Elton John described ‘unhappy and pathetic’ Elvis Presley assembly simply earlier than demise
Tonight, at 9pm, Elton John will make his debut at Glastonbury Festival on the legendary Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm.
It is because of be a momentous event, as it’s also going to be his final-ever UK present.
While he has constructed a unprecedented profession over the previous six many years within the music trade, he wouldn’t have began making music if it weren’t for the unique rockstar: Elvis Presley.
In 1976, Elton and his mom had the pleasure of assembly Elvis for the primary time – however he was not every part he dreamed of.
At the time, within the mid-Nineteen Seventies, Elvis was abusing pharmaceuticals and had gained a variety of weight. In truth, when Elton met him, the King of Rock and Roll was just below 12 months away from dying from these precise points.
Elton recalled in 1996: “It was so sad because he turned into this big man with no eyes.”
Elvis was taking part in numerous exhibits, hitting a Las Vegas stage each single night time, however the work, the medication, and his countless provide of cheeseburgers have been taking their tole on the 41-year-old man.
“They had sunk into the back of his head,” Elton remembered. “And it was pathetic.”
Elton informed the same story in regards to the one and solely time he met Elvis within the Tom Doyle ebook Captain Fantastic.
“It was sad,” he mentioned of chatting with Elvis earlier than he hit the stage.
Tom mentioned that they had an “awkward” dialogue. “Elton looked into the eyes of the King and felt there was ‘nothing there’,” he wrote.
It’s a shame, as Elton revered the King of Rock and Roll. Looking back on hearing his music for the first time, he said: “My mum at all times used to purchase a file each Friday. She got here dwelling, and he or she had the 78 of Elvis Presley, and he or she mentioned: ‘I heard this in the record shop, and I’ve by no means heard something prefer it!’ She performed it to me, and I’d by no means heard something prefer it both.”
“It was bizarre,” he explained. “Because, about ten days earlier than, I’d had my hair lower within the native barbers, the place I went as a bit boy, and I’d seen a Life journal.
“I was reading this article on a man who looked like an alien but was so handsome – I’d never seen anything like him, and I put two and two together and said, ‘That was the man I saw in the magazine!’ So that was the record that really changed everything.”