-making chemistry for the next five Elton John albums. Known for their instrumental playing, the members of the band were also strong backing vocalists who worked out and recorded many of their vocal harmonies themselves, usually in John's absence.
The band released Honky Chateau, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat".
In May 1972, he legally changed his name by deed poll to Elton Hercules John.
The 1973 pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first U.S. number one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.) Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a double album considered by many to be John's best album,[citation needed] followed later in 1973. It gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the Number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.
John then formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it ?- notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee ?- in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.
In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.
Elton John's cryptic personality was revealed with the autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". At the end of the year, the compilation album Elton John's Greatest Hits was released and reached number 1.
Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Pinball Wizard" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform the song of the same name. Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the U.S.). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.
The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.
Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the U.S. albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. However, the material was almost universally regarded as not on a par with previous releases. The musical and vocal chemistry Olsson and Murray brought to John's previous releases was seen as lacking by some, both on the album and in the concerts that supported it.
Commercially, John owed much of his success during the mid-1970s to his concert performances. He filled arenas and stadiums worldwide, and was arguably the hottest act in the rock world. John was an unlikely rock idol to begin with, as he was short of stature at 5'7" (1.70 m), chubby, and gradually losing his hair. But he made up for it with impassioned performances and over-the-top fashion sense. Also known for his glasses (he started wearing them as a youth to copy his idol Buddy Holly), his flamboyant stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others at his concerts made them a success and created interest for his music.
To celebrate five years of unparalleled success since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also contributed some exemplary piano playing to Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver album.
In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the downbeat Blue Moves in October, which contained the memorable but even gloomier hit "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word". His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a peppy duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", a stressed John stated that he was bisexual.
Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Of the six Elton John albums to make Rolling Stone's 2003 The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by All Music Guide are all from this period too (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic).
During the same period, John made a self-effacing guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.
Hiatus
John's career took a hit after 1976. In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. John secluded himself in any of his three mansions, appearing publicly only to attend the matches of Watford, an English football team of whom he was a lifelong devotee, and that he later bought. Some speculated that John's retreat from stardom was prompted by adverse reactions to the Rolling Stone article.
Now only producing one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne; the album featured no Top 20 singles. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became the first Western pop star to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the U.S. in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9, 1979), a song from an EP recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell. A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love, was poorly received.
1980s
In 1979, John and Taupin reunited. 21 at 33, released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number 3 US), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne. (John also worked with lyricists Tom Robinson and Judie Tzuke during this period as well.) His 1981 follow-up, The Fox, was recorded in part during the same sessions and also included collaborations with both lyricists. On 13 September 1980, John performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, and within hearing distance of his friend John Lennon's apartment building. Three months later Lennon would be murdered in front of that same building. John mourned the loss in his 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)", from his Jump Up! album, his second under a new U.S. recording contract with Geffen Records. He performed the tribute at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in August 1982, joined on stage by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, Elton John's godchild.
However, the 1980s were years of personal upheaval for John. In 1984 he surprised many by marrying sound engineer Renate Blauel. In 1986 he lost his voice while touring Australia and shortly thereafter underwent throat surgery. John continued recording prolifically, but years of cocaine and alcohol abuse, initiated in earnest around the time of Rock of the Westies' 1975 release, were beginning to take their toll. In 1987 he won a libel case against The Sun who had written about his allegedly having underaged sex; afterwards he said, "You can call me a fat, balding, talentless old queen who can't sing ?- but you can't tell lies about me."
With original band members Johnstone, Murray and Olsson together again, John was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album Too Low For Zero, which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and reached number 4 in the U.S., giving John his biggest hit there since "Little Jeannie". Indeed while he would never again match his 1970s success, he placed hits in the U.S. Top Ten throughout the 1980s ?- "Little Jeannie" (number 3, 1980), "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (number 5, 1984), "Nikita" boosted by a mini-movie pop video directed by Ken Russell (number 7, 1986), an orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" (number 6, 1987), and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (number 2, 1988). His highest-charting single was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder on "That's What Friends Are For" (number 1, 1985); credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but of the six released in the latter half of the 1980s, only Reg Strikes Back (number 16, 1988) placed in the Top 20 in the United States.
In 1984, Watford reached the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, fulfilling a lifelong ambition for John, who by now was owner and chairman of the club. During the traditional pre-match ritual of the crowd singing "Abide With Me", John burst into tears. Watford lost the game 2-0 to Everton, who have played in blue shirts since 1901. After the game a large banner was unfurled among the Everton supporters, saying "SORRY ELTON - I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL US THE BLUES".
