Name	Standard Hindi
Nativename	''Mānak Hindī''
Imagecaption	The word "Hindi" in Devanagari script
Familycolor	Indo-European
States	India, Mauritius and significant communities in USA, UK, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Myanmar, Canada, Nepal, Afghanistan, South Africa, Uganda, New Zealand
Speakers	180 million native in 1991
Fam2	Indo-Iranian
Fam3	Indo-Aryan
Fam4	Central zone
Fam5	Western Hindi
Fam6	Khariboli
Fam7	Hindustani
Script	Devanagari
Nation
Agency	Central Hindi Directorate (India)
Iso1	hi
Iso2	hin
Linglist	hin-hin
Lingua	59-AAF-q (with Urdu,including 58 varieties: 59-AAF-qaa to 59-AAF-qil)
Notice	Indic}}

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi (Devanagari: ), High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardised and sanskritised register of the Hindustani language derived from the ''Khariboli'' dialect of Delhi (and the surrounding western Uttar Pradesh and southern Uttarakhand region). The primary official language of the Republic of India, it is one of the 22 official languages of India. The spoken Hindi dialects form an extensive dialect continuum of the Indic language family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati and Marathi; on the southeast by Oriya; on the east by Maithili and Bengali; and on the north by Nepali.

Modern Hindi is mutually intelligible with the alternative register of the Hindustani language called Urdu. Mutual intelligibility decreases in literary and specialized contexts which rely on educated vocabulary. Because of religious nationalism since the partition of British India and continued communal tensions, native speakers of both Hindi and Urdu frequently assert them to be completely distinct languages, despite the fact that they generally cannot tell the colloquial languages apart. The combined population of Hindi and Urdu speakers is the fourth largest in the world. However, the number of native speakers of Standard Hindi is still ambiguous. According to the 2001 Indian census, 258 million people in India regarded their native language to be "Hindi". However, this includes large numbers of speakers of Hindi dialects besides Standard Hindi; as of 2009, the best figure ''Ethnologue'' could find for Khariboli Hindi was a dated 1991 figure of 180 million. Hindi is also enumerated as one of the twenty-two languages of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which entitles it to representation on the Official Language Commission. The Constitution of India has stipulated the usage of Hindi and English to be the two languages of communication for the Central Government. Most of government documentation is prepared in three languages English, Hindi and the local state language.

It was envisioned that Hindi would become the sole working language of the central government by 1965 (per directives in Article 344 (2) and Article 351), with state governments being free to function in languages of their own choice. However, widespread resistance movements to the imposition of Hindi on non-native speakers, of especially the people living in south India (such as the Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu) led to the passage of the Official Languages Act (1963), which provided for the continued use of English, indefinitely, for all official purposes. Therefore, English is still used in official documents, in courts, etc. However, the constitutional directive to the central government to champion the spread of Hindi was retained and has strongly influenced the policies of the Union government.

At the state level, Hindi is the official language of the following states in India: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. Each of these states may also designate a "co-official language"; in Uttar Pradesh for instance, depending on the political formation in power, sometimes this language is Urdu. Similarly, Hindi is accorded the status of co-official language in several states.

History

The dialect upon which Standard Hindi is based is ''khariboli'', the vernacular of the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh region. This dialect acquired linguistic prestige in the Mughal Empire (17th century) and became known as ''Urdu'', "the language of the court." After independence, the Government of India set about standardising Hindi as a separate language from Urdu, instituting the following conventions:

standardisation of grammar: In 1954, the Government of India set up a committee to prepare a grammar of Hindi; The committee's report was released in 1958 as "A Basic Grammar of Modern Hindi"

standardisation of the orthography, using the Devanagari script, by the Central Hindi Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture to bring about uniformity in writing, to improve the shape of some Devanagari characters, and introducing diacritics to express sounds from other languages.

standardisation of vocabulary, replacing most of the more learned Persian loan words with new coinages from Sanskrit. (See next.)

Alphabet and vocabulary

Standard Hindi derives much of its formal and technical vocabulary from Sanskrit. Standard or ''shuddh'' ("pure") Hindi is used only in public addresses and radio or TV news, while the everyday spoken language in most areas is one of several varieties of Hindustani, whose vocabulary contains many words drawn from Persian and Arabic. In addition, spoken Hindi includes words from English and other languages as well. Actual Hindi (Devanagari) is spoken in the state of UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, MP, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand etc. Other states like Punjab, WestBengal, Orissa speak/use Hindi beside of their regional/state language. All over North, Central, East & West Indians use Hindi vastly. However, the literary registers differ substantially in borrowed vocabulary; in highly formal situations, the languages are barely intelligible to speakers of the other. Hindi has looked to Sanskrit for borrowings from at least the 19th century, and Urdu has looked to Persian and Arabic for borrowings from the eighteenth century. On another dimension, Hindi is associated with the Hindu community and Urdu with the Muslim community though this is much more a twentieth century phenomenon when the political impetus to actively distinguish Hindi from Urdu gathered pace amongst the educated Hindus driving this change. Prior to this it was the norm for both educated Hindu and Muslim Indians to be fluent in Urdu.

There are five principal categories of words in Standard Hindi: ''Tatsam'' (तत्सम् / ''same as that'') words: These are words which are spelled the same in Hindi as in Sanskrit (except for the absence of final case inflections). They include words inherited from Sanskrit via Prakrit which have survived without modification (e.g. Hindustani ''nām''/Sanskrit ''nāma'', "name"), as well as forms borrowed directly from Sanskrit in more modern times (e.g. ''prārthanā'', "prayer"). Pronunciation, however, conforms to Hindi norms and may differ from that of classical Sanskrit. Among nouns, the ''tatsam'' word could be the Sanskrit uninflected word-stem, or it could be the nominative singular form in the Sanskrit nominal declension. ''Ardhātatsam'' (अर्धातात्सम्) words: These are words that were borrowed from Sanskrit in the middle Indo-Aryan or early New Indo-Aryan stages. Such words typically have undergone sound changes subsequent to being borrowed. ''Tadbhav'' (तद्भव / ''born of that'') words: These are words which are spelled differently from Sanskrit but are derivable from a Sanskrit prototype by phonological rules (e.g. Sanskrit ''karma'', "deed" becomes Pali ''kamma'', and eventually Hindi ''kām'', "work").

''Deshaj'' (देशज) words: These are words that were not borrowings but do not derive from attested Indo-Aryan words either. Belonging to this category are onomatopoetic words.

''Videshī'' (विदेशी) words: these include all words borrowed from sources other than Indo-Aryan. The most frequent sources of borrowing in this category have been Persian, Arabic, Portuguese and English.

Similarly, Urdu treats its own vocabulary, borrowed directly from Persian and Arabic, as a separate category for morphological purposes.

