Sir Elton John is one of the most well-known and distinguished musicians of the last few decades. His repertoire includes instantaneously recognisable hit pop songs, musicals and collaborations with a variety of musicians. With the recent release of his biopic – John’s music and story has reached an even larger and newer audience. Sir Elton John will be returning to Australia’s shores for the last time in December to play at Mt Duneed Estate in Geelong – in which Melbourne on the Move will be proudly providing event transportation services for. To help you get pumped for the event, we’ve compiled a few facts about one of Britain’s Knights that you may not have known about.
1. His name isn’t his name…
Elton John was actually born Reginald Kenneth Dwight. Elton John is technically just a stage name. However, because he’s such a well-known figure and commands a strong presence in the musical world – it’s gotten to the point where his stage name may as well be his real name. Even after he was knighted, he was referred to as Sir Elton John.
His stage name is derived from members of his former Soul group Bluesology. The saxophonist was named Elton Dean and the singer was named Long John Baldry. The latter of which was actually the subject for John’s song Someone Saved my Life Tonight”
2. Albums galore
John has racked up an impressive catalogue over the years with a staggering 30 studio albums since his debut in 1969. His most popular album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, has sold over 30 million copies. His current tour – being his final tour ever – is aptly titled Farewell Yellow Brick Road.
Tumbleweed Connection, Friends, 17-11-70 and Madman Across the Water were all released between October 1970 and 1971. That’s three studio albums and a live album in just over a year – proving that John is a music-writing machine that just churns out hit after hit.
3. Behind the iron curtain
In May 1979 – when the U.S and U.S.S.R didn’t have the best of relations – John actually played a string of shows in the Soviet Union. Between St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad at the time) and Moscow John played a total of eight shows before anyone else did – making him the first big western music act to play behind the iron curtain.
They were essentially solo performances and John himself was surprised that no one had really heard his music before. Back in those days, it was quite rare for western pop music to be obtainable in the Soviet Union. A lot of the tickets were reserved for communist party chiefs, KGB members and other government officials – which resulted in a fairly rigid crowd for most of the shows.
Near-identical setlists were played for each show featuring 29 songs. Each set comprised of a variety of original tracks as well as covers such as The Who’s Pinball Wizard and The Beatles’ Back in the U.S.S.R – which was the closing track for each show.
4. Elton on film
Throughout his career, Sir Elton John has been featured in a variety of TV shows and movies. His first cameo was in The Who’s rock opera Tommy, where he plays the Pinball Wizard and performs the accompanying song with the band. One of the most notable cartoon shows in the world, The Simpsons, had Sir Elton John play himself in 1998. He also voiced himself in the South Park episode Chef Aid which featured several other high-profile musical cameos in the episode.
The sequel to the successful comic book spy movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, featured Sir Elton John in captivity. He enjoyed a few scenes throughout the movie, making him more of a secondary character than a cameo. The ironic thing about this is that the lead in the Kingsman movies, Taron Egerton, ended up playing Sir Elton John in his biopic, Rocketman.
In need of event transportation services?
Melbourne On The Move will be proudly supplying event transportation services to Sir Elton John’s Victorian show at Mt Duneed in Geelong. Our state-of-the-art bus fleet is clean and operated by professional drivers that know Victoria like the back of their hands. Melbourne On The Move’s event transportation services include a return trip from several pickup points around Victoria.
If require transportation services to the event, then please get in touch with us by calling 1300 558 686. You can also contact us by filling out the enquiry form on our website.