How Elton John tried to save his “idol” from the “waste bin of life”
Elton John’s entire career has been built on the joy of collaboration and celebrating the music of others. After all, he is technically part of a double act. As a songwriting partnership, Elton John and Bernie Taupin have sold more than 250million records worldwide, and it is testimony to Elton’s willingness to let people’s own creativity fuse with his that they met quite by chance, but he was willing to take a chance, nevertheless.
In 1967, both Taupin and Elton answered the same talent call advert placed by Liberty Records – they both failed. Elton bemoaned to the receptionist that it was his inability to write lyrics that had let him down, so the kind clerk dug into the lyrics submission, passed him an envelope, and Elton turned on his heels and opened it on a dejected underground ride home.
It was the poems of Bernie Taupin. Elton must’ve felt somewhat comforted by his endearing words, and now, over 50 years later, so have half the world over the course of the 30 albums they collaborated on. This is the sort of sweet, triumphant narrative that they might ironically turn into one of their songs. With an easy style that seems to tap into the best of humanity, their tracks have always proved as transcendent as the story behind their cosmic collaboration.
Following their meeting in 1967, things fell into place in a hurry. Elton had been a child prodigy on the piano, which meant he was given grants to be classically trained, and now he had the yin to his yang in Taupin. Together, they paired their inspirations and began to make perfect pop, one of the key ingredients being Leon Russell.
“When I heard that voice, I just went ‘Oh my god’,” Elton recalled. “Then I met Leon. He was my idol, and I went to America, and I toured with him. I played second on the bill to him, and he was so nice to me. Instead of being offhand with me and jealous, he was so supportive and encouraging, and I played on stage with him.” At this stage, Elton was scoring huge hits while on the tour, and his star was rising. However, his hero was still forthcoming with a smattering of praise, tips, and creative inspiration.
Over the years, Leon Russell’s work has been celebrated by everyone from Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys to Frank Black of Pixies for his effortless ability to craft toe-tapping grooves, which came from working with likes of The Ronettes, The Crystals, Glen Campbell, Gary Lewis & The Playboys and Frank Sinatra before he went solo. He crafted classics himself, but often, these would go on to be covered by others or collaborated on, and Russell’s own efforts were diminished by proxy.
Elton sensed this growing obscurity himself, telling the Guardian: “Many years later, I paid him back by making a record called The Union and salvaging him from the waste bin of life because everyone had forgotten about him, and I was so angry about it.”
Their collaborative effort was released in 2010 and featured all of their favourites. Rose Stone, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, T Bone Burnett, Tata Vega, you name it, all of them featured on the record that helped to reinstate the status of the legendary Leon Russell.
