Battle of Shiloh
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Shiloh by Thure de Thulstrup.
Date April 6, 1862 (1862-04-06) – April 7, 1862 (1862-04-07) Location Hardin County, Tennessee Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Ulysses S. Grant Don Carlos Buell	Albert Sidney Johnston † P. G. T. Beauregard
Units involved
Army of the Tennessee Army of the Ohio[1]	Army of Mississippi[1]
Strength
66,812	44,699
Casualties and losses
13,047[2] (1,754 killed  8,408 wounded  2,885 captured/missing)	10,699[3] (1,728 killed  8,012 wounded  959 captured/missing)

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the river. Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant there. The Confederates achieved considerable success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the second day.

On the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west, hoping to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before the anticipated arrival of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio. The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting, and Grant's men instead fell back to the northeast, in the direction of Pittsburg Landing. A position on a slightly sunken road, nicknamed the "Hornet's Nest", defended by the men of Brig. Gens. Benjamin M. Prentiss's and W. H. L. Wallace's divisions, provided critical time for the rest of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of numerous artillery batteries. Gen. Johnston was killed during the first day of fighting, and Beauregard, his second in command, decided against assaulting the final Union position that night.

Reinforcements from Gen. Buell and from Grant's own army arrived in the evening and turned the tide the next morning, when the Union commanders launched a counterattack along the entire line. The Confederates were forced to retreat from the bloodiest battle in United States history up to that time, ending their hopes that they could block the Union advance into northern Mississippi.

Background and opposing forces[link]

After the losses of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February 1862, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston withdrew his forces into western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and Alabama to reorganize. In early March, Union Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, then commander of the Department of the Missouri, responded by ordering Grant to advance his Army of West Tennessee (soon to be known by its more famous name, the Army of the Tennessee) on an invasion up the Tennessee River. Halleck then ordered Grant to remain at Fort Henry and turn field command of the expedition over to a subordinate, C.F. Smith, just nominated as a major general. Various writers assert that Halleck took this step because of professional and personal animosity toward Grant. However, Halleck shortly restored Grant to full command, perhaps influenced by an inquiry from President Abraham Lincoln.^[4] By early April, Grant had five divisions at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and a sixth nearby. Meanwhile, Halleck's command was enlarged and renamed the Department of the Mississippi. Now having command over Buell's Army of the Ohio, Halleck ordered Buell to concentrate with Grant. Buell duly commenced a march with much of his army from Nashville toward Pittsburg Landing. Halleck intended to take the field in person and lead both armies in an advance south to seize the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, a vital supply line between the Mississippi River Valley, Memphis, and Richmond.^[5]

• 

  Maj. Gen.
  Ulysses S. Grant, USA
• 

  Maj. Gen.
  Don Carlos Buell, USA
• 

  Gen.
  Albert Sidney Johnston, CSA
• 

  Gen.
  P. G. T. Beauregard, CSA

Grant's army of 48,894 men consisted of six divisions, led by Maj. Gens. John A. McClernand and Lew Wallace, and Brig. Gens. W. H. L. Wallace (replacing Charles Ferguson Smith, disabled by a leg injury), Stephen A. Hurlbut, William T. Sherman, and Benjamin M. Prentiss.^[1] By early April, all six of the divisions were encamped on the western side of the Tennessee River, Lew Wallace's at Crump's Landing and the rest farther south at Pittsburg Landing. Grant developed a reputation during the war for being more concerned with his own plans than with those of the enemy.^[6] His encampment at Pittsburg Landing displayed his most consequential lack of such concern—his army was spread out in bivouac style, many around the small log church named Shiloh (the Hebrew word that means "place of peace"),^[7] spending time waiting for Buell with drills for his many raw troops, without entrenchments or other awareness of defensive measures. In his memoirs, Grant reacted to criticism of his lack of entrenchments: "Besides this, the troops with me, officers and men, needed discipline and drill more than they did experience with the pick, shovel and axe. ... under all these circumstances I concluded that drill and discipline were worth more to our men than fortifications."^[8] Lew Wallace's division was 5 miles (8 km) downstream (north) at Crump's Landing, a position intended to prevent the placement of Confederate river batteries and to strike out at the railroad line at Bethel Station.^[9]

On the eve of battle, April 5, the first of Buell's divisions, under the command of Brig. Gen. William "Bull" Nelson, reached Savannah; Grant instructed Nelson to encamp there rather than cross the river immediately. The rest of Buell's army was still marching toward Savannah, and only portions of four of his divisions, totaling 17,918 men, would reach the area in time to have any role in the battle, almost entirely on the second day. The other three divisions were led by Brig. Gens. Alexander M. McCook, Thomas L. Crittenden, and Thomas J. Wood, but Wood's division appeared too late even to be of much service on the second day.^[10]