In 1985, John was one of the many performers at Live Aid, playing the Wembley Stadium leg of the marathon concert. He played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man"; performed "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Kiki Dee for the first time in years; and introduced his friend George Michael, still then of Wham!, to sing "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me".
This was an example of John's endearing support of young artists and embrace of all new music, which continues to this day. He enlisted Michael to sing backing vocals on his single "Wrap Her Up", and also recruited teen idol Nik Kershaw as an instrumentalist on "Nikita". John also recorded material with Millie Jackson in 1985.
In 1988, he performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden, giving him 26 for his career, breaking the Grateful Dead's house record. But that year also marked the end of an era. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London, as John bade symbolic farewell to his excessive theatrical persona. (Among the items withheld from the auction were the tens of thousands of records John had been carefully collecting and cataloguing throughout his life.) In later interviews, he deemed 1989 the worst period of his life, comparing his mental and physical deterioration to Elvis Presley's last years.
1990s
John was deeply affected by the plight of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with AIDS. Along with Michael Jackson, John befriended and supported the boy and his family until White's death in 1990. Himself a mess and confronted by his then-lover, John checked into a Chicago hospital in 1990 to combat his drug abuse, alcoholism, and bulimia. In recovery, he lost weight and underwent hair replacement, and subsequently took up residence in Atlanta, Georgia. Also in 1990, John would finally achieve his first UK number one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks.
The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the unusual writing style that John and Bernie Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. That same year, the Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin tribute album came out, featuring contributions from many top British and American rock and pop performers. Also in 1991, John's "Basque" won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael's reverent treatment of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the U.S. and UK. On November 24, 1991 Queen singer Freddie Mercury, a close friend of John's, died of AIDS. John was one of the few invited to attend the singer's private funeral services.
In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, intending to direct 90 percent of the funds it raised to direct care, and 10 percent to AIDS prevention education. He also announced his intention to donate all future royalties from sales of his singles in the U.S. and UK to AIDS research. That year, he released the U.S. number 8 album The One, his highest-charting release since 1976's Blue Moves, and John and Taupin signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. John performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Show Must Go On" with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, an AIDS charity event held at Wembley Stadium, London in honour of Queen's late front man Freddie Mercury. "Bohemian Rhapsody" featured a duet with Axl Rose, a reconciliatory gesture given Rose's previous homophobic reputation.
In September of the same year, he performed "November Rain" with Rose's band Guns N' Roses for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The following year, he released Elton John's Duets, a collaboration with 15 artists ranging from Tammy Wynette to RuPaul. This also included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, entitled "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts, and a duet with Eric Clapton on "Runaway Train", which also charted.
Along with Tim Rice, John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. (Rice was reportedly stunned by the rapidity with which John was able to set his words to music.) The Lion King went on to become the highest-grossing traditionally-animated feature of all time, with the songs playing a key part. Three of the five songs nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song that year were John and Rice songs from The Lion King, with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" winning. (John acknowledged his domestic partner, Canadian film-maker David Furnish, at the ceremonies.) In versions sung by John, both that and "Circle of Life" became big hits, while the other songs such as "Hakuna Matata" achieved popularity with all ages as well. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. After the release of the soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On November 10, 1999, the RIAA announced that the album The Lion King had sold 15 million copies and therefore was certified as a diamond record with room to spare.
The cover of the Princess Diana tribute album/single, "Candle In The Wind 1997"John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995.
In 1995 John released Made in England (number #3, 1995), which featured the hit single "Believe" (number #15, 1995). Also, a compilation called Elton John's Love Songs was released the following year.
The year 1997 found extreme highs and lows for John. Early in the year, vestiges of the flamboyant John resurfaced as he threw a 50th birthday party, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends (the costume cost more than $80,000). John also performed with the surviving members of Queen in Paris at the opening night (17th January, 1997) of "Le Presbytere N'a Rien Perdu De Son Charme Ni Le Jardin Du Son Eclat", a work by French ballet legend Maurice Bejart which draws upon AIDS and the deaths of Freddie Mercury and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn. This was only the second time the three surviving members of Queen had performed together live since Mercury had died. Unfortunately, later in 1997 John lost two close friends, designer Gianni Versace (who was murdered) and Diana, Princess of Wales (who died in a Paris car crash).
In early September, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest- and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually going on to sell 5 million copies in the United Kingdom, 11 million in the U.S., and around 33 million worldwide, with the proceeds of approximately £55 million going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It would later win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, an achievement he has yet to repeat. He hasn't performed the song since Princess Diana's funeral, as John stated it would only be played once to lend it significance and make it special.
1998 saw the production of Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida where John again teamed with Tim Rice. The musical was given its world premiere in Atlanta, GA at the Alliance Theatre where John was able to drop in on rehearsals from time to time. Dropping the cumbersome title as well as many of the production elements that gave the Atlanta production so many headaches, Aida went on to Chicago and eventually Broadway.
