Me: Elton John Official Autobiography

For the last few years, my brother has gotten in the habit of buying me a biography of an 80s music star for Christmas. First it was Motley Crue, then Billy Idol, then Phil Collins, and now Elton John.

Good book. Easy to read. Flows nicely. Lots of neat recollections of famous people you know.

Elton follows the standard career arc, it seems. Laboring away for nothing, then sudden stardom, then an out-of-control drug problem, then lots of drama, more drama, even more drama, then middle age and the crises that come with it, and finally some semblance of normalcy and reflection.

(One interesting note is what’s not in the book. In 1984, Elton married a woman named Renate. She was a sound engineer at a studio he recorded at. At the time, he was having a string of bad gay relationships, and became convinced that was the problem – that he might really be straight. He had genuine love for Renate. Still does. But she and him agreed to never discuss their marriage with the outside world, so after they get married (on four days notice), he goes completely silent on it until he mentions a few chapters later that they quietly divorced in 1988.)

There are longer chapters around the deaths of Gianni Versace and Princess Diana, which both affected him deeply. And later in the book he meets David Furnish, and they settle down with kids. The book ends after this farewell tour of 2017-2019 and the release of the movie “Rocketman.”

If you’re a child of the 70s or 80s, you’ll enjoy this.