Hindi from which most of the Persian, Arabic and English words have been ousted and replaced by ''tatsam'' words is called ''Shuddha Hindi'' (pure Hindi). Chiefly, the proponents of ''Hindutva'' ideology ("Hindu-ness") are vociferous supporters of ''Shuddha Hindi''.

Excessive use of ''tatsam'' words sometimes creates problems for most native speakers. Strictly speaking, the ''tatsam'' words are words of Sanskrit and not of Hindi—thus they have complicated consonantal clusters which are not linguistically valid in Hindi. The educated middle class population of India can pronounce these words with ease, but people of rural backgrounds have much difficulty in pronouncing them. Similarly, vocabulary borrowed from Persian and Arabic also brings in its own consonantal clusters and "foreign" sounds, which may again cause difficulty in speaking them.

Literature

Hindi literature, is broadly divided into four prominent forms or styles, being ''Bhakti'' (devotional – Kabir, Raskhan); ''Shringar'' (beauty – Keshav, Bihari); ''Veer-Gatha'' (extolling brave warriors); and ''Adhunik'' (modern).

Medieval Hindi literature is marked by the influence of Bhakti movement and the composition of long, epic poems. It was not written in the current dialect but in other Hindi languages, particularly in Avadhi and Braj Bhasha, but later also in Khariboli. During the British Raj, Hindustani became the prestige dialect. Hindustani with heavily Sanskritized vocabulary or ''Sahityik'' Hindi (Literary Hindi) was popularized by the writings of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Bhartendu Harishchandra and others. The rising numbers of newspapers and magazines made Hindustani popular among the educated people. Chandrakanta, written by Devaki Nandan Khatri, is considered the first authentic work of prose in modern Hindi. The person who brought realism in the Hindi prose literature was Munshi Premchand, who is considered as the most revered figure in the world of Hindi fiction and progressive movement......

The ''Dwivedi Yug'' ("Age of Dwivedi") in Hindi literature lasted from 1900 to 1918. It is named after Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, who played a major role in establishing the Modern Hindi language in poetry and broadening the acceptable subjects of Hindi poetry from the traditional ones of religion and romantic love.

In the 20th century, Hindi literature saw a romantic upsurge. This is known as ''Chhayavaad'' (''shadowism'') and the literary figures belonging to this school are known as ''Chhayavaadi''. Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma and Sumitranandan Pant, are the four major ''Chhayavaadi'' poets.

''Uttar Adhunik'' is the post-modernist period of Hindi literature, marked by a questioning of early trends that copied the West as well as the excessive ornamentation of the Chhayavaadi movement, and by a return to simple language and natural themes.

Sample text

The following is a sample text in High Hindi, of the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (by the United Nations): : 1 —

Transliteration (IAST): :

Transcription (IPA): :.

Gloss (word-to-word): :Article 1 — ''All'' human-beings to dignity and rights' matter in from-birth freedom and equality acquired is. Them to reason and conscience's endowment acquired is and always them to brotherhood's spirit with behaviour to do should.

Translation (grammatical): :Article 1 — All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Sanskritization

Under the Indian government's encouragement, the officially sponsored version of the ''Khari-boli'' dialect has undergone a sea-change after it was declared the language of central government functioning in 1950. A major change has been the Sanskritisation of Hindi (introduction of Sanskrit vocabulary in Khariboli). Three factors motivated this conscious bid to sanskritize Hindi, being:

The independence movement inculcated a nationalistic pride in India's ancient culture, including its ancient classical language Sanskrit;

Independence was accompanied by partition along religious lines, with Muslim-majority areas seceding to form Pakistan, and a partial rejection of Persian and Arabic influence in the Hindu-majority areas; Saadat Hasan Manto, the Pakistani Urdu writer opposed to Hindi-Urdu divide.

The people of south and east India were averse to the dominance of the language and culture of north India in the affairs of the country. The Hindu populations of these regions did not identify with Hindi itself or with the Mughal (Persian, Turkic) cultural influences that had shaped Hindi, but they were more receptive to Sanskrit. Sanskritization was thus viewed as a means to make Hindi more palatable in practice.

In its non-Sanskritized form, the Khariboli-based dialect is the ''normal'' and principal dialect used in the Hindi cinema. It is almost exclusively used in contemporary Hindi television serials, songs, education, and of course, in normal daily speech in almost all the urban regions of north India, wherever Hindi is also the state language. The rural dialect varies from region to region.

See also

Hindi-Urdu (covers phonology, grammar, and orthography)

Hindi literature

History of Hindustani

Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu

Hinglish

Languages of India and Languages with official status in India

List of languages by number of native speakers in India

The list of Hindi words and list of words of Hindi origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary

References

Notes

Bibliography

Bhatia, Tej K. ''Colloquial Hindi: The Complete Course for Beginners''. London, UK & New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0-415-11087-4 (Book), 0415110882 (Cassettes), 0415110890 (Book & Cassette Course)

.

Grierson, G. A. ''Linguistic Survey of India'' Vol I-XI, Calcutta, 1928, ISBN 81-85395-27-6

McGregor, R. S. (1977), ''Outline of Hindi Grammar'', 2nd Ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford-Delhi, ISBN 0-19-870008-3 (3rd ed.)

. . . . .

Taj, Afroz (2002) ''A door into Hindi''. Retrieved November 8, 2005.

Tiwari, Bholanath ([1966] 2004) ''हिन्दी भाषा (Hindī Bhāshā)'', Kitāb Mahal, Allahabad, ISBN 81-225-0017-X.

Dictionaries

.

Further reading

Bhatia, Tej K ''A History of the Hindi Grammatical Tradition''. Leiden, Netherlands & New York, NY : E.J. Brill, 1987. ISBN 90-04-07924-6

External links

The Union: Official Language

Official Unicode Chart for Devanagari (PDF)