2000-present
In the 2000s, John began frequently collaborating with other artists. In 2000, John and Tim Rice teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks' animated film The Road To El Dorado. In the musical theatre world, addition to a 1998 adaptation of The Lion King for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of Aida in 1999 with lyricist Tim Rice, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. He also released a live compilation album called Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits from the show he did at Madison Square Garden in New York that same year.
In 2001 he declared that Songs from the West Coast would be his final studio album, and that he would now concentrate on just live performances. In 2004, however, he released a new album, Peachtree Road.
Also in 2001, John accepted an offer to appear as a guest on the BBC topical quiz show Have I Got News For You. However, he changed his mind just hours before recording was due to begin, and so the producers recruited Ray Johnson, a taxi driver from Colchester, Essex, who worked part-time as an Elton John lookalike. He said next to nothing during the programme, while captions praising Johnson and slagging off John were added to the final cut of the programme when it was broadcast 24 hours later. A special based on his career from his start until that year was also done and called "The Elton John Story" which is shown on the VH-1 Classic channel. However, it has never been released on VHS or DVD.
John continued his successful collaborations with other artists during the 2000s. 'Your Song' was re-recorded several times during the first part of the decade with Alessandro Safina, British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, and others.
Moreover, in 2001, John duetted with Eminem on the rapper's "Stan" at the Grammy Awards which appears on Eminem's compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits as its bonus track. He also performed the song "Friends" for the soundtrack to The Country Bears written by Taupin along with starring as himself working in a garden.
Also in 2002, British boy band Blue released a version of "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", which included John. It went to number 1 in the UK as well as many other European countries. John achieved yet another number 1 single in the UK in 2005, being featured on 2Pac's posthumous song "Ghetto Gospel" from the rapper's album, Loyal to the Game. The song sampled "Indian Sunset" from John's 1971 album, Madman Across the Water. "Indian Sunset" was later released on the single "Electricity", which John wrote for the 2005 West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical. The single benefited from some clever marketing. Over 75% of the sales were downloads, thanks to an Elton John competition where fans could send a text message including an answer to the question and then receive a download of the track. "Electricity" remains one of his biggest solo hits of the 2000s.
However, his biggest hit was "Are You Ready For Love". Although it was pretty much ignored when it was first recorded during the late 1970s Thom Bell sessions, it became something of a Balearic fixture and eventually got a re-release on Southern Fried Records in 2003. "Are You Ready For Love" proceeded to go straight to number 1 in the UK and on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
John was one of the performers at the Live 8 concert at Hyde Park in London on 2 July 2005. He performed as third act of the day and had also been promoting the concerts together with Bob Geldof Bono etc. At the concert in London, he played "The Bitch is Back", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and lastly, T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution" with The Libertines and Babyshambles' frontman, Pete Doherty.
Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End Theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is Lestat: The Musical, based on the Anne Rice vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances.[16] As for other movies, in 2002, his 1970s track "Tiny Dancer" was prominently featured in the film Almost Famous, and then his "The Heart of Every Girl" was the end title song from 2003's Mona Lisa Smile.
Also in 2005, John recorded a duet with Australian country music artist Catherine Britt, titled "Where We Both Say Goodbye". The duet peaked at #38 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Then he did another one with the late, closeted gay R&B singer, Luther Vandross on "Anyone who had a heart" from his tribute album, So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross.
Elton John's Christmas Party compilation album with two of his own Christmas songs and the rest being various artists he chose to be on there was initially released exclusively to Hear Music outlets at every Starbucks coffee shop on November 10, 2005. It sought to give away two dollars from each and every sale to the charity Elton John AIDS Foundation. The following year, on October 10, 2006, the album was re-released to the general market eleven months after its original and first release. But six songs of the original twenty-one were omitted from the new release. Therefore, it was left with only fifteen. Then another Elton John tribute album came out, this time from various artists at Studio 99 titled The Timeless Classics Of Elton John Performed By Studio 99, was released on CD on February 7, 2006.
On September 19, 2006, John and Bernie Taupin released a sequel to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, reflecting again on the phenomenal success, the sadnesses, the creativity and the optimism within their 40 year songwriting partnership; The Captain & The Kid features ten new songs, including the first single "The Bridge", and for the first time ever, photographs of both John and Taupin are featured on the album front cover.
Among his many honours, John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works[17] on October 9, 2006, by The Walt Disney Company. It is the company's highest honour. Another measure of fame came back in July 2005 when Madame Tussauds made a statue of John to his measurements; it took more than 1,000 hours to complete.
