Elton John Quotes

“If Elton had to sum up his career in one statement, what would that be?
According to him, “An overview of my career is usually...glasses...homosexuality...Watford Football Club... tantrums...flowers. But the music was pretty phenomenal, y’know.”
And what does he think of himself as a person? According to the frank and scandalous Rocket Man himself, “I’m the most famous ‘poof’ in the world!” Yes indeed, Elton, that you are.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“When it was pointed out that he had recently been spotted in public wearing an earring that was a diamond-studded penis, he explained, “I’m Elton John. That’s nothing unusual for me. I’m a big fan of penises as I’m sure the world knows by now.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“One of Elton’s main supporters in his public “coming out” was Angela Bowie. According to her, “When Elton finally came out of the closet, he didn’t just open the door, he ripped the lid off of it…. He put it out there, and ‘got real.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“It seemed that as many people were talking about Elton’s new hair as were talking about his music.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“They can say I’m “a fat old sod,” they can call me “a poof,” but they musn’t lie about me because then I’m going to fight.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“The Sex Pistols looked like they were more likely to urinate on the Yellow Brick Road than take a charming stroll down it.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“Alice Cooper has several amusing memories of Elton as a next door neighbor. “Elton lived in the house next door to me in Benedict Canyon. I remember he had a garage sale at his house one day. Now imagine an Elton John garage sale! He was selling things like pairs of his platform shoes. There were normal platform shoes, and then there were Elton’s platform shoes, which had five inch heels on them. They weren’t my size, but I was with my father who’s a preacher, and they were his size. He bought a pair of Elton’s shoes, and I said to him, ‘What are you going to do with those?’ He said, ‘I’m not quite sure, but I am going to work them into a sermon, and announce the fact that I am wearing Elton John’s shoes!”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“The story with Tommy was that the role was originally offered to Rod Stewart, and he said to me, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Oh, don’t do that! It’s not a good thing for you to do.’ Rod and I are friends and kind of rivals. Then they romanced me so much that in the end I did it because Pete Townshend rang me up…. So, I told Rod not to do it, and I ended up doing it. He was really furious and rightly so.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“When asked by one journalist what the key to his success was, he wryly replied, 'Vitamin E. Quaaludes. Heroin. Plus sexual intercourse with sheep.' If that was indeed the secret to his success, it seemed to be working.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“At the time, John Lennon was in a period of his life that has been entitled 'The Lost Weekend.' He and Yoko Ono had decided to take a break from their marriage, and Yoko decided that if John was going to have a personal relationship with another woman, it should be one she chose. She suggested her assistant at the time, May Pang.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“His publicist, Sharon Lawrence, came up with the idea of Elton making a surprise appearance onstage with Iggy, which he did, dressed in—of all things—a furry gorilla costume.

Iggy was extremely high at the time, and at first he thought that a real gorilla had leapt onstage with him. Pop amusingly recalls, “I was unusually stoned that evening to the point of barely being ambulatory so it scared the hell out of me. I really didn’t know what was going on. For all I knew it was a crazed biker on methedrine in that gorilla suit.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

“Here was the dichotomy and the major irony that always existed between Elton and Bowie. David Bowie was a sometimes bisexual but mainly heterosexual man, who was proclaiming that he was gay to help him become a headline-grabbing superstar. At the exact same time, Elton John was a completely homosexual man, who had to pretend that he was straight, so that he wouldn’t derail his career. Reportedly, this ironic juxtaposition of Bowie’s public sexual stance, and how it magnified his career, irritated Elton to no end. Their long running rivalry had just begun and would continue for years.”
― Mark Bego, Elton John: The Bitch Is Back