Western Theater in early 1862

  Confederate

  Union

On the Confederate side, Johnston named his newly assembled force the Army of Mississippi.^[11] He concentrated almost 55,000 men around Corinth, Mississippi, about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Grant's position. Of these, 44,699^[1] departed from Corinth on April 3, hoping to surprise Grant before Buell arrived to join forces. They were organized into four large corps, commanded by:

• Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, with two divisions under Brig. Gen. Charles Clark and Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham
• Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg, with two divisions under Brig. Gens. Daniel Ruggles and Jones M. Withers
• Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee, with three brigades under Brig. Gens. Thomas C. Hindman, Patrick Cleburne, and Sterling A. M. Wood
• Brig. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, in reserve, with three brigades under Cols. Robert Trabue and Winfield S. Statham, and Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen, and attached cavalry^[12]

On the eve of battle, Grant's and Johnston's armies were of comparable size, but the Confederates were poorly armed with antique weapons, including shotguns, hunting rifles, pistols, flintlock muskets, and even a few pikes. However, some regiments, notably the 6th and 7th Kentucky Infantry, had Enfield rifles.^[13] They approached the battle with very little combat experience; Braxton Bragg's men from Pensacola and Mobile were the best trained. Grant's army included 32 out of 62 infantry regiments who had combat experience at Fort Donelson. One half of his artillery batteries and most of his cavalry were also combat veterans.^[14]

Johnston's second in command was P. G. T. Beauregard, who urged Johnston not to attack Grant. He was concerned that the sounds of marching and the Confederate soldiers test-firing their rifles after two days of rain had cost them the element of surprise. Johnston refused to accept Beauregard's advice and told him that he would "attack them if they were a million." Despite General Beauregard's well-founded concern, the Union forces did not hear the sounds of the marching army in its approach and remained blissfully unaware of the enemy camped 3 miles (4.8 km) away.^[15]

Johnston's plan was to attack Grant's left and separate the Union army from its gunboat support (and avenue of retreat) on the Tennessee River, driving it west into the swamps of Snake and Owl Creeks, where it could be destroyed. Johnston's attack on Grant was originally planned for April 4, but the advance was delayed 48 hours. As a result, Beauregard again feared that the element of surprise had been lost and recommended withdrawing to Corinth. But Johnston once more refused to consider retreat.^[17]

Battle, April 6[link]

Map of the Battle of Shiloh, morning of April 6, 1862.

Early morning attack[link]

At 6:00 a.m. on April 6, Johnston's army was deployed for battle, straddling the Corinth Road. In fact, the army had spent the entire night bivouacking undetected in order of battle just two miles (3 km) away from the Union camps. Their approach and dawn assault achieved almost total strategic and tactical surprise. The Union army had virtually no patrols in place for early warning. Grant telegraphed to Halleck on the night of April 5, "I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general one) being made upon us, but will be prepared should such a thing take place." Grant's preparedness proved to be overstated. Sherman, the informal camp commander at Pittsburg Landing, did not believe that the Confederates were anywhere nearby; he discounted any possibility of an attack from the south, expecting that Johnston would eventually attack from the direction of Purdy, Tennessee, to the west. When an Ohio colonel warned Sherman that an attack was imminent, the general said, "Take your damned regiment back to Ohio. There is no enemy nearer than Corinth." Early that morning Colonel Everett Peabody, commanding Prentiss's 1st Brigade, had sent forward part of the 25th Missouri Infantry on a reconnaissance, and they engaged Confederate outposts at 5:15 a.m. The spirited fight that ensued did help a little to get Union troops better positioned, but the command of the Union army did not prepare properly.^[18]

The confusing alignment of the Confederate troops helped to reduce the effectiveness of the attack since Johnston and Beauregard had no unified battle plan. Johnston had telegraphed Confederate President Jefferson Davis that the attack would proceed as: "Polk the left, Bragg the center, Hardee the right, Breckinridge in reserve."^[19] His strategy was to emphasize the attack on his right flank to prevent the Union Army from reaching the Tennessee River, its supply line and avenue of retreat. He instructed Beauregard to stay in the rear and direct men and supplies as needed, while he rode to the front to lead the men on the battle line. This effectively ceded control of the battle to Beauregard, who had a different concept, simply to attack in three waves and push the Union Army straight eastward into the Tennessee River.^[20] The corps of Hardee and Bragg began the assault with their divisions in one line, almost 3 miles (5 km) wide.^[21] As these units advanced, they became intermingled and difficult to control. Corps commanders attacked in line without reserves. Artillery could not be concentrated to effect a breakthrough. At about 7:30 a.m. from his position in the rear, Beauregard ordered the corps of Polk and Breckinridge forward on the left and right of the line, diluting their effectiveness. The attack therefore went forward as a frontal assault conducted by a single linear formation, which lacked both the depth and weight needed for success. Command and control in the modern sense were lost from the onset of the first assault.^[22]