In May 2006, Pet Shop Boys released their album Fundamental, the limited edition included "In Private", a new version of the Dusty Springfield single they had written in 1989. The song, this time, had been recorded as a duet with John and was later released as bonus track on Pet Shop Boys' top 20 hit "Minimal". His string of UK #1 duets continued later that year when the Scissor Sisters' released "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'", which John co-wrote. Recorded in Las Vegas, it featured John on piano and was included on their album Ta-Dah. "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" became the fourth best selling single in the UK in 2006 and it stayed in the UK top 40 for 27 weeks. John also co-wrote "Intermission" from the same album.
On November 12, 2006, in the Observer's Music Monthly "When Elton Met Jake" [18] John spoke in an interview with openly gay Scissor Sisters band member, Jake Shears as they talked about being gay music stars and other matters. Prior to that, he has also criticized the Roman Catholic Church's position on condoms whom he had blamed for the death of some of his friends who suffered from HIV/AIDS.
In 2007, John was featured in Timbaland's album Timbaland Presents Shock Value, in the song "2 Man Show". John is also rumoured to be featured on a possible new Eminem album, which he has long awaited.[19]
March 2007 saw John celebrating his 60th birthday in more ways than one. He engaged in a joint party with artist Sam Taylor-Wood in the East End[20] and performed at Madison Square Garden for the 60th time (which is a record) to mark his 60th birthday.[21] He performed songs including Your Song, Rocket Man, Candle In the Wind and I'm Still Standing.
To celebrate his record-setting achievement at Madison Square Gardens, a banner marking "Most Performances by a Single Artist" at the Garden will be raised to the rafters and placed within Madison Square Garden's Music Hall of Fame. Moreover, he released a greatest-hits compilation CD, entitled Rocket Man - Number Ones on March 27, 2007. Rocket Man - Number Ones was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo. Finally, on March 26, John's back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download. "I knew that the entire catalog - not just the hits - needed care and attention to be released in this way," he said in a statement. "Now that it's happening, I'm pleased for the fans' sake."[22] John performed at Madison Square Garden in a three-hour long and thirty-three song concert that is also streamed live via *MSN Music that day called Empty Garden. It also inspired a television special called Happy Birthday Elton! to occur which aired on ITV1 and My Network TV. The concert was started with the audience singing "Happy Birthday". He opened with a classic song from his second album, "Sixty Years On", doubly paying homage to his 60th birthday. The show also featured behind-the-scenes footage from the superstar's private party, where Kate Thornton met and greeted famous guests. The show also saw famous friends of John giving their opinion of him.[23] On October 2, 2007, there was a a DVD release of it titled Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden and a box set with the live CD on October 9, 2007.
On July 1, 2007, John performed at the Concert For Diana. He started the concert with Your Song and finished the concert with three songs; Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting), Tiny Dancer, and Are You Ready For Love. He then commenced a European Tour and played at Live at the Marquee (festival) in Cork on July 9th 2007 to a rapturous reception.
In interviews, John has listed a number of other projects of his in various stages, including an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. [24] He also told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B/hip-hop genre. "I want to work with Pharrell {Williams}, Timbaland, Snoop {Dogg}, Kanye {West}, Eminem and just see what happens. It may be a disaster, it could be fantastic, but you don't know until you try."[25] John claims to be a big fan of Blackstreet's 1996 hit, No Diggity. He is currently working on the upcoming album.
He played on 8 September 2007 in Vevey, a small village situated on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Of this he said "The market square in Vevey is one of the most beautiful and magic places in Europe. Since visiting the area by chance in Summer 2003, I have always wanted to sing there. My friend Shania Twain who lives there, convinced me to set up that gig". (Note: Shania Twain actually lives in the nearby town of Corseaux).
Other memorable concert projects in the decade have so far included Face-to-Face tours with fellow pianist Billy Joel which have been a fan favourite throughout the world since the mid-1990s. In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. The show, entitled The Red Piano, was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle. Effectively, he and Celine Dion share performances at Caesar's Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004.[26] A two year global tour sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas, some of the venues of which are new to John.
Personal life
John has had a complicated personal history in both his sexual orientation, as well as personal battles with drugs, depression, bulimia, baldness, and spending. In 2007, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated John's wealth to be £225 million and ranked him as the 319th richest British person.[27]
Sexual orientation and extended relationships
In a 1976 Rolling Stone interview he announced that he was bisexual. He stated his belief that everyone is bisexual to a degree. On rigid notions of macho gender expression, he cited Shirley MacLaine: "Shirley MacLaine said the right thing to Tom Snyder on TV. She said, 'Oh c'mon, Tom. Let's stop all this stupid macho business. It really is a bit passé now.'" [28]
John married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on Valentine's Day, 1984, in Sydney, but they divorced four years later. John later renounced his bisexuality and came out as being gay instead.
