Zippo", "Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember", Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin, List of Elton John and Ray Cooper concert tours, I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford), Sartorial Eloquence (Don't Ya Wanna Play This Game No More? [54], John formed his own label, The Rocket Record Company (distributed in the US by MCA and initially by Island in the UK), and signed acts to it—notably Neil Sedaka (John sang background vocals on Sedaka's "Bad Blood") and Kiki Dee, in whom he took a personal interest. [227] Every year since 2004, John has opened a shop called "Elton's Closet", in which he sells his secondhand clothes. [45][56], In 1974, John collaborated with John Lennon on his cover of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", the B-side of which was Lennon's "One Day at a Time". He said he was a fan of frontman Josh Homme's side project, Them Crooked Vultures, and had phoned Homme to ask if he could perform on the album. [27][24] John has said that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood. John appointed Graham Taylor as manager and invested large sums of money as the club rose three divisions into the English First Division. [45], 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. [70][71] John returned to the US top ten with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9), a song MCA rejected in 1977, recorded with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell. [42] For two years they wrote easy-listening tunes for James to peddle to singers. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by surf and turf and a giant knickerbocker glory ice cream. [63] She said Olsson would return to solo work and Murray would do session work "and possibly cut a solo album". John stated, "She was the classiest woman I’ve ever met, but it wasn’t meant to be. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life. Sales of the live album took a blow in the US 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. [131] West sampled John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" on his 2007 song "Good Morning" and in 2010 invited him to his Hawaii studio to play piano and sing on "All of the Lights". [150], On 4 June 2012, John performed at the Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, including "Your Song", "Crocodile Rock" and "I'm Still Standing". p. 88. Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales, to Mary Margaretta Phyllis (nee Jones), a nurse, and Rhys Davies, a mechanical engineer and Colonial Officer. [81] In 1984, he released Breaking Hearts, which featured the song "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", number five in the US and number seven in the UK. To celebrate five years since he had first appeared at the venue, in 1975, John played a two-night, four-show stand at the Troubadour. [59], Pete Townshend of the Who asked John to play the "Local Lad" in the 1975 film adaptation of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform the song "Pinball Wizard". [127] John featured on rapper Tupac Shakur's posthumous single "Ghetto Gospel", which topped the UK charts in July 2005. I never thought I’d play on an Alice in Chains record. At the 67th Academy Awards, three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song were from The Lion King soundtrack. Write the song I really wanted to End in New Zealand in January.... 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