English to Hindi Transliteration Editor developed by C-DAC Mumbai

USA Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Hindi basic course

ఘబబభయ

* Category:Hindustani Category:Indo-Aryan languages Category:Languages of India Hindi

af:Hindi als:Hindi ar:لغة هندية an:Hindi as:হিন্দী ast:Hindi az:Hind dili bn:হিন্দি ভাষা zh-min-nan:Hindi-gí be:Хіндзі be-x-old:Гіндзі bh:हिन्दी bcl:Hindi bi:Hindi bo:རྒྱ་གར་སྐད། bs:Hindi br:Hindeg bg:Хинди ca:Hindi cv:Хинди ceb:Pinulongang Indi cs:Hindština cbk-zam:Hindi cy:Hindi da:Hindi de:Hindi dv:ހިންދީ et:Hindi keel el:Χίντι es:Hindi eo:Hindia lingvo eu:Hindi fa:زبان هندی hif:Hindi fr:Hindi fy:Hindy ga:An Hiondúis gv:Hindish gd:Hindi gl:Lingua hindi gan:印地語 gu:હિંદી ભાષા ko:힌디어 hi:हिन्दी hsb:Hindišćina hr:Hindski jezik io:Hindi linguo bpy:হিন্দী ঠার id:Bahasa Hindi ie:Hindi iu:ᐦᐃᓐᑏ/hintii is:Hindí it:Lingua hindi he:הינדי jv:Basa Hindi kn:ಹಿಂದಿ ka:ჰინდი ენა kbd:Хиндубзэ sw:Kihindi kg:Kihindi ku:Zimanê hindî lad:Lingua indiana la:Lingua Hindi lv:Hindi lt:Hindi lij:Lengua hindi li:Hindi hu:Hindi nyelv mk:Хиндиски јазик mg:Fiteny hindi ml:ഹിന്ദി mr:हिंदी भाषा arz:هندى ms:Bahasa Hindi nah:Inditlahtōlli nl:Hindi ne:हिन्दी new:हिन्दी भाषा ja:ヒンディー語 nap:Hindjan no:Hindi nn:Hindi oc:Indi (lenga) or:ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଭାଷା pa:ਹਿੰਦੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ pnb:ہندی pms:Lenga hindi nds:Hindi pl:Język hindi pt:Língua hindi ksh:Hinndi (Shprooch) ro:Limba hindi rmy:हिन्दीकानी छीब qu:Hindi simi rue:Гінді ru:Хинди se:Hindigiella sa:हिन्दी sco:Hindi sq:Hindi simple:Hindi language sk:Hindčina sl:Hindijščina sr:Хинди sh:Hindi fi:Hindi sv:Hindi tl:Wikang Hindi ta:இந்தி tt:Һинд теле te:హిందీ భాష th:ภาษาฮินดี tg:Забони ҳиндӣ tr:Hintçe uk:Гінді ur:ہندی ug:ھىندى تىلى za:Vah Yindi vi:Tiếng Hindi war:Hindi wuu:印地语 bat-smg:Hindi zh:印地语

Stanley Gordon Long (born November 6, 1929 in Owen Sound, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played three games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens.

External links

Category:1929 births Category:Canadian ice hockey defencemen Category:Montreal Canadiens players Category:Ice hockey people from Ontario Category:Living people

Name	Sir Elton JohnCBE
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Birth date	March 25, 1947
Birth place	Pinner, Middlesex, England
Instrument
Occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, composer
Years active	1964–68 (Bluesology)1969–present (Solo)
Genre
Label	DJM, Uni, MCA, Geffen, Rocket/Island, Universal, Interscope, Mercury, UMG
Associated acts	Bernie Taupin, Tim Rice, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Kiki Dee, Billy Joel, George Michael, Eminem, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick,Neil Sedaka
Website	}}

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.

In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in ''Billboard'' history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998.

He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. In 1992, he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a year later began hosting the annual Academy Award Party, which has since become one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $200 million.

John entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements. In 2008, ''Billboard'' magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (third overall, behind only The Beatles and Madonna).

Life and career

Early life

John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947, the eldest child of Stanley and only child of Sheila Eileen Dwight (née Harris) and was raised in Pinner, Middlesex in a council house of his maternal grandparents. His parents did not marry until he was 6 years old, when the family moved to a nearby semi-detached house. He was educated at Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School and Pinner County Grammar School, until age 17, when he left just prior to his A Level examinations to pursue a career in the music industry.

When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father, who served as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, tried to steer him toward a more conventional career, such as banking. John has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood. Both of John's parents were musically inclined, his father having been a trumpet player with the Bob Millar Band, a semi-professional big band that played at military dances. The Dwights were keen record buyers, exposing John to the popular singers and musicians of the day, and John remembers being immediately hooked on rock and roll when his mother brought home records by Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets in 1956.

John started playing the piano at the age of 3, and within a year, his mother heard him picking out Winifred Atwell's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. After performing at parties and family gatherings, at the age of 7 he took up formal piano lessons. He showed musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. According to one of his instructors, John promptly played back, like a "gramophone record", a four-page piece by Handel that he heard for the first time.

For the next five years he attended Saturday classes at the Academy in central London, and has stated that he enjoyed playing Chopin and Bach and singing in the choir during Saturday classes, but that he was not otherwise a diligent classical student. "I kind of resented going to the Academy", he says. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practicing and still pass, scrape through the grades." He even claims that he would sometimes skip classes and just ride around on the Tube. However, several instructors have testified that he was a "model student", and during the last few years he was taking lessons from a private tutor in addition to his classes at the Academy.

John's mother, though also strict with her son, was more vivacious than her husband, and something of a free spirit. With Stanley Dwight uninterested in his son and often physically absent, John was raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother. When his father was home, the Dwights would have terrible arguments that greatly distressed their son. When John was 14, they divorced. His mother then married a local painter, Fred Farebrother, a caring and supportive stepfather whom John affectionately referred to as "Derf", his first name in reverse. They moved into flat No. 1A in an eight-unit apartment building called Frome Court, not far from both previous homes. It was there that John would write the songs that would launch his career as a rock star; he would live there until he had four albums simultaneously in the American Top 40.

Pub pianist to staff songwriter (1962–1969)

At the age of 15, with the help of his mother and stepfather, Reginald Dwight became a weekend pianist at a nearby pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing Thursday to Sunday nights for £35 a week and tips. Known simply as "Reggie", he played a range of popular standards, including songs by Jim Reeves and Ray Charles, as well as songs he had written himself. A stint with a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time.

In 1964, Dwight and his friends formed a band called Bluesology. By day, he ran errands for a music publishing company; he divided his nights between solo gigs at a London hotel bar and working with Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul and R&B; musicians like The Isley Brothers, Major Lance, Billy Stewart, Doris Troy and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles. In 1966, the band became musician Long John Baldry's supporting band and played 16 times at The Marquee Club.

After failing lead vocalist auditions for King Crimson and Gentle Giant, Dwight answered an advertisement in the ''New Musical Express'' placed by Ray Williams, then the A&R; manager for Liberty Records. At their first meeting, Williams gave Dwight a stack of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had answered the same ad. Dwight wrote music for the lyrics, and then mailed it to Taupin, beginning a partnership that {{as of |2012 |alt=still continues }}. When the two first met in 1967 they recorded what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song; "Scarecrow". Six months later Dwight was going by the name "Elton John" in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

The team of John and Taupin joined Dick James's DJM Records as staff songwriters in 1968, and over the next two years wrote material for various artists, like Roger Cook and Lulu. Taupin would write a batch of lyrics in under an hour and give it to John, who would write music for them in half an hour, disposing of the lyrics if he couldn't come up with anything quickly. For two years, they wrote easy-listening tunes for James to peddle to singers. Their early output included a contender for the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969, for Lulu, called "Can't Go On (Living Without You)". It came sixth of six songs. In 1969, John provided piano for Roger Hodgson on his first released recording, the single "Mr. Boyd" by Argosy, a quartet that was completed by Caleb Quaye and Nigel Olsson.

