orig. Reginald Kenneth Dwight
born March 25, 1947, Pinner, Middlesex, Eng.
British rock singer, pianist, and songwriter.
He played piano by ear as a child, winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at age 11. In the late 1960s he began a successful partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin (b. 1950) that would produce hit albums such as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) and songs such as "Rocket Man," "Bennie and the Jets," and "Philadelphia Freedom." The two returned with more hits in the early 1980s, including "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues." In 1997 John performed a new version of "Candle in the Wind" (1973) at the funeral of his friend Diana, princess of Wales ; his recording immediately became the best-selling single of all time.