• 

  Maj. Gen.
  Leonidas Polk, CSA
• 

  Maj. Gen.
  Braxton Bragg, CSA
• 

  Maj. Gen.
  William J. Hardee, CSA
• 

  Brig. Gen.
  John C. Breckinridge, CSA

Grant and Sherman rally[link]

The assault, despite some shortcomings, was ferocious, and some of the numerous inexperienced Union soldiers of Grant's new army fled for safety to the Tennessee River. Others fought well but were forced to withdraw under strong pressure and attempted to form new defensive lines. Many regiments fragmented entirely; the companies and sections that remained on the field attached themselves to other commands. During this period, Sherman, who had been so negligent in preparation for the battle, became one of its most important elements. He appeared everywhere along his lines, inspiring his raw recruits to resist the initial assaults despite staggering losses on both sides. He received two minor wounds and had three horses shot out from under him. Historian James M. McPherson cites the battle as the turning point of Sherman's life, which helped to make him one of the North's premier generals.^[23] Sherman's division bore the brunt of the initial attack, and despite heavy fire on their position and their right flank crumbling, they fought on stubbornly. The Union troops slowly lost ground and fell back to a position behind Shiloh Church. McClernand's division temporarily stabilized the position. Overall, however, Johnston's forces made steady progress until noon, rolling up Union positions one by one.^[24] As the Confederates advanced, many threw away their flintlock muskets and grabbed rifles dropped by the fleeing Union troops.^[25]

General Grant was about ten miles (16 km) down river at Savannah, Tennessee, that morning. On April 4, he had been injured when his horse fell and pinned him underneath. He was convalescing and unable to move without crutches.^[26] He heard the sound of artillery fire and raced to the battlefield by boat, arriving about 8:30 a.m. He worked frantically to bring up reinforcements that seemed near enough to arrive swiftly: Bull Nelson's division from Savannah and Lew Wallace's division from Crump's Landing. However, he would wait almost all day before the first of these reinforcements (from Nelson's division) arrived. Wallace's slow movement to the battlefield became particularly controversial.^[27]

• 

  Brig. Gen.
  William T. Sherman, USA
• 

  Brig. Gen.
  W. H. L. Wallace, USA
• 

  Brig. Gen.
  Benjamin Prentiss, USA
• 

  Maj. Gen.
  Lew Wallace, USA

Lew Wallace's lost division[link]

Wallace's group had been left as reserves near Crump's Landing at a place called Stoney Lonesome to the rear of the Union line. At the appearance of the Confederates, Grant sent orders for Wallace to move his unit up to support Sherman. Wallace took a route different from the one Grant intended (claiming later that there was ambiguity to Grant's order). Wallace arrived at the end of his march to find that Sherman had been forced back and was no longer where Wallace thought he was. Moreover, the battle line had moved so far that Wallace now found himself in the rear of the advancing Southern troops. A messenger arrived with word that Grant was wondering where Wallace was and why he had not arrived at Pittsburg Landing, where the Union was making its stand. Wallace was confused. He felt sure he could viably launch an attack from where he was and hit the Confederates in the rear; after the war he claimed that his division might have attacked and defeated the Confederates if his advance had not been interrupted.^[28] Nevertheless, he decided to turn his troops around and march back to Stoney Lonesome. Rather than realign his troops so that the rear guard would be in the front, Wallace chose to march the troops in a circle so that the original order was maintained, only facing in the other direction. Wallace marched back to Stoney Lonesome and then to Pittsburg Landing, arriving at Grant's position about 6:30 or 7 p.m., when the fighting was practically over. Grant was not pleased, and his endorsement of Wallace's battle report was negative enough to damage Wallace's military career severely.^[29] Today, Wallace is best remembered not as a soldier, but as the author of Ben-Hur.

Hornet's Nest[link]

Map of the Battle of Shiloh, afternoon of April 6, 1862.

On the main Union defensive line, starting at about 9:00 a.m., men of Prentiss's and W. H. L. Wallace's divisions established and held a position nicknamed the Hornet's Nest, in a field along a road now popularly called the "Sunken Road," although there is little physical justification for that name.^[30] The Confederates assaulted the position for several hours rather than simply bypassing it, and they suffered heavy casualties during these assaults—historians' estimates of the number of separate charges range from 8 to 14.^[31] The Union forces to the left and right of the Nest were forced back, and Prentiss's position became a salient in the line. Coordination among units in the Nest was poor, and units withdrew based solely on their individual commanders' decisions. This pressure increased with the mortal wounding of Wallace,^[32] who commanded the largest concentration of troops in the position. Regiments became disorganized and companies disintegrated. However, it was not until the Confederates assembled over 50 cannons^[33] to blast the line at close range that they were able to surround the position, and the Hornet's Nest fell after holding out for seven hours. Surrounded on three sides, General Prentiss surrendered himself and the remains of his division to the Confederates. A large portion of the Union survivors, numbering from 2,200 to 2,400 men, were captured, but their sacrifice bought time for Grant to establish a final defense line near Pittsburg Landing.^[34]