He met his Canadian-born partner David Furnish, a former advertising executive and now film maker, in 1993. On 21 December 2005, they entered into a civil partnership. The night before the event, a host of his closest celebrity friends helped him celebrate his stag party at the cabaret nightclub Too2Much in London's West End.[29] On the actual day, a low-key ceremony with their parents, photographer Sam Taylor-Wood and her husband Jay Jopling, and John and Furnish's dog Arthur in attendance was held at the Guildhall, Windsor, followed by a lavish party at their Berkshire mansion,[30] thought to have cost £1 million.[31] Many famous guests were invited, but were delayed just outside John's Windsor household in a traffic jam of guests waiting to get inside.[32]
John does not have any children, but does have ten godchildren as of March 2006. Besides the aforementioned Sean Ono Lennon, these include Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Charles, David and Victoria Beckham's son Brooklyn, and the daughter of Seymour Stein.
Within the music industry, John is sometimes known as "Sharon", a nickname originally given to him by good friend Rod Stewart.[33] In return, Elton calls Rod "Phyllis".
Drugs, alcohol and health
Throughout his career, John has battled addictions to alcohol and cocaine. By 1975, the pressures of stardom began to take a serious toll on the musician. During "Elton Week" in Los Angeles that year, John suffered a drug overdose.[34] He also battled the eating disorder bulimia. In a CNN Interview with Larry King in 2002, King asked if John was aware of Princess Diana's eating disorder. John replied, "Yes, I did. We were both bulimic."[35]
He is also rumoured to have struggled with significant financial difficulties caused by his profligate spending. In the mid-late 1990s, John formed a friendship with pop singer Michael Jackson, who later dedicated his 1997 album Blood on the Dance Floor to him for the support John had given him during his struggle with addiction to prescription painkillers.
After many years of struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, John finally checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic in 1990. He has cited the highly-publicised case of Ryan White, who died that same year of complications from AIDS (and at whose funeral John performed), as a major motivating factor in his decision to enter rehab. In July 1999, he was fitted with a pacemaker due to an irregular heart beat."[36]
Residence
Aside from his main home, 'Woodside' at Old Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, John splits his time in his various residences in Atlanta, Nice, Holland Park in London; and Venice. John is an art collector, and is believed to have one of the largest private photography collections in the world.[37]
Spending
During the 2000 court case, in which John sued both his former manager John Reid, the CEO of Reid's company and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, he admitted spending £30 million in just under two years ?- an average of £1.5 million a month, the High Court in London heard. The singer's lavish lifestyle saw him spend more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers between January 1996 and September 1997. John accused the pair of being negligent, and PwC of failing in their duties. Mark Hapgood QC for defendants PwC suggested that John went "spending mad" following a £42m deal with recording company Polygram in February 1996. When quizzed by Mr Hapgood about the £293,000 spent on flowers, John said, "Yes, I like flowers." John stated that the terms of the contract, whereby John paid Reid 20% of his gross earnings, were agreed in Saint-Tropez in the summer of 1984 ?- but that he could not remember the exact occasion on which the deal was made.[38] After losing the case, he faced an £8 million bill for legal fees.
John decided with his fleet manager John Newman to sell 20 of his collection of 28 cars at Christie's ?- including several Ferraris, Aston Martins, and six post-war Bentleys. His reason for selling them was stated as: I do not find enough time to drive them. The sale raised £2 million[39] The cars sold included:
1993 Jaguar XJ220 ?- the most expensive car in the collection, with a 213mph top speed and only 852 miles on the clock ?- sold for £234,750. The auction room was told how John's chauffeur refused to drive the car after he "twitched it" on a flyover and was scared by its power.
1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe ?- known as "The Beast", because of its roar, went for £80,750. The car was painted in black, red and yellow; the colours of John's favourite Watford Football Club.
Two Ferraris ?- a 1992 512 Testarossa and a 1987 Testarossa given to John by MCA Records on the occasion of his 40th birthday. Rod Stewart had been among a group of friends who had ridden in the car.[40]
1973 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI ?- Lawrence Cohen from Hertfordshire spent over twice as much on a car valued at £110,000. It was fitted with a 36-speaker stereo system which cost £28,000. It was so powerful that it once blew out the rear window, after which the glass in the car had to be reinforced.
1985 Bentley Continental Convertible ?- in Tudor Red, the car used in the video for Nikita. The car's body was specially crafted by coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward of Harlesden, and a long list of special fitments include colour-coded radiator veins and parchment trim piped in red.