During this period, John was also a session musician for other artists including playing piano on The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and singing backing vocals for The Scaffold.

Debut album to ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' (1969–1973)

On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha", and an album, ''Empty Sky''.

For their follow-up album, ''Elton John'', John and Taupin enlisted Gus Dudgeon as producer and Paul Buckmaster as musical arranger. ''Elton John'' was released in April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song", made into the US Top 100, peaking at Number 92. The second single "Your Song" made the US Top Ten, peaking at number eight and becoming John's first hit single as a singer. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970, and was a success.

The concept album ''Tumbleweed Connection'' was released in October 1970, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. The live album ''17-11-70'' (''11-17-70'' in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R; Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the US when an east coast bootlegger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music. John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film ''Friends'' and then the album ''Madman Across the Water'', the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends". In 1972, Davey Johnstone joined the Elton John Band on guitar and backing vocals. The band released ''Honky Chateau'', which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat".

The pop album ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player'' came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first US Billboard Hot 100 number one hit. Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.

Rocket Records to ''21 at 33'' (1974–1979)

John formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee – in which he took a personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.

In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.

''Caribou'' was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and the lushly orchestrated "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera ''Tommy'', and to perform the song "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the US). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.

In the 1975 autobiographical album ''Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'', John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.

The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium. The rock-oriented ''Rock of the Westies'' entered the US albums chart at number 1 like ''Captain Fantastic'', a previously unattained feat. Elton John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Mozart, among others, at his concerts.

To celebrate five years since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also played piano on Kevin Ayers' ''Sweet Deceiver'', and was among the first and few white artists to appear on the black music series ''Soul Train'' on American television. On August 9, 1975, John was named the outstanding rock personality of the year at the first annual Rock Music Awards at ceremonies held in Santa Monica, California.

In 1976, the live album ''Here and There'' was released in May, followed by the ''Blue Moves'' album in October, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word". His biggest success in 1976 was "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with ''Rolling Stone'' that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", John stated that he was bisexual.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970–1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972 and 1975 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in ''Rolling Stone'''in 2003, all are from this period, with ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (''Tumbleweed Connection'', ''Honky Château'', and ''Captain Fantastic'') are all from this period too.

During the same period, John made a guest appearance on the popular ''Morecambe and Wise Show'' on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.

In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. Now only producing one album a year, John issued ''A Single Man'' in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne; the album produced no singles that made the Top 20 in the US but the two singles from the album released in the UK, Part-Time Love and Song for Guy, both made the Top 20 in the UK with the latter reaching the Top 5. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became one of the first Western solo artists to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the US in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9, 1979), a song originally rejected in 1977 by MCA before being released, recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell. Elton reported that Thom Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons; Bell encouraged John to sing in a lower register. A disco-influenced album, ''Victim of Love'', was poorly received. In 1979, John and Taupin reunited, though they did not collaborate on a full album until 1983's ''Too Low For Zero''. ''21 at 33'', released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number 3 US), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne.

The 80s: ''The Fox'' to ''Sleeping with the Past'' (1981–1989)

His 1981 album, ''The Fox'', was recorded in part during the same sessions as ''21 at 33'', and also included collaborations with Tom Robinson and Judie Tzuke. On 13 September 1980, John, with Olsson and Murray back in the Elton John Band, performed a free concert to an estimated 400,000 fans on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City. His 1982 hit "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)", came from his ''Jump Up!'' album, his second under a new US recording contract with Geffen Records.

He married his close friend and sound engineer, Renate Blauel on Valentine's Day 1984 - the marriage lasted three years. The Biography Channel Special detailed the loss of Elton's voice in 1986 while on tour in Australia. Shortly thereafter he underwent throat surgery, which permanently altered his voice. Several non-cancerous polyps were removed from his vocal cords, resulting in a change in his singing voice. In 1987 he won a libel case against ''The Sun'' which published allegations of sex with rent boys.

With original band members Johnstone, Murray and Olsson together again, John was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album ''Too Low for Zero'', which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and reached number 4 in the US, giving John his biggest hit there since "Little Jeannie". He placed hits in the US Top Ten throughout the 1980s – "Little Jeannie" (number 3, 1980), "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (number 5, 1984), "Nikita" boosted by a mini-movie pop video directed by Ken Russell (number 7, 1986), a live orchestral version of "Candle in the Wind" (number 6, 1987), and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (number 2, 1988). His highest-charting single was a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder on "That's What Friends Are For" (number 1, 1985); credited as Dionne and Friends, the song raised funds for AIDS research. His albums continued to sell, but of the six released in the latter half of the 1980s, only ''Reg Strikes Back'' (number 16, 1988) placed in the Top 20 in the United States.

In 1985, Elton John was one of the many performers at Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium. John played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man"; then "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Kiki Dee for the first time in years; and introduced his friend George Michael, still then of Wham!, to sing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". He enlisted Michael to sing backing vocals on his single "Wrap Her Up", and also recruited teen idol Nik Kershaw as an instrumentalist on "Nikita". John also recorded material with Millie Jackson in 1985. In 1986, he played the piano on two tracks on the heavy metal band Saxon's album ''Rock the Nations''.

In 1988, he performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden, giving him 26 for his career. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London.

The 90s: "Sacrifice" to ''Aida'' (1990–1999)

In 1990, John finally achieved his first UK number one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album ''Sleeping with the Past''; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks. The following year, John's "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael's cover of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the US and UK. At the 1991 Brit Awards in London, Elton John won the award for Best British Male.

In 1992 he released the US number 8 album ''The One'', featuring the hit song "The One". John and Taupin then signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. In April 1992, John appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "The Show Must Go On" with the remaining members of Queen, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses and Queen. In September, John performed "The One" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, and also closed the ceremony performing "November Rain" with Guns N' Roses. The following year, he released ''Duets'', a collaboration with 15 artists including Tammy Wynette and RuPaul. This also included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, entitled "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts.

Along with Tim Rice, Elton John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film ''The Lion King'', which became the 3rd highest-grossing animated feature of all time. At the 67th Academy Awards ceremony, ''The Lion King'' provided three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song, which John won with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Both that and "Circle of Life" became hit songs for John. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win Elton John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 37th Grammy Awards. After the release of the ''The Lion King'' soundtrack, the album remained at the top of ''Billboard'''s charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified ''The Lion King'' "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.

In 1995 John released ''Made in England'' (number 3, 1995), which featured the single "Believe". John performed "Believe" at the 1995 Brit Awards, and picked up the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music. A compilation called ''Love Songs'' was released in 1996.