While dealing with the Hornet's Nest, the South suffered a serious setback in the death of their commanding general. Johnston was mortally wounded at about 2:30 p.m. while leading attacks on the Union left through the widow Bell's cotton field against the Peach Orchard when he was shot in his left leg. Deeming the leg wound to be insignificant, he had sent his personal surgeon away to care for some wounded captured Union soldiers, and in the doctor's absence, he bled to death within an hour, his boot filling with blood from a severed popliteal artery.^[35] This was a significant loss for the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis considered Albert Sidney Johnston to be the most effective general they had. (This was two months before Robert E. Lee emerged as the pre-eminent Confederate general.) Johnston was the highest-ranking officer from either side to be killed in combat during the Civil War. Beauregard assumed command, but from his position in the rear he may have had only a vague idea of the disposition of forces at the front.^[36] He ordered Johnston's body shrouded for secrecy to avoid damaging morale in the army and then resumed attacks against the Hornet's Nest. This was likely a tactical error. The Union flanks were slowly pulling back to form a semicircular line around Pittsburg Landing, and if Beauregard had concentrated his forces against the flanks, he might have defeated the Union Army and then reduced the Hornet's Nest salient at his leisure.^[37]

Defense at Pittsburg Landing[link]

The Union flanks were being pushed back, but not decisively. Hardee and Polk caused Sherman and McClernand on the Union right to retreat in the direction of Pittsburg Landing, leaving the right flank of the Hornet's Nest exposed. Just after the death of Johnston, Breckinridge, whose corps had been in reserve, attacked on the extreme left of the Union line, driving off the understrength brigade of Colonel David Stuart and potentially opening a path into the Union rear area and the Tennessee River. However, they paused to regroup and recover from exhaustion and disorganization, and then chose to follow the sound of the guns toward the Hornet's Nest, and an opportunity was lost. After the Hornet's Nest fell, the remnants of the Union line established a solid three-mile (5 km) front around Pittsburg Landing, extending west from the Tennessee and then north up the River Road, keeping the approach open for the expected belated arrival of Lew Wallace's division. Sherman commanded the right of the line, McClernand the center, and on the left, remnants of W. H. L. Wallace's, Hurlbut's, and Stuart's men mixed in with the thousands of stragglers^[38] who were crowding on the bluff over the landing. One brigade of Buell's army, Colonel Jacob Ammen's brigade of Bull Nelson's division, arrived in time to be ferried over and join the left end of the line.^[39] The defensive line included a ring of over 50 cannons^[40] and naval guns from the river (the gunboats USS Lexington and USS Tyler).^[41] A final Confederate charge of two brigades, led by Brig. Gen. Withers, attempted to break through the line but was repulsed. Beauregard called off a second attempt after 6 p.m., with the sun setting.^[42] The Confederate plan had failed; they had pushed Grant east to a defensible position on the river, not forced him west into the swamps.^[43]

Evening lull[link]

The evening of April 6 was a dispiriting end to the first day of one of the bloodiest battles in American history. The pitiful cries of wounded and dying men on the fields between the armies could be heard in the Union and Confederate camps throughout the night. A thunderstorm passed through the area and rhythmic shelling from the Union gunboats made the night a miserable experience for both sides. A famous anecdote encapsulates Grant's unflinching attitude to temporary setbacks and his tendency for offensive action. As the exhausted Confederate soldiers bedded down in the abandoned Union camps, Sherman encountered Grant under a tree, sheltering himself from the pouring rain. He was smoking one of his cigars while considering his losses and planning for the next day. Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."^[44]

Beauregard sent a telegram to President Davis announcing "A COMPLETE VICTORY" and later admitted, "I thought I had General Grant just where I wanted him and could finish him up in the morning." Many of his men were jubilant, having overrun the Union camps and taken thousands of prisoners and tons of supplies. But Grant had reason to be optimistic, for Lew Wallace's division and 15,000 men of Don Carlos Buell's army began to arrive that evening, with Buell's men fully on the scene by 4 a.m., in time to turn the tide the next day.^[46] Beauregard caused considerable historical controversy with his decision to halt the assault at dusk. Braxton Bragg and Albert Sidney Johnston's son, Col. William Preston Johnston, were among those who bemoaned the so-called "lost opportunity at Shiloh." Beauregard did not come to the front to inspect the strength of the Union lines but remained at Shiloh Church. He also discounted intelligence reports from Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest (and bluster from prisoner of war Gen. Prentiss^[47]) that Buell's men were crossing the river to reinforce Grant. In defense of his decision, his troops were simply exhausted, there was less than an hour of daylight left, and Grant's artillery advantage was formidable. He had also received a dispatch from Brig. Gen. Benjamin Hardin Helm in northern Alabama, indicating that Buell was marching toward Decatur and not Pittsburg Landing.^[48]

Battle, April 7[link]

Map of the Battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862.

