[歌手简介]

　　In terms of sales and lasting popularity, Elton John was the biggest pop superstar of the early '70s. Initially marketed as a singer/songwriter, John soon revealed he could craft Beatlesque pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. He could dip into soul, disco and country, as well as classic pop balladry and even progressive rock. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, dynamic charisma and flamboyant stage shows made him the most popular recording artist of the '70s. Unlike many pop stars, John was able to sustain his popularity, charting a Top 40 single every single year from 1970 to 1996.

　　During that time, he had temporary slumps in creativity and sales, as he fell out of favor with critics, had fights with his lyricist Bernie Taupin, and battled various addictions and public scandals. But through it all, John remained a remarkably popular artist and many of his songs -- including "Your Song," "Rocket Man," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" -- became contemporary pop standards.

　　The son of a former Royal Air Force trumpeter, Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947. Elton began playing piano at the age of four, and when he was 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. After studying for six years, he left school with the intention of breaking into the music business. In 1961, he joined his first band, Bluesology, and divided his time between playing with the group, giving solo concerts at a local hotel, and running errands for a London publishing house. By 1965, Bluesology were backing touring American soul and R&B musicians like Major Lance, Doris Troy and the Bluebells.

　　By the summer of 1968, he had begun recording singles for release under his own name. Usually, these songs were more rock and radio-oriented than the tunes he and Taupin were giving to other vocalists, yet neither of his early singles for Phillips, "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and "Lady Samantha," sold well. In June of 1969, he released his debut album for DJM, Empty Sky, which received fair reviews, but no sales.

　　For his second album, John and Taupin hired producer Gus Dudgeon and arranger Paul Buckmaster, who contributed grandiose string charts to Elton John. Released in the summer of 1970, Elton John began to make inroads in America, where it was appeared on MCA's Uni subsidiary. In August, he gave his first American concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, which received enthusiastic reviews, as well as praise from Quincy Jones and Leon Russell. Throughout the fall, Elton John continued to climb the charts on the strength of the Top 10 single, "Your Song." Throughout the mid-'70s, John's concerts were enormously popular, as were his singles and albums, and he continued to record and perform at a rapid pace until 1976. That year, he revealed in an interview in Rolling Stone that he was bisexual; he would later admit that the confession was a compromise, since he was afraid to reveal that he was homosexual. Many fans reacted negatively to John's bisexuality, and his audience began to shrink somewhat in the late '70s. The decline in his record sales was also due to his exhaustion. After 1976, John cut his performance schedule drastically, announcing that he was retiring from live performances in 1977 and started recording only one album a year.

　　Throughout the rest of the '80s, John's albums would consistently go gold, and they always generated at least one Top 40 single; frequently, they featured Top 10 singles like "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (1984), "Nikita" (1986), "Candle in the Wind" (1987), and " I Don't Want To Go On With You Like That" (1988).

　　The late '80s again saw a slowing in John's record success, but by the start of the '90s he had gone public about drug and alcohol problems he said were behind him, and he looked poised for a new start. After several more years of adult contemporary hits in the early '90s, John moved into film, writing the music for Walt Disney's 1994 film The Lion King. The soundtrack was an enormous success and John's version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was his biggest hit in years.

　　Elton John，1947年3月25日出生于伦敦。他四岁开始学习钢琴，曾在英国皇家音乐学院学习。之后，Elton John迷上了摇滚音乐。并在1961年成了R&B乐队的一名新成员。

　　1970年，Elton John和美国尤尼唱片公司推出的单曲《边境之歌》，打入了排行榜第四位。同年10月，专辑《Elton John》也进入了排行榜的第四位，这张专辑的内容严肃而高雅，大多以管乐作为歌曲的前景音乐。这年，第一个Elton John翻唱乐队成立，合作伙伴新增了姆瑞和奥尔森等人。1971年，乐队录制的特别专辑《风滚草的联结》。其歌曲以古老的西部为主题，深受歌迷的欢迎，它进入了排行榜的第五位。从此，Elton John、姆瑞和奥尔森开始展示他们狂野古怪的音乐风格。这种风格形成了70年代Elton John舞台形象。

　　在接下来的四年中。Elton John一路青云很快成为世界顶级摇滚巨星。这期间，他所推出的专辑《别开枪，我只是个弹琴的》(Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player)、《再见，黄金路》(Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)和《疯狂上将和黄土牛仔》(Capitain Fantastic And the Brown Dirt Cowboy)均高居歌坛榜首数周之久。此外，进入排行榜首的单曲还在《鳄鱼石》(Crocodile Rock)、《伯尼和黑玉》(Benme And the Jets)、《费城的自由》(Philadelphia Freedom)等。Elton John的狂野的形象得到了歌迷们近似狂野的欢呼回应。每次演出的门票往往脱销。1976年，他打破了滚石乐队在纽约曼迪逊广场花园的卖座率。连续七天场场爆满，收入超过100万元。

　　进入90年代，Elton John仍然活跃在摇滚乐的舞台上。1992年，他在全球的巡回演出倍受欢迎。其新旧作品经常被许多电台争相选播。Elton John将传统和摇滚音乐演变为摇滚奇观，他创造出的新舞台美感预示了摇滚不再是一种情感宣泄的方式，而是大众娱乐的一种新形式。

　　1994年，他为动画片《狮子王》(Lion King)作曲并演唱的原声唱片 Can You Feel the Love Tonight 销售了1000万张以上，歌曲本身还荣获了奥斯卡、金球奖、格莱美等多项大奖。

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