1969 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud Mk3 ?- supplied new in Arizona, it was a purchase by John in Atlanta and named Daisy after the film Driving Miss Daisy which was filmed close to his Atlanta home. Flown to the UK in 1994 by KLM, it spent two years being restored at the cost of £100,000. It sold for £90,000.
In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park home in a bid to create more room for his collection of contemporary art. The auctioneer Sotheby's catalogue had a list of more than 400 items, expected to fetch £800,000, including: Biedermeier furniture; early 16th- and 17th-century items, including an Edward Bower estimated at £20,000-£30,000 and a portrait of Elizabeth Honeywood from the circle of William Larkin, which was estimated at £30,000-£40,000. John's bedroom featured a painting by 19th-century French artist Jacques-Noël-Marie Frémy, which was exhibited at the 1814 Paris Salon, and is estimated at £12,000-£18,000.[41]
Despite his extravagant lifestyle and excessive spending, John's fortune is estimated at £250 million, making him one of the wealthiest people in the music and entertainment industry.[citation needed]
Sports and other interests
In 1976, John became involved in Watford Football Club and fulfilled a childhood dream by becoming its chairman and director. He invested large sums of money and the club rose into the First Division after a number of key acquisitions. He sold the club to Jack Petchey in 1987, but remained their life-long president. In 1997 he re-purchased the club from Petchey and once again became chairman. He stepped down in 2002 when the club needed a full-time chairman although he continued as president of the club. Although no longer the majority shareholder, he stills holds a significant financial interest. In June 2005 he held a concert at Watford's Vicarage Road ground, donating the funds to the club.
A longtime tennis enthusiast, John wrote the song "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to longtime friend Billie Jean King and her World Team Tennis franchise of the same name. John and King also co-host an annual pro-am event to benefit AIDS charities, most notably John's own Elton John AIDS Foundation, for which King is a chairperson. The fund was involved in The Reign, too.
Charity
John has long been associated with AIDS charities after the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage hemophiliac he had befriended.
John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.
To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On June 28, 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (fillet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker Glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ?'Phantom' drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin's artwork both raised £800, 000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million.[42] Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey.[43] Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.[44]
Every year since 2004, he has opened a shop, selling his second hand clothes. Called "Elton's Closet" the sale this year of 10,000 items was expected to raise $400,000[45]
Musical style and voice
In the 1970s, John's sound immediately set him apart from most others by being piano-based in a rock 'n' roll world dominated by guitars. Another early characteristic was a set of dynamic string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster. Coupled with Taupin's often cryptic but emotionally resonant lyrics, the results were unique in the history of music. Songs in this style included "Sixty Years On", "Burn Down the Mission", "Take Me to the Pilot", "Levon", "Madman Across the Water", and the best-known of these, "Tiny Dancer".
"Your Song", one of his earliest popular hits, incorporates some other features found in many of his songs:
It is strophic in form, with the verse repeated before the chorus begins;
The piano accompaniment is prominent, though the song also features an orchestra;
It uses a slowly building crescendo that brings the song to a tutti climax. Other songs that follow this pattern include "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" and "Rocket Man".
John also has a distinctive vocal style. In particular, his phrasing is often a bit metronomic and sometimes has a curiously off-kilter, "rushed" quality especially at the end of lines (example: the phrase "like a puppy child" in the song "Amoreena"). He also, at least in his classic period in the 1970s, would sometimes sweep up from his normal tenor into a Four Seasons-like falsetto.
In January 1987, John underwent throat surgery to remove potentially cancerous nodules from his vocal cords while on tour, a necessity he originally claimed was due to an infection, but later claimed was the result of excessive drug abuse.[46]
The problems with his voice can clearly be heard in his raspy singing on the Live In Australia album (released 1987). He made a full recovery from the surgery, but he continued to use illegal drugs until 1990. The surgery in 1987 also had an after-effect on John's voice, and he found that he could no longer sing in falsetto as well as he previously could, and that he now sang in a lower range. During an interview with James Lipton, John had claimed to embrace this new tone, feeling it gave a more "masculine" quality that contrasted with his earlier work. Lipton commented on the "swooping falsetto" on "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to which John replied, "...which I don't have anymore."
Popularity
John continues to inspire musicians today, particularly Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, Adrian Evans, and Ryan Adams. Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Billie-Joe Armstrong (Green Day) and Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) are also said to be fans. Final Fantasy music composer Nobuo Uematsu was also greatly influenced by him throughout his life, claiming, "No one writes a melody like him."
John is known to be fond of Björk, The Killers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Radiohead, The Hives, Starsailor, Travis and Ray LaMontagne.