On April 7, the combined Union armies numbered 45,000 men. The Confederates had suffered as many as 8,500 casualties the first day. Because of straggling and desertion, their commanders reported no more than 20,000 effectives (Buell disputed that figure after the war, stating that there were 28,000). The Confederates had withdrawn south into Prentiss's and Sherman's former camps, and Polk's corps retired all the way to the April 5 Confederate bivouac, 4 miles (6.5 km) southwest of Pittsburg Landing. No line of battle was formed, and few if any commands were resupplied with ammunition. The soldiers were consumed by the need to locate food, water, and shelter for a much-needed night's rest.^[49]

Beauregard, unaware that he was now outnumbered, planned to continue the attack and drive Grant into the river. To his surprise, Union forces started moving forward in a massive counterattack at dawn; Grant and Buell launched their attacks separately; coordination occurred only down at the division level. Lew Wallace's division was the first to see action, at the extreme right of the Union line, crossing Tilghman Branch around 7 a.m. and driving back the brigade of Col. Preston Pond. On Wallace's left were the survivors of Sherman's division, then McClernand's, and W. H. L. Wallace's (now under the command of Col. James M. Tuttle). Buell's divisions continued to the left: Bull Nelson's, Crittenden's, and McCook's. The Confederate defenders were so badly commingled that little unit cohesion existed above the brigade level. It required over two hours to locate Gen. Polk and bring up his division from its bivouac to the southwest. By 10 a.m., Beauregard had stabilized his front with his corps commanders from left to right: Bragg, Polk, Breckinridge, and Hardee.^[50] In a thicket near the Hamburg-Purdy Road, the fighting was so intense that Sherman described in his report of the battle "the severest musketry fire I ever heard."^[51]

On the Union left, Nelson's division led the advance, followed closely by Crittenden's and McCook's, down the Corinth and Hamburg-Savannah Roads. After heavy fighting, Crittenden's division recaptured the Hornet's Nest area by late morning, but Crittenden and Nelson were both repulsed by determined counterattacks launched by Breckinridge. The Union right made steady progress, driving Bragg and Polk to the south. As Crittenden and McCook resumed their attacks, Breckinridge was forced to retire, and by noon Beauregard's line paralleled the Hamburg-Purdy Road.^[52]

In early afternoon, Beauregard launched a series of counterattacks from the Shiloh Church area, aiming to ensure control of the Corinth Road. The Union right was temporarily driven back by these assaults at Water Oaks Pond. Crittenden, reinforced by Tuttle, seized the road junction of the Hamburg-Purdy and East Corinth Roads, driving the Confederates into Prentiss's old camps. Nelson resumed his attack and seized the heights overlooking Locust Grove Branch by late afternoon. Beauregard's final counterattack was flanked and repulsed when Grant moved Col. James C. Veatch's brigade forward.^[53]

Realizing that he had lost the initiative and that he was low on ammunition and food and with over 10,000 of his men killed, wounded, or missing, Beauregard knew he could go no further. He withdrew beyond Shiloh Church, using 5,000 men under Breckinridge as a covering force, massing Confederate batteries at the church and on the ridge south of Shiloh Branch. These forces kept the Union forces in position on the Corinth Road until 5 p.m., when the Confederates began an orderly withdrawal back to Corinth. The exhausted Union soldiers did not pursue much past the original Sherman and Prentiss encampments; Lew Wallace's division advanced beyond Shiloh Branch but, receiving no support from other units, halted at dark and returned to Sherman's camp. The battle was over. For long afterwards, Grant and Buell quarreled over Grant's decision not to mount an immediate pursuit with another hour of daylight remaining. Grant cited the exhaustion of his troops, although the Confederates were certainly just as exhausted. Part of Grant's reluctance to act could have been the unusual command relationship he had with Buell. Although Grant was the senior officer and technically was in command of both armies, Buell made it quite clear throughout the two days that he was acting independently.^[54]

Fallen Timbers, April 8[link]

On April 8, Grant sent Sherman south along the Corinth Road on a reconnaissance in force to ascertain if the Confederates had retreated, or if they were regrouping to resume their attacks. Grant's army lacked the large organized cavalry units that would have been better suited for reconnaissance and for vigorous pursuit of a retreating enemy. Sherman marched with two infantry brigades from his division, along with two battalions of cavalry, and they met up with Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood's division of Buell's army. Six miles (10 km) southwest of Pittsburg Landing, Sherman's men came upon a clear field in which an extensive camp was erected, including a Confederate field hospital, protected by 300 troopers of Confederate cavalry, commanded by Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The road approaching the field was covered by fallen trees for over 200 yards (180 m).^[55]