Early in 1997 John held a 50th birthday party, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends. John also performed with the surviving members of Queen in Paris at the opening night (17 January 1997) of ''Le Presbytère N'a Rien Perdu De Son Charme Ni Le Jardin De Son Éclat'', a work by French ballet legend Maurice Béjart which draws upon AIDS and the deaths of Freddie Mercury and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn. Later in 1997, two close friends died: designer Gianni Versace was murdered; Diana, Princess of Wales died in a Paris car crash on 31 August. In early September, John contacted his writing partner Bernie Taupin, asking him to revise the lyrics of his 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" to honour Diana, and Taupin rewrote the song accordingly. On 6 September 1997, John performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in Westminster Abbey. The song became the fastest, and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually selling over 33 million copies worldwide. The best-selling single in UK Chart history, it sold 4.86 million copies in the UK. The best-selling single in ''Billboard'' history, and the only single ever certified Diamond in the United States, the single sold over 11 million copies in the U.S. The song proceeds of approximately £55 million were donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It would win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1998. John has publicly performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" only once, at Diana's funeral, vowing never to perform it again unless asked by Diana's sons.

In the musical theatre world, in addition to a 1998 adaptation of ''The Lion King'' for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of ''Aida'' in 1999 with lyricist Tim Rice, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 54th Tony Awards, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards. The musical was given its world premiere in the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. It went on to Chicago and eventually Broadway. He also released a live compilation album called ''Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits'' from the show he did at Madison Square Garden in New York City that same year.

2000 to present

In 2000, John and Tim Rice teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks' animated film ''The Road to El Dorado''. In August 2003, John scored his fifth UK number one single when "Are You Ready for Love" topped the UK Charts. Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End Theatre production of ''Billy Elliot the Musical'' in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is ''Lestat: The Musical'', based on the Anne Rice vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances.

John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works on 9 October 2006, by The Walt Disney Company. In 2006 he told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B;/hip-hop genre. "I want to work with Pharrell {Williams}, Timbaland, Snoop {Dogg}, Kanye {West}, Eminem and just see what happens."

In March 2007 he performed at Madison Square Garden for a record breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday, the concert was broadcast live and a DVD recording was released as ''Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden''; a greatest-hits compilation CD, ''Rocket Man – Number Ones'', was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo; and his back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download.

On 1 July 2007, Elton John appeared at the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium in London, in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 46th birthday. John opened the concert with "Your Song", and then closed the concert with his second performance, with "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", "Tiny Dancer", and "Are You Ready For Love".

In a September 2008 interview with ''GQ'' magazine, John said: "I’m going on the road again with Billy Joel again next year," referring to "Face to Face," a series of concerts featuring both musicians. The tour began in March and will continue for at least two more years.

In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. The show, entitled ''The Red Piano'', was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle. Effectively, he and Celine Dion share performances at Caesars Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004. On 21 June 2008, he performed his 200th show in Caesars Palace. A DVD/CD package of ''The Red Piano'' was released through Best Buy in November 2008. A two year global tour was sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas, Nevada, some of the venues of which were new to John. The Red Piano Tour closed in Las Vegas in April 2009.

Elton John performed a piano duet with Lady Gaga at the 52nd Grammy Awards. On 6 June 2010, John performed at the fourth wedding of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh for a reported US$1 million fee. Eleven days later, and 17 years to the day after his last previous performance in Israel, he performed at the Ramat Gan Stadium; this was significant because of other then-recent cancellations by other performers in the fallout surrounding an Israeli raid on Gaza Flotilla the month before. In his introduction to that concert, Elton John noted he and other musicians should not "cherry-pick our conscience", in reference to Elvis Costello, who was to have performed in Israel two weeks after Elton did, but cancelled in the wake of the aforementioned raid, citing his [Costello's] conscience.

John's latest studio album is entitled ''The Union'' and was released on 19 October 2010. John says his collaboration with American singer-songwriter and sideman Leon Russell marks a new chapter in his recording career, saying: "I don't have to make pop records any more."

He is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA),

Elton John began his new show "The Million Dollar Piano" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas on 28 September 2011. John will be performing the show at Caesars for the next three years. John performed his 3000th concert on Saturday 8 October 2011 at Caesars. In 2011, John performed vocals on ''Snowed in at Wheeler Street'' with Kate Bush for her ''50 Words for Snow'' album.

Artistry

Songwriting

John has written with his song-writing partner Bernie Taupin since 1967 when he answered an advertisement for talent placed in the popular UK music publication, ''New Musical Express'', by Liberty records A&R; man Ray Williams. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.

The 1991 film documentary ''Two Rooms'' described the writing style that John and Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. Taupin would write a set of lyrics, then mail them to John, wherever he was in the world, who would then lay down the music, arrange it, and record.

Music style

John's voice was once classed as tenor, it is now baritone. His piano playing is influenced by classical and gospel music. He used Paul Buckmaster to arrange the music on his studio albums during the 1970s.

Personal life

Family

In the late 1960s, John was engaged to be married to his first lover, secretary Linda Woodrow, who is mentioned in the song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight". He married German recording engineer Renate Blauel on 14 February 1984, in Darling Point, Sydney, with speculation that the marriage was a cover for his homosexuality. John had come out as bisexual in a 1976 interview with ''Rolling Stone'', but after his divorce from Blauel in 1988 he told the magazine that he was "comfortable" being gay.

In 1993, John began a relationship with David Furnish, a former advertising executive and now filmmaker. John and Furnish entered a civil partnership on 21 December 2005. They held a low-key ceremony at the Windsor Guildhall, followed by a lavish party at their Berkshire mansion, thought to have cost £1 million. Their son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born to a surrogate mother on 25 December 2010 in California. John and Furnish chose Lady Gaga, magazine editor Ingrid Sischy, and Sichy's partner Sandy Brant as Zachary's godmothers.

In September 2009, John announced his intention to adopt a 14-month-old boy, Lev, from an AIDS orphanage in Ukraine, but he was denied due to his age and marital status. Furnish stated they would continue to financially support Lev and his brother and would campaign for a change in Ukrainian law. John has ten known godchildren, including Sean Lennon, David and Victoria Beckham's sons Brooklyn and Romeo, Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian Charles, and the daughter of Seymour Stein.

Wealth

In April 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated John's wealth to be £175 million (US$265 million), and ranked him as the 322nd richest person in Britain. John was estimated to have a fortune of £195 million in the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' of 2011, making him one of the 10 richest people in the British music industry. Aside from his main home "Woodside" in Old Windsor, Berkshire, John owns residences in Atlanta, Nice, London's Holland Park, and Venice. John is an art collector, and is believed to have one of the largest private photography collections in the world.