Awards and achievements
Academy Awards
1995 - Best Original Song for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice)
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"
2000 - Best Musical Show Album for Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Tim Rice, Chris Montan, Frank Filipetti, Guy Babylon, Paul Bogaev and Frank Filipetti)
Other achievements
John and Bernie Taupin were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995.
In September 1997, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest selling single of all time, eventually going on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide, with the proceeds of approximately £55 million going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 February 1998, granting him the title of "Sir". The honour was for his charitable work.
A recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, along with Joan Sutherland, John Williams, Warren Beatty, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
John was given the Disney Legends Award in 2007
Sarah Jessica Parker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born March 25, 1965 (1965-03-25) (age 43)
Nelsonville, Ohio, USA
Spouse(s) Matthew Broderick (1997-present)
[show]Awards won
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy Series
2001 Sex and the City
Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series
2004 Sex and the City
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress in a Television Comedy or Musical
2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 Sex and the City
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Best Actress - Comedy Series
2000 Sex and the City
Best Ensemble - Comedy Series
2001, 2003 Sex and the City
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and producer, with a portfolio of television, film and theater performances. She is best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw, a newspaper journalist, on the HBO television series Sex and the City, for which she won four Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Awards.
Biography
Early life and career
Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, the daughter of Barbara, a nursery school operator and teacher, and Steven Parker, an entrepreneur and journalist.[1] Parker's father, a native of Brooklyn, was Jewish, the original family surname being "Bar-Kahn" ("son of Kohen"); Parker has said of herself, "I always just considered myself a Jew".[2] Parker's parents divorced early on in Parker's life and her mother remarried Paul Forste. Parker grew up with her mother, stepfather and seven siblings (three from her parents' marriage, and four from her mother's second marriage). As a young girl, she trained in singing and ballet, soon being cast in the Broadway production of The Innocents. Her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then to Dobbs Ferry, New York, near New York City, where Parker was developing her career as a child actress. In 1977, the family moved to the newly opened planned community on Roosevelt Island, in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, and later to Manhattan proper; her parents later moved to Englewood, New Jersey where she attended Dwight Morrow High School.[3]
Parker attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts, the School of American Ballet and the Professional Children's School, and later Dwight Morrow High School. She and four siblings appeared in a revival of The Sound of Music, and Parker went on to the new 1977-81 Broadway musical Annie ?- first in the small role of "July," and then succeeding Andrea McArdle and Shelley Bruce in the lead role of the plucky Depression-era orphan, beginning March 6, 1979. Parker held the role for a year.
In 1982, Parker was cast as the co-lead of the CBS-TV sitcom Square Pegs. The show lasted only one season before being canceled by the network, but Parker's performance, as a shy, misfit teen who showed hidden depths, was critically well-received. In the three years that followed, she was cast in four films ?- the most significant of those being Footloose in 1984 and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, co-starring Helen Hunt, in 1985. Also that year, she became romantically involved with actor Robert Downey Jr., whom she met on the set of Firstborn and with whom she lived until 1991; during their relationship, Downey had a drug problem, and Parker has commented that she thought that she was "the person holding him together".[4] In 1986, Parker appeared in the cult classic Flight of the Navigator, a Disney science fiction film about a boy, David, who is relativistically transported in time by an alien spacecraft eight years into the future without aging.
Later career
By the early 1990s, Parker's career was gaining momentum. In 1991, she appeared in a supporting role in the romantic comedy, L.A. Story; both the movie and her performance garnered positive reviews. The following year she landed an important starring role in the well-received film Honeymoon in Vegas, co-starring Nicolas Cage. Her 1993 role in the film Hocus Pocus was a higher grosser at the box office but received negative reviews. The following year, she appeared opposite Johnny Depp in the critically acclaimed movie Ed Wood. The film Miami Rhapsody, in 1995, saw her back on familiar territory with more romantic comedy material and a leading role. She appeared in another Tim Burton-directed movie, Mars Attacks!, The First Wives Club, and The Substance of Fire, in which she reprised her 1991 stage role, in 1996.
In 1997, she appeared as Francesca Lanfield, a washed-up former child actress, in the comedy Til There Was You. Later that year, the script for an HBO drama/comedy series titled Sex and the City was sent to Parker; the show's creator, Darren Star, was determined that she be cast in his project. Despite some early doubts about being cast in a long-term television series, Parker agreed to star.[5]
The show proved to be an instant success, raising Parker's profile considerably. Despite the show's increasingly risqué storylines, Parker retained the strict no-nudity clause in her contract throughout the show's six-season run. Parker became a producer for the show starting with its third season. In 2004, Parker won an Emmy award for her lead role (after five consecutive losses). Many gambling and betting establishments stopped taking bets on her Emmy victory, because it was so widely predicted that she would win. Parker has since stated that she will "never do a television show again",[6] although she will co-executive produce a new HBO series based on Washingtonienne, but will not star in it.[7]
After Sex and the City ended in 2004, rumors of a film version circulated and it has since been revealed that a script had been completed for such a project. However, Parker commented that it would likely never be made.[8] Two years later, however, preparations were resumed. The film is currently in post-production, and is scheduled to be released in May 2008. In addition to work in movies and television, Parker is also a respected stage actor, having appeared in well-reviewed lead roles in the off-Broadway play Sylvia, alongside husband Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and the Tony Award-nominated Once Upon A Mattress, as Princess Winifred the Woebegone.