As skirmishers from the 77th Ohio Infantry approached, having difficulty clearing the fallen timber, Forrest ordered a charge, producing a wild melee with Confederate troopers firing shotguns and revolvers and brandishing sabers, nearly resulting in the capture of Sherman. As Col. Jesse Hildebrand's brigade began forming in line of battle, the Southern troopers started to retreat at the sight of the strong force, and Forrest, who was well in advance of his men, came within a few yards of the Union soldiers before realizing he was all alone. Sherman's men yelled out, "Kill him! Kill him and his horse!" A Union soldier shoved his musket into Forrest's side and fired, striking him above the hip, penetrating to near the spine. Although he was seriously wounded, Forrest was able to stay on horseback and escape; he survived both the wound and the war. The Union lost about 100 men, mostly captured during Forrest's charge, in an incident that has been remembered with the name "Fallen Timbers". After capturing the Confederate field hospital, Sherman encountered the rear of Breckinridge's covering force and, determining that the enemy was making no signs of renewing its attack, withdrew back to camp.^[56]

Aftermath[link]

In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Northern newspapers vilified Grant for his performance during the battle on April 6. Reporters, many far from the battle, spread the story that Grant had been drunk, falsely alleging that this had resulted in many of his men being bayoneted in their tents because of a lack of defensive preparedness. Despite the Union victory, Grant's reputation suffered in Northern public opinion. Many credited Buell with taking control of the broken Union forces and leading them to victory on April 7. Calls for Grant's removal overwhelmed the White House. President Lincoln replied with one of his most famous quotations about Grant: "I can't spare this man; he fights." Sherman emerged as an immediate hero, his steadfastness under fire and amid chaos atoning for his previous melancholy and his defensive lapses preceding the battle. Today, however, Grant is recognized positively for the clear judgment he was able to retain under the strenuous circumstances, and his ability to perceive the larger tactical picture that ultimately resulted in victory on the second day.^[57]

Shiloh Church at Shiloh National Military Park, 2006. The original church building did not survive the battle. The present-day structure is a reconstruction erected in 2003 on the historical site by the Tennessee Sons of Confederate Veterans organization.^[58]

Nevertheless, Grant's career suffered temporarily in the aftermath of Shiloh. Henry W. Halleck combined and reorganized his armies, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command. In late April and May the Union armies, under Halleck's personal command, advanced slowly toward Corinth and captured it, while an amphibious force on the Mississippi River destroyed the Confederate River Defense Fleet and captured Memphis. Halleck was promoted to be general in chief of all the Union armies, and with his departure for the East, Grant was restored to command. Grant eventually pushed on down the Mississippi to besiege Vicksburg. After the surrender of Vicksburg and the fall of Port Hudson in the summer of 1863, the Mississippi River was under Union control and the Confederacy was cut in two. Command of the Army of Mississippi fell to Braxton Bragg, who was promoted to full general on April 6. In the fall of 1862, he led it on an unsuccessful invasion of Kentucky, culminating in his retreat from the Battle of Perryville.^[59]

The two-day battle of Shiloh, the costliest in American history up to that time,^[60] resulted in the defeat of the Confederate army and frustration of Johnston's plans to prevent the joining of the two Union armies in Tennessee. Union casualties were 13,047 (1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing); Grant's army bore the brunt of the fighting over the two days, with casualties of 1,513 killed, 6,601 wounded, and 2,830 missing or captured. Confederate casualties were 10,699 (1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured).^[61] The dead included the Confederate army's commander, Albert Sidney Johnston; the highest ranking Union general killed was W. H. L. Wallace. Both sides were shocked at the carnage. None suspected that three more years of such bloodshed remained in the war and that eight larger and bloodier battles were yet to come.^[62] Grant came to realize that his prediction of one great battle bringing the war to a close was probably not destined to happen. The war would continue, at great cost in casualties and resources, until the Confederacy succumbed or the Union was divided. Grant also learned a valuable personal lesson on preparedness that (mostly) served him well for the rest of the war.^[63]

See also[link]

American Civil War portal

• Shiloh National Military Park

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Conger, Arthur Latham. The Rise of U.S. Grant. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970. ISBN 0-8369-5572-2. First published 1931 by the Century Co.
• Cunningham, O. Edward. Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862. Edited by Gary Joiner and Timothy Smith. New York: Savas Beatie, 2007. ISBN 978-1-932714-27-2.
• Daniel, Larry J. Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-80375-5.
• Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
• Esposito, Vincent J. West Point Atlas of American Wars. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1959. OCLC 5890637. The collection of maps (without explanatory text) is available online at the West Point website.
• Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. 2 vols. Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885–86. ISBN 0-914427-67-9.
• Grimsley, Mark, and Steven E. Woodworth. Shiloh: A Battlefield Guide. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8032-7100-X.
• Hanson, Victor Davis. Ripples of Battle: How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 2003. ISBN 0-385-50400-4.
• McDonough, James L. "Battle of Shiloh." In Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X.
• McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States). New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-503863-0.
• Marszalek, John F. Commander of All Lincoln's Armies: A Life of General Henry W. Halleck. Boston: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01493-6.
• Nevin, David, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Road to Shiloh: Early Battles in the West. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983. ISBN 0-8094-4716-9.
• Smith, Jean Edward. Grant. New York: Simon & Shuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84927-5.
• Sword, Wiley. Shiloh: Bloody April. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. ISBN 0-7006-0650-5. First published 1974 by Morrow.
• Woodworth, Steven E., ed. Grant's Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. ISBN 0-7006-1127-4.
• Woodworth, Steven E. Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861–1865. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 0-375-41218-2.