In 2000, John admitted to spending £30 million in just under two years—an average of £1.5 million a month. Between January 1996 and September 1997, he spent more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers. In June 2001 John sold 20 of his cars at Christie's, saying he didn't get the chance to drive them because he was out of the country so often. The sale, which included a 1993 Jaguar XJ220, the most expensive at £234,750, and several Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys, raised nearly £2 million. In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park home—expected to fetch £800,000 at Sotheby's—in a bid to create more room for his collection of contemporary art which includes many works of art by Young British Artists such as Sam Taylor-Wood and Tracy Emin. Every year since 2004, John has opened a shop called "Elton's Closet" in which he sells his second-hand clothes.

Other

Throughout his career, John has battled addictions to alcohol and cocaine. By 1975, the pressures of stardom had begun to take a serious toll on him. During "Elton Week" in Los Angeles that year, John suffered a drug overdose. He also battled the eating disorder bulimia. In a CNN interview with Larry King in 2002, King asked if John knew of Diana, Princess of Wales' eating disorder. John replied, "Yes, I did. We were both bulimic."

A longtime tennis enthusiast, John wrote the song "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to long-time friend Billie Jean King and her World Team Tennis franchise of the same name. John and King also co-host an annual pro-am event to benefit AIDS charities, most notably John's own Elton John AIDS Foundation, for which King is a chairwoman. John, who maintains a part-time residence in Atlanta, Georgia, became a fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team when he moved there in 1991.

Watford Football Club

John became chairman and director of Watford Football Club in 1976, appointing Graham Taylor as manager and investing large sums of money as the club rose three divisions into the First Division. The pinnacle of the club's success was finishing runners up in the First Division and reaching the FA Cup Final a year later. He sold the club to Jack Petchey in 1987, but remained their life-long president. In 1997 he re-purchased the club from Petchey and once again became chairman. He stepped down in 2002 when the club needed a full-time chairman although he continued as president of the club. Although no longer the majority shareholder, he still holds a significant financial interest. In June 2005 he held a concert at Watford's Vicarage Road ground, donating the funds to the club, and another concert in May 2010. For a time he was also a part-owner of the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League.

AIDS Foundation

John has been associated with AIDS charities since the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage haemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.

Activism

On 1 April 2010, John joined Cyndi Lauper in the launch of her ''Give a Damn campaign'' to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the LGBT community as part of her True Colors Fund. In the advertisement, John states: "Imagine walking down the street and wondering if this is the day you'll get beaten up, or even killed, simply because of who you are". The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Judith Light, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, and Anna Paquin.

He is an occasional columnist in the ''Guardian''.

Honours and awards

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995. For his charitable work, John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 February 1998. In October 1975, John became the 1,662nd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He became a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, and a Disney Legends Award in 2006. In 2010, Elton John was awarded with the PRS for Music Heritage Award, which was erected, on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Watford, where Elton performed his first ever gig.

Music awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1994 for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); and the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2000 for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Tim Rice).

John has six Grammy Awards:

1987: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "That's What Friends Are For", performed by Dionne Warwick & Friends (award shared with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)

1991: Best Instrumental Composition for "Basque", performed by James Galway

1994: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"

1997: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Candle In The Wind" 1997

1999: Grammy Legend Award

2001: Best Musical Show Album for ''Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida'' (award shared with Guy Babylon, Paul Bogaev & Chris Montan (producers), Tim Rice (lyricist) and the original Broadway cast with Heather Headley, Adam Pascal, and Sherie Rene Scott)

Elton John Band

Since 1970, John's band, of which he is the pianist and lead singer, has been known as the Elton John Band. The band has had multiple line-up changes, but Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone, and Ray Cooper have been members (albeit non-consecutively) since 1970 (Olsson) and 1972 (Johnstone and Cooper). Ray Cooper is on and off with the Elton John Band because he works with other musicians as a session and road-tour percussionist. Furthermore, John has also used a number of session musicians in the time of his career.

Discography

;Studio albums

''Empty Sky'' (1969)

''Elton John'' (1970)

''Tumbleweed Connection'' (1970)

''Madman Across the Water'' (1971)

''Honky Château'' (1972)

''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player'' (1973)

''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' (1973)

''Caribou'' (1974)

''Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'' (1975)

''Rock of the Westies'' (1975)

''Blue Moves'' (1976)

''A Single Man'' (1978)

''Victim of Love'' (1979)

''21 at 33'' (1980)

''The Fox'' (1981)

''Jump Up!'' (1982)

''Too Low for Zero'' (1983)

''Breaking Hearts'' (1984)

''Ice on Fire'' (1985)

''Leather Jackets'' (1986)

''Reg Strikes Back'' (1988)

''Sleeping with the Past'' (1989)

''The One'' (1992)

''Duets'' (1993)

''Made in England'' (1995)

''The Big Picture'' (1997)

''Songs from the West Coast'' (2001)

''Peachtree Road'' (2004)

''The Captain & the Kid'' (2006)

''The Union (with Leon Russell)'' (2010)

''TBA'' (2012)

;Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums

''Friends'' (1971)

''The Lion King'' (1994)

''Aida'' (1998)

''The Muse'' (1999)

''The Road to El Dorado (soundtrack)'' (2000)

''Billy Elliot'' (2005)

''Lestat'' (2005)

''Gnomeo & Juliet'' (2011)

;Films

''Elton John: Me, Myself & I'' (2007) autobiography as himself

''The Country Bears'', US (2002) as himself

''Spice World'', UK (1997) as himself

''Tommy'', UK (1975) as Pinball Wizard

''Born to Boogie'', US playing as himself with Marc Bolan and Ringo Starr

References

;Bibliography

''Elton John: A Visual Documentary'', Nigel Goodall, Omnibus Press, 1993 ISBN 0711930783

''His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John'', Elizabeth Rosenthal, Billboard Books, 2001, ISBN 0823088928

External links

Elton John's official website

Commentary by Elton John (''The Guardian'')

