Reginald Kenneth Dwight was born on March 25, 1947, in Pinner, Middlesex, England. Who is Reginald Kenneth Dwight? Sound unfamiliar? Well, that’s because about two decades later, the young man would become known as the now-iconic (and preening) piano player, Elton John.
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Want to know how this swan of an artist came to be? Keep reading to find out the origin story.
Growing Up
The son of Sheila Eileen and Stanley Dwight, John was exposed to music early on. His father, who wanted John to be a banker, was a horn player in a local big band that played gigs like military dances. His father was part of England’s Royal Airforce and, as a result, wasn’t home very much during John’s childhood. As such, John grew up in government housing and was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents.
As a child, John attended school until he was 17 years old. But he left, just before taking the standard graduating exams, to seek a career in music. He had been exposed to popular songs as a kid, as his family was avid record collectors. And he quickly learned how to pick up a given song just from hearing it once or twice.
At seven years old, John began to play his grandmother’s piano. He played it at little family get-togethers. Not long after, he began to take formal lessons, showing great aptitude for the instrument. Some compared him to the rockabilly musician Jerry Lee Lewis, another preening piano player at the time.
By 11 years old, John earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he impressed instructors. He attended Saturday classes for 11 years at the Academy, which was located in London, and he studied classical music, from Bach to Chopin, singing in the choir and enjoying his exposure to music. However, outside of the songs, John didn’t love the Academy.
One of the reasons why was that he was just too good. The place didn’t seem to challenge him sufficiently. He could skate by on his talent, capable of memorizing a song front-to-back after just hearing it once. In later interviews, John has said that he “resented” the Academy. He’d skip classes and explore London—though some of the instructors have since said that he was a model student.
Divorce
John’s parents argued a great deal with his father was home from the air force. It got so bad that when John was just 14 years old, his parents divorced. His mother remarried, this time to a painter named Fred Farebrother, who by all accounts was a supportive man in John’s life. John reportedly called him “Derf” or “Fred” backward.
It was in the apartment where John, Derf, and his mother lived that he wrote the first songs that would jump-start his career as a rock musician. He lived there until he had four records all in the American Top 40.
“Reggie”
By 15 years old, John had earned a job as a pianist at a local pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing four nights a week, Thursday through Sunday. People called him “Reggie.” For the gig, John played covers and originals. He was also part of a short-lived band called the Corvettes.
This was also the time he began to get into costuming. John, who could see fine, began to wear horn-rimmed glasses to look like another burgeoning rocker at the time, Buddy Holly. John said he liked to wear big outfits because it helped balance out his restrictive childhood.
That same year in 1962, John formed another band called Bluesology. This R&B group is considered John’s first professional band. John formed it with his neighbor, singer, and guitarist Stu Brown, who had also been in the Corvettes. They played covers, and originals and even, in 1966, started supporting artist Long John Baldry at the prestigious rock venue, the Marquee Club.
Bernie Tupin
In 1967 John answered an ad in a local British music publication called New Musical Express. The ad was placed by the A&R manager at Liberty Records, Ray Williams. This moment would change John’s life forever.
When he got to the first meeting, Williams gave John a sealed packet of lyrics by writer Bernie Taupin, who had also answered the same advertisement from Williams. John took the lyrics and wrote music to them. This was the beginning of a relationship that would last more than 50 years and garner both fame and fortune.
They recorded their first song, “Scarecrow,” in 1967. Six months later, the piano player changed his moniker from Reginald Kenneth Dwight to Elton John in homage to two members of his band Bluesology—sax player Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry. On January 7, 1972, he legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John.
Together John and Taupin would write songs for other artists—Taupin would write the lyrics and John would put them to music. Often, the songs were “easy listening” tunes they could sell. Then in 1969, they began to write more complex songs together. Their second, “Your Song,” hit No. 7 on the U.K. Singles Chart and No. 8 in the U.S.
Big Time Success
Just four years later in 1973, the two released Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which included “Bennie and the Jets” and “Candle in the Wind.”
They were now musical gods. And the rest is history.
Photo by Jorgen Angel/Redferns