Further reading[link]

• Arnold, James R., Carl Smith, and Alan Perry. Shiloh 1862: The Death of Innocence. London: Osprey Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1-85532-606-X.
• Frank, Joseph Allan, and George A. Reaves. Seeing the Elephant: Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. ISBN 0-252-07126-3. First published 1989 by Greenwood Press.
• Groom, Winston. Shiloh, 1862. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4262-0874-4.
• Groom, Winston. "Why Shiloh Matters." New York Times Opinionator weblog, April 6, 2012.
• Gudmens, Jeffrey J. Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Shiloh, 6-7 April 1862. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2005. OCLC 58801939.
• McDonough, James Lee. Shiloh: In Hell before Night. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1977. ISBN 0-87049-232-2.
• Martin, David G. The Shiloh Campaign: March–April 1862. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81259-2.
• Reasoner, James. Shiloh: A Novel, Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 1999. ISBN 1-58182-248-0.
• Reed, David W. The Battle of Shiloh and the Organizations Engaged. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1909.
• Smith, Timothy B. The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and the Battlefield. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-57233-466-3.
• Woodworth, Steven E., ed. The Shiloh Campaign. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8093-2892-5.

External links[link]

• Report of Major General U.S. Grant on the Battle of Shiloh
• Battle of Shiloh: Maps, histories, photos, and preservation news (Civil War Trust)
• U.S. National Park Service site for Shiloh National Military Park
• Georgia's Blue and Gray Trail, Battle of Shiloh
• Civilwarhome description of the battle
• Animated history of the Battle of Shiloh
• Newspaper coverage of the Battle of Shiloh
• New York Times main page headline, April 7, 1862, The Battle of Pittsburgh
• First Minnesota Light Artillery at Shiloh and Corinth

Coordinates: 35°09′02″N 88°19′19″W / 35.15068°N 88.32183°W / 35.15068; -88.32183

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Winston F. Groom, Jr. (born March 23, 1944)^[1][2] is an American novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for his book Forrest Gump, which was adapted into a film in 1994.

Life[link]

This biographical section of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

Winston Groom was born in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Mobile, Alabama where he attended University Military School (now known as UMS-Wright Preparatory School). Groom's earliest ambition was to become a lawyer like his father, but instead, while a literary editor in college, he chose to become a writer. Groom attended the University of Alabama, was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and the Army ROTC, graduating in 1965. He served in the Army from 1965 to 1969, including a tour of duty in the Vietnam War.

Upon his return from Vietnam, he worked as a reporter for the Washington Star, a Washington D. C. newspaper covering police and courtroom activities. Groom retired as a journalist at age 32, and began writing his first novel Better Times Than These which was published in 1978. Better Times Than These was about a group of patriotic soldiers in the Vietnam War whose lives and patriotism both are shattered. His next novel As Summers Die (1980) received better recognition. His novel Conversations with the Enemy (1982) follows an American Vietnam War soldier who escapes from a POW camp and takes a plane back to the United States only to be arrested fourteen years later for desertion. Conversations with the Enemy was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1983.

In 1985, Groom moved back to Mobile, Alabama where he began to work on the novel Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump was published in 1986; however, it did not make Groom a best selling author until it was adapted into a film with the same name in 1994 starring Tom Hanks in the title role of Forrest Gump. The film propelled the novel to bestseller status and it sold 1.7 million copies worldwide.

Groom devotes his time to writing history books about American wars. He has lived most recently in Point Clear, Alabama and Long Island, New York with his wife, Anne-Clinton and daughter, Carolina. Groom was an old friend of writer Willie Morris, dating to their days together in Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York.

Groom was also involved in a high-profile lawsuit with the studio regarding his percentage of the net profit of Forrest Gump. Groom was to receive a portion of the net income (rather than the gross revenue), but the studio argued the film lost money due to other costs from the studio (distribution fees, studio overhead, etc.) that were factored into the film's final production budget. Groom won the case.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2011, Groom introduced his latest history book, Kearny's March: The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846-1847. Groom describes how Kearny’s quest for westward adventure coincides with the expansionist desires of the U.S. President, James K. Polk. Anchored in mid-summer 1846, the context for both the adventures and expansionism is the Texas Annexation from Mexico, the Mexican-American War, and the backdrop to the American Civil War. Just as in the film adaptation of Groom’s book, Forrest Gump, where Gump is introduced through the technology of production company, Industrial Light & Magic, to a cast of celebrities, such as, a young Elvis Presley, President John F. Kennedy, and President Richard Nixon, Groom weaves into Kearny’s March, mountain man Kit Carson, Brigham Young and his Mormon followers, and members of the Donner party.