Category:1947 births Category:AIDS activists Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Brit Award winners Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians Category:British soft rock musicians Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:English football chairmen and investors Category:English-language singers Category:English musical theatre composers Category:English pop pianists Category:English rock pianists Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English tenors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Knights Bachelor Category:LGBT composers Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:LGBT people from England Category:Living people Category:Musicians from London Category:People from Old Windsor Category:People from Pinner Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Religious skeptics Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rocket Records artists Category:Silver Clef Awards winners Category:Singers from London Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Watford F.C. directors Category:MusiCares Person of the Year Category:Grammy Legend Award

als:Elton John ar:إلتون جون an:Elton John az:Elton Con bn:এলটন জন be:Элтан Джон be-x-old:Элтан Джон bg:Елтън Джон ca:Elton John cs:Elton John cy:Elton John da:Elton John de:Elton John et:Elton John el:Έλτον Τζων es:Elton John eo:Elton John fa:التون جان fo:Elton John fr:Elton John ga:Elton John gl:Elton John ko:엘튼 존 hr:Elton John io:Elton John id:Elton John is:Elton John it:Elton John he:אלטון ג'ון jv:Elton John ka:ელტონ ჯონი kk:Элтон Джон sw:Elton John lv:Eltons Džons lt:Elton John hu:Elton John mk:Елтон Џон mrj:Элтон Джон nl:Elton John ja:エルトン・ジョン no:Elton John nn:Elton John oc:Elton John pl:Elton John pt:Elton John ro:Elton John ru:Элтон Джон simple:Elton John sk:Elton John sl:Elton John sr:Елтон Џон sh:Elton John fi:Elton John sv:Elton John th:เอลตัน จอห์น tr:Elton John uk:Елтон Джон vi:Elton John zh:埃爾頓·約翰

Enos Stanley "Stan" Kroenke (; born July 29, 1947 in Columbia, Missouri) is an American business entrepreneur. His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is the daughter of Wal-Mart cofounder Bud Walton. Kroenke is also the owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which includes the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and St. Louis Rams of the NFL (the Colorado sports properties are in the name of Josh Kroenke, one of his children, to satisfy NFL ownership restrictions that forbid a team owner from owning teams in other markets). He is also the majority shareholder of English football club Arsenal. He currently lives in Columbia, Missouri. Kroenke was estimated to be worth $US2.6 billion by Forbes in 2011.

Business career

Real estate

Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri. He founded the Kroenke Group in 1983, a real estate development firm that has constructed numerous shopping centers and apartment buildings. Since his marriage to Walton, he has been in the special position to develop many of the plazas near Wal-Mart stores. He is also the chairman of THF Realty, an independent real estate development company that specializes in suburban development. He founded this corporation in St. Louis in 1991.

Kroenke Sports Enterprises

Kroenke is a well-known sports mogul. As the head and owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, he has owned 40% of the National Football League's St. Louis Rams since their relocation to Missouri in 1995. In 2000, he became full owner of both the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, purchasing the team from Charlie Lyons' ''Ascent Entertainment Group''. In 2002, he partnered with American football legend John Elway and Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen to become co-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. He continued to grow his sports empire in 2004, when he purchased the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids from Phil Anschutz.

In 2010, Kroenke exercised his right of first refusal to buy the remaining interest in the St. Louis Rams. On August 25, 2010, he became full owner of the Rams by unanimous consent of the NFL. To gain approval from NFL owners, Kroenke agreed to turn over control of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche to his son, Josh, by the end of 2010, and he must give up his majority stake in both teams by December 2014. The NFL does not allow its owners to hold majority control of major league teams in other NFL markets.

Kroenke Sports Enterprise also owns Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Nuggets and Avalanche, and co-owns Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, home of the Rapids. Both venues were built by his development company. In 2004, Kroenke launched his own competitor to FSN Rocky Mountain (now known as Root Sports Rocky Mountain), Altitude, a new regional sports network which became the official broadcaster for both of Kroenke's teams on launch. Kroenke also established TicketHorse, a ticket company that provides in-house sales for all of his teams.

Kroenke is a somewhat reclusive man who stays out of the limelight. He his popularly known as "Silent Stan" because he almost never gives interviews to the press. He rarely interferes in his teams' day-to-day operations.

Kroenke is the largest shareholder of Premier League football club Arsenal. Arsenal already had a technical link-up with Kroenke's Colorado Rapids when in April 2007 Granada Ventures, a subsidiary of ITV plc, had sold their 9.9% stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to Kroenke's KSE UK inc. Kroenke went on to buy further shares in the club, taking his total stake up to 12.19%. The club's board initially expressed skepticism that a bid would be in its best interests, but gradually warmed to him as part of counteracting Alisher Usmanov's rival bid for the club.

By June 2008 the board had prepared to let Kroenke take over the club, and on 19 September 2008 it was officially announced that Kroenke had joined the Arsenal board of directors. Kroenke has a beneficial interest in, and controls voting rights over, 18,594 Shares, representing 29.9% of the issued Shares meaning he is nearing the 29.99% threshold, beyond which he would be forced to make an offer for all the remaining shares.

On 10th April 2011, it was reported that Kroenke was in advanced talks to complete the takeover of Arsenal. The following day, it was announced that he increased his shareholding in Arsenal to 62.89% by purchasing the stakes of Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, and agreed to make an offer for the rest of the club at £11,750 per share, valuing the club at £731M.

Other businesses

In 2006, Kroenke, in partnership with the money manager Charles Banks, acquired the Napa Valley winery Screaming Eagle. (In April 2009, Banks stated he was no longer involved with Screaming Eagle).

References

External links

Entry in Forbes’ List of Richest People

Reference to Malibu Times denoting Stan's purchase of the Malibu Colony Shopping Center, which is only 1 of 2 shopping centers in affluent Malibu, CA

Stan Kroenke Speaks about Vincent Jackson

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American billionaires Category:American sports businesspeople Category:American soccer chairmen and investors Category:Arena Football League executives Category:Arsenal F.C. directors and chairmen Category:Colorado Avalanche owners Category:Denver Nuggets owners Category:National Basketball Association executives Category:National Basketball Association owners Category:National Football League owners Category:National Hockey League executives Category:National Hockey League owners Category:People from Columbia, Missouri Category:Stanley Cup champions Category:University of Missouri alumni Category:Walton family

ar:إينوس ستان كروينك de:E. Stanley Kroenke ko:스탠 크랑키 he:סטן קרונקי pl:Stanley Kroenke ru:Кронке, Стэн fi:Stan Kroenke sv:Stanley Kroenke tr:Stan Kroenke

name	Stan Getz
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Stanley Gayetzky
known as	Stan Getz Nickname "The Sound" for his unique and polished style
born	February 02, 1927Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
died	June 06, 1991Malibu, California, U.S.
instrument	Tenor saxophone
genre	JazzBossa novaWest coast jazzCool jazz
occupation	Saxophonist
years active	1943–1991
label	Verve Records
associated acts	Kenny Barron, Bill Evans, J.J. Johnson, Bob Brookmeyer, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Byrd, Chet Baker, Gary Burton, Cal Tjader, Woody Herman, João Gilberto,Tom Jobim, Victor Lewis
notable instruments	}}

Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott Yanow as "one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists". Getz went on to perform in bebop, cool jazz and third stream, but is perhaps best known for popularizing the bossa nova, as in the worldwide hit single "The Girl from Ipanema" (1964).

