We\u2019re gathered in celebration of a singular septuagenarian singer-songwriter. Elton John<\/strong><\/a>, born on March 25, 1947, is 30-plus studio information and 300 million document gross sales right into a profession that continues to hunt out and conquer new musical challenges. Here\u2019s a set of 20 of Elton\u2019s most entertaining and enlightening quotes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first signed with Dick James, Bernie and I had just met through an ad in a music paper and I\u2019d just left Long John Baldry\u2019s backing group Bluesology. I was fed up and wasn\u2019t a very good organist; anyway they wouldn\u2019t let me sing. We were put on a retainer of ten pounds a week\u2026we even had a song in the last six of the Eurovision Song Contest one year. We didn\u2019t even know it had been entered till we saw it on TV one night, very frightening it was. Luckily it came last. My mother was very annoyed though, she sent in reams of postcards\u201d (1970)<\/p>\n \u201cToo many of the writers and bands take this whole thing too seriously. If you\u2019re in it for the money, a bad song or a failure to make any cash will leave you considering suicide or moping around in utter despair\u201d (1970)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople think I\u2019m going to be this little fellow on stage with a huge orchestra. They still don\u2019t really know what I look like or what to expect. I suppose it\u2019s a mystique in a way. People say \u2018Oh yes, Elton John \u2014 but what does he look like?\u2019\u201d (1970)<\/p>\n \u201cI think the whole band will get much more recognition from now on. It\u2019s no longer Elton John plus backing group. No, I would never have gone out totally on my own. There are times in America, when I\u2019ll go on and do the first hour without anyone else. But I don\u2019t think you can carry rock and roll thing on your own, it doesn\u2019t work. And emotionally I don\u2019t think I could have coped. I need other people around and I believe in sharing success. If you keep it to yourself you end up going stark staring mad\u201d (1972)<\/p>\n [Discussing early plans for Rocket Records] \u201cBasically, what we\u2019re interested in is new talent. There\u2019s thousands of me around in small bands \u2013 there must be. All I needed initially, was the encouragement. If people have got tapes I\u2019d really like them to send them into us and we\u2019ll certainly give them a listen. I sincerely mean that\u201d (1973)<\/p>\n \u201cBette Midler said my new album should be called Fat Reg From Pinner<\/i>. I wanted to call it Ol\u2019 Pink Eyes Is Back<\/i>, but I had a rebellion on my hands, the band didn\u2019t like it. Charlie Watts\u2019 wife had the best one. She wanted to call it Ol\u2019 Four Eyes Is Back<\/i>.\u201d (1974)<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I just used to write melodies to Bernie\u2019s experiences and fantasies. I identify with this album so much more than anything else I\u2019ve done. For me it will always be my favorite album. But that\u2019s from a purely selfish point of view. Whether it will stand the test of time, who knows? You can only tell in retrospect.\u201d (1975, on Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy<\/em>)<\/p>\n [On taking a break] \u201cIt\u2019s a shame in a way, because this band is just beginning to feel its way on stage. It\u2019s always been there, and now it\u2019s beginning to develop, but I just have to give up for a while. It\u2019s an instinctive feeling, just like the time I changed the band; that was instinctive, too. I just don\u2019t want the pressure of having to tour again for another two years or so\u201d (1976)<\/p>\n \u201cThe desire and the hunger to tour had to come back gradually. I did a tour last year and that was the first time I\u2019d toured for three years. It\u2019s just getting back the fulfilment, and the real enjoyment, that you get when you come off stage after doing a good show. And that takes a little while to get back\u201d (1980)<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate to write songs that people like, and have been commercial. For example, \u2018Bennie and the Jets,\u2019 I never wanted that released. I don\u2019t see that to this day as a hit single. But it\u2019s probably one of the biggest hit singles I\u2019ve ever had\u201d (1983)<\/p>\n \u201cBy the end of it