In December 2005, Parker appeared in her first theatrical film in several years, The Family Stone; she received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress - Comedy for the role. Her next film, the romantic comedy Failure to Launch, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, was released on March 10, 2006 and opened at #1 in the North American box office, grossing slightly over $24 million in its opening weekend,[9] despite mediocre reviews.[10] Parker's work as a producer continues with the independent film Spinning Into Butter, based on the Rebecca Gilman play scheduled for a 2006 release, which she will also star in. Her latest confirmed project is Slammer, a prison-themed musical comedy to be directed by Adam Shankman and released in 2007. The role as an imprisoned publicist who stages an all-inmate musical will give Parker the opportunity to revisit her musical roots, which have yet to be explored in her film and television work. Parker was initially set to star in Vacancy, along with her co-star from The Family Stone, Luke Wilson, but she dropped out in favor of other projects. Kate Beckinsale later won the role.
Maxim Magazine recently voted Sarah Jessica Parker as the "Unsexiest Woman Alive", as voted in a poll by the magazine's readers.
Personal style
Parker has become very influential in the world of fashion. In 2000, she hosted the MTV Movie Awards and appeared in no fewer than 15 different costumes throughout the show.
She has also become the face of many of the world's biggest fashion brands through her work in a variety of advertising campaigns. In August 2003, Parker signed a highly lucrative deal with Garnier to appear in television and print advertising promoting their Nutrisse hair products. In 2004, she fronted an international campaign by Gap, but her contract with the clothing giant was abruptly terminated in spring 2005 in favor of British soul singer Joss Stone. A friend of Parker's commented to the press that, "Sarah's spring campaign for Gap has only just started, and she feels the announcement of her replacement in the same week that the new ads are appearing is a bit of a snub".[11] In addition to her advertising work, Parker released her own fragrance in 2005 called "Lovely". In March 2007, Parker announced the launch of her own fashion line, Bitten,[12] in partnership with discount clothing chain Steve & Barry's.[13] The line, which features hundreds of clothing items and accessories under $20, launched on June 7, 2007, exclusively at Steve and Barry's.[14] In July 2007, following the enormous success of "Lovely," Parker released her second fragrance "Covet."[15]
Personal life
As her career continued to blossom into the 1990s, she met journalist John Kennedy Jr. and dated him for several months. Prior to this, Parker had a serious relationship with Robert Downey Jr. She was also romantically linked to singer-songwriter Joshua Kadison in the early 1990s, who described their tumultuous relationship and their cat Moses in the song "Jessie" on the album Painted Desert Serenade.
On May 19, 1997, she married actor Matthew Broderick, to whom she was introduced by her brother. The couple married in a civil ceremony in a historic synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that is no longer used as a house of worship; both Parker and Broderick (who each have one Jewish parent) consider themselves to be "culturally Jewish."[16] Parker has also defended the state of Israel. "I feel defensive when people say, 'How can Israel go in with tanks?', she says, "What are they supposed to do? Children are being killed by people willing to strap bombs to their bodies and walk into the public market. So Israel's response to this is to protect its people." The couple's first child, son James Wilkie Broderick, was born on October 28, 2002. He was named after Broderick's father, the distinguished Irish-American actor James Broderick. His middle name is that of author Wilkie Collins, an author Broderick and Parker greatly admire.
Given her public declarations of support for public schools, school choice advocates are anxious to see if Parker makes good on her 2004 promise to enter James Wilke into the New York City public school system when he turns five in 2007. Parker and Broderick live in New York City and frequent the arts.
Parker and Broderick also spend a considerable amount of time at their holiday home in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland where Broderick spent his summers as a child. Parker is a prominent member of the Hollywood's Women's Political Committee and is UNICEF's Representative for the Performing Arts; in 2006, she traveled to Liberia as a UNICEF celebrity ambassador, and has commented that, "It's a place that gets little or no attention, so we're going to try and bring some attention to it."[17] She is currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States.
As of 2008, she lives in New York City with her husband and son.