Life and career

Getz was born on February 2, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Ukrainian Jews who emigrated from the Kiev, Ukraine area in 1903. The family later moved to New York City for better employment opportunities. Getz worked hard in school, receiving straight As, and finished sixth grade close to the top of his class. Getz's major interest was in musical instruments, and he felt a need to play every instrument in sight. He played a number of them before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. Even though his father also got him a clarinet, Getz instantly fell in love with the saxophone and began practicing eight hours a day.

He attended James Monroe High School (New York) in the Bronx. In 1941, he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra of New York City. This gave him a chance to receive private, free tutoring from the New York Philharmonic's Simon Kovar, a bassoon player. He also continued playing the saxophone. His tenor saxophone of choice was the Selmer Mark VI. On early recordings he had used a White Plastic Brilhart Tonalin mouthpiece. He eventually dropped out of school in order to pursue his musical career, but was later sent back to the classroom by the school system's truancy officers.

In 1943 at the age of 16, he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band, and because of his youth he became Teagarden's ward. Getz also played along with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949 in 'The Second Herd', and he first gained wide attention as one of the band's saxophonists, who were known collectively as 'The Four Brothers', the others being Serge Chaloff, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward. With Herman, he had a hit with "Early Autumn" and after Getz left 'The Second Herd' he was able to launch his solo career. He would be the leader on almost all of his recording sessions after 1950.

In the mid to late 1950s working from Scandinavia, Getz became popular playing cool jazz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. His first two quintets were notable for their personnel, including Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. A 1953 line-up of the Dizzy Gillespie/Stan Getz Sextet featured Gillespie, Getz, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach.

Returning to the U.S. from Europe in 1961, Getz became a central figure in introducing bossa nova music to the American audience. Teaming with guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil, Getz recorded ''Jazz Samba'' in 1962 and it became a hit. The title track was an adaptation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba". Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for "Desafinado," from the same album. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. As a follow-up, Getz recorded the album, ''Jazz Samba Encore!'', with one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa. It also sold more than a million copies by 1964, giving Getz his second gold disc.

He then recorded the album ''Getz/Gilberto'', in 1963, with Tom Jobim, João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto. Their "The Girl from Ipanema" won a Grammy Award. The piece became one of the most well-known latin jazz tracks. ''Getz/Gilberto'' won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single). A live album, ''Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2,'' followed, as did ''Getz Au Go Go,'' a live recording at the Cafe Au Go Go. Getz's affair with Astrud Gilberto brought an end to his musical partnership with her and her husband, and he began to move away from bossa nova and back to cool jazz. While still working with the Gilbertos, he recorded the jazz album ''Nobody Else But Me,'' with a new quartet including vibraphonist Gary Burton, but Verve Records, wishing to continue building the Getz brand with bossa nova, refused to release it. It eventually came out 30 years later, after Getz had died.

In 1972, Getz recorded in the fusion idiom with Chick Corea Tony Williams and Stanley Clarke. Corea and Clarke would go on to form RETURN TO FOREVER, first with drummer Airto, then Lenny White. Many of the pieces, including "La Fiesta", remained in their repertoire. In this period Getz experimented with an Echoplex on his saxophone. He had a cameo in the movie, ''The Exterminator'' (1980).

Toward the end of his life, the then drug-free Getz, had another creative peak with a group including the pianist Kenny Barron, whom Getz described as "my musical other half."

In the mid-1980s Getz worked regularly in the San Francisco Bay area and taught at Stanford University as an artist-in-residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop until 1988. In 1986, he was inducted into the ''Down Beat'' Jazz Hall of Fame. During 1988, Getz worked with Huey Lewis and the News on their ''Small World'' album. He played the extended solo on the title track, which became a minor hit single.

Personal life

Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band, on November 7, 1946; they had three children together: Steven, David, and Beverly.

Getz became involved with drugs and alcohol while a teenager. In 1954, he was arrested for attempting to rob a pharmacy to get a morphine fix. As he was being processed in the prison ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Beverly gave birth to their third child one floor below. Getz tried to escape his narcotics addiction by moving to Copenhagen. He married Swedish aristocrat Monica Silfverskiöld on November 3, 1956, and had two children with her: Pamela and Nicolas. Getz divorced Monica in 1987.

Zoot Sims, who had known Getz since their time with Herman, once described him as 'a nice bunch of guys', as a consequence of the wide behavioural range of which Getz was capable. In the final stages of his life Getz was able to end his addictions.

Getz died of liver cancer in June 6, 1991. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered at sea, off the coast of Malibu, California.

In 1998, the 'Stan Getz Media Center and Library' at the Berklee College of Music was dedicated through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation.

Discography

Compositions

Stan Getz's compositions include "Running Water", "Chocolate Sundae" with Gerry Mulligan, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and Oscar Peterson, "Stan's Blues", "Tootsie Roll", "For Stompers Only", "S'cool Boy", "Ah-Moore (Amour)", "Apasionado" with Herb Alpert and Eddie Del Barrio, "Coba", "Espanola", "Amorous Cat", "Prezervation", "Crazy Chords", "Tour's End", "And The Angels Swing", "Long Island Sound", "Half-breed Apache", "Bronx Blues", "Blues for Herky", "Downbeat", "Pocono Mac", and "Blues for Mary Jane".

Bibliography

''The Stan Getz discography'', Astrup, Arne. 1978

''Stan Getz'', Palmer, Richard. 1988.

''Stan Getz: an appreciation of his recorded work'', Kirkpatrick, Ron. 1992.

''Stan Getz, A Life in Jazz",Donald L. Maggin 1997

''Stan Getz: nobody else but me'', Gelly, Dave. 2002.

''Stan Getz: an annotated bibliography and filmography'', Churchill, Nicholas. 2005.

''Jazz saxophone: an in-depth look at the styles of the tenor masters'', Taylor, Dennis, 2004.

References

External links

Official Stan Getz homepage

1986 Interview

Getz discography

Stan Getz Biography, By John Twomey

Category:1927 births Category:1991 deaths Category:Bebop & Cool jazz saxophonists Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jazz tenor saxophonists Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Musicians from New York City Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Category:American Jews Category:Deaths from liver cancer Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:People from the Bronx Category:Savoy Records artists Category:MGM Records artists Category:SteepleChase Records artists Category:Verve Records artists

an:Stan Getz ca:Stan Getz cs:Stan Getz da:Stan Getz de:Stan Getz et:Stan Getz es:Stan Getz eo:Stan Getz fa:استن گتز fr:Stan Getz io:Stan Getz it:Stan Getz he:סטן גץ lb:Stan Getz hu:Stan Getz nl:Stan Getz ja:スタン・ゲッツ no:Stan Getz oc:Stan Getz pcd:Stan Getz nds:Stan Getz pl:Stan Getz pt:Stan Getz ru:Гетц, Стэн sr:Стен Гец fi:Stan Getz sv:Stan Getz th:สแตน เก็ตส์ uk:Стен Гетц