in \u201976, everything was becoming so big. I knew also that it was peaking, and I wanted to get out while I was still at the top. Blue Moves<\/i> came out and didn\u2019t do so well. And I was simply exhausted. My ego wanted me to stay up there, but in my career I\u2019ve always made crunch decisions \u2013 gut feelings that I\u2019ve had to follow. And if I hadn\u2019t I\u2019d have been f***ed up completely. I\u2019d have driven myself into the ground and become bitter and twisted\u201d (1986)<\/p>\n [On putting much of his personal memorabilia up for auction) \u201cI\u2019ve got this huge house in Windsor and we couldn\u2019t move for things. <\/i>It wasn\u2019t a home, it was more like a museum or a warehouse. It suffocates you after a while. I wanted to divorce myself from Elton John for a while, not come home to constant reminders\u201d (1988)<\/p>\n \u201cI was cocaine addicted. I was an alcoholic. I had a sexual addiction. I was bulimic for six years. It was all through being paranoid about my weight but not able to stop eating. So in the end I\u2019d gorge myself, then deliberately make myself sick. I never stood still\u201d (1992)<\/p>\n \u201cI can actually remember things now! Physically and mentally, my life is brilliant and I just wish I\u2019d done it sooner. That\u2019s been the biggest change in my life \u2013 actually knowing what\u2019s going on and being much more responsible for my actions and not behaving like a prat, basically, although it can still rear its ugly head sometimes. I\u2019ve had a really wonderful last four years. I\u2019ve really enjoyed it\u201d (1995)<\/p>\n \u201cConcert-wise, in an eight-week period over the summer, I played over 70 different songs\u2026but that\u2019s how an artist keeps himself on his toes. I\u2019ve played with my band, I\u2019ve played solo, I did the orchestral stuff and then I came to Las Vegas. And I could tour with Billy Joel if I wanted. They\u2019re all different options\u201d (2004)<\/p>\n [On growing up] \u201cYou just remember the social integration that everyone did, going round to people\u2019s houses, dancing and singing. Now, you don\u2019t do that. That\u2019s why I identified with Rod Stewart<\/strong><\/a> so much, because he and I came from the same background that loved to sing songs, went down the pub, wanted to have a good time, and worked their guts out to provide something for their kids. I really think that kids now don\u2019t know how lucky they are\u201d (2011)<\/span><\/p>\n [On his early days] \u201cYou had to get in the back of a Transit van and go up and down the motorway and earn your living that way and get all the experience. I have a management company, and every single artist we sign, I say, \u2018Unless you can play live, I don\u2019t want to sign you, you need to go out and play to 20 or 30 people at the start of your career, because it\u2019s the only way you\u2019re going to have a lasting career, and the only way you\u2019re going to improve as a musician and a songwriter\u2019\u201d (2013)<\/p>\n \u201cThe great advantage of having Bernie as a lyric writer is he\u2019s a very cinematic writer. I get a piece of paper [from him] and it has a story on it. Then I sit down at the keyboard and hope and pray that something is going to come out. Because the story that he\u2019s telling affects what I\u2019m hearing. Writing to those words\u2026just something comes out. I don\u2019t know what it is. I sit at the keyboard and something just comes out. It\u2019s as exciting as it was when I first wrote the first melody to his first lyric way way back in 1967\u201d (2013)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy career\u2019s better than ever, everything in my life is fantastic. But to have the passion about music at nearly 69 that I had when I was 15, or five, that\u2019s what I\u2019m proud of\u201d (2015)<\/p>\n Listen to the perfect of Elton John on\u00a0Apple Music<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Spotify.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n [On his children, his husband David Furnish and his workload] \u201c<\/span>It\u2019s all about the school holidays now. I\u2019m hurtling towards 70, and I\u2019ve made a promise to David and to my sons that I really don\u2019t want to be schlepping around the world at 72. I don\u2019t want to do tours any more that take me away from my children\u201d (2016)<\/span><\/p>\n