Works[link]

Novels[link]

• Better Times Than These (1978)
• As Summers Die (1980)
• Conversations with the Enemy (1982, with Duncan Spencer)
• Only (1984, novel)
• Forrest Gump (1986)
• Gone the Sun (1988)
• Gump and Co. (1995)
• Such a Pretty, Pretty Girl (1998)

Nonfiction[link]

• Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War (1995)
• The Crimson Tide: An Illustrated History of Football at the University of Alabama (2002)
• A Storm in Flanders: The Triumph and Tragedy on the Western Front (2002)
• 1942: The Year that Tried Men's Souls (2004)
• Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans (2006)
• Vicksburg, 1863 (2009)
• The Crimson Tide: The Official Illustrated History of Alabama Football, National Championship Edition (2010)
• Kearny's March: The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846-1847 (2011)
• Ronald Reagan: Our 40th President (2012)
• Shiloh 1862 (2012)

See also[link]

• List of people with surname Groom

References[link]

External links[link]

• Winston Groom at goodreads.com
• longer bio at Jrank
• Winston Groom at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile at the Southern Literary Review
• Interview on 1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls
• Audio interview with Winston Groom at National Review Online
• Winston Groom's The Crimson Tide at University of Alabama Press
• A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 1914-1918—Tragedy and Triumph on the Western Front, Booknotes interview with Groom, September 1, 2002
• Works by or about Winston Groom in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Sir Elton John CBE
Elton John attending the premiere of The Union at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival
Background information
Birth name	Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Born	(1947-03-25) 25 March 1947 (age 65) Pinner, Middlesex, England
Genres	Rock, R&B, pop rock, glam rock, soft rock
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, composer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar
Years active	1964–68 (Bluesology) 1969–present (Solo)
Labels	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	eltonjohn.com

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.^[1] His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history.^[2] 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.^[3]

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.^[4] Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998.^[5]

He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s.^[6] 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.^[7]

John entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish^[8] 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).^[9]

Life and career[link]

Early life[link]

John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947, the eldest child of Stanley and only child of Sheila Eileen Dwight (née Harris)^[10][11][12] 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.^[13][14][15] 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.^[16][17][18]

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.^[16] John has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood.^[18] 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.^[18] 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.^[16][17]

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.^[16][17] 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.^[17]

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.^[17] "I kind of resented going to the Academy", he says. "I was one of those children who could just about get away without practising and still pass, scrape through the grades."^[17] He even claims that he would sometimes skip classes and just ride around on the Tube.^[17] 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.^[17]

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.^[17] When John was 14, they divorced.^[19] 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.^[17] 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.^[20]

Pub pianist to staff songwriter (1962–1969)[link]

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.^[21][22] 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.^[23][24] A stint with a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time.^[17]

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.^[25]

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.^[26] 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 still continues^[update]. 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.^[23]

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.^[27] 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.^[27] 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.^[28][29]

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.^[30]

[edit] Debut album to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1969–1973)

When John transitioned to solo performance, he started wearing increasingly flamboyant clothing onstage, including this hat and domino mask

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.^[31]

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.^[32]

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.^[33]

Elton John at the Musikhalle, Hamburg in March 1972

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".^[34]

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.^[35] 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.^[36] 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.

[edit] Rocket Records to 21 at 33 (1974–1979)

Elton John performing live in 1975

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.^[37]

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.^[38]

Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered^[39] a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back"^[39] and the lushly orchestrated "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".^[39]

John performing, 1975.

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.

According to Circus Magazine^[40] a spokesman for John Reid (Connie Papas) said the decision was reached mutually via phone while Elton was in Australia promoting Tommy. She said there was no way John Reid could have fired them "because the band are not employed by John Reid, they're employed by Elton John."^[40] She went on to say Nigel would be going back to his solo work and Dee would do session work "and possibly cut a solo album".^[40]

Davey 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 line-up before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.

John in 1975.

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.^[41][42]

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.^[36] On 9 August 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.^[43]

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.^[44]

John playing in Mannheim, Germany in 1979.

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.^[36] 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.^[45]

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.^[46] 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.

[edit] The 80s: The Fox to Sleeping with the Past (1981–1989)

Elton performing in the 1980s.

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.^[47] 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.^[48] In 1987 he won a libel case against The Sun which published allegations of sex with rent boys.^[49]

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.^[50] 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".^[50] 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,^[51] 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.^[52]

[edit] 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.^[53] 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.^[54] At the 1991 Brit Awards in London, Elton John won the award for Best British Male.^[55]

In 1992 he released the US number 8 album The One, featuring the hit song "The One".^[56][57] 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.^[58] 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.^[59] 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.^[60] 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.^[61]

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.^[62] 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".^[63] Both that and "Circle of Life" became hit songs for John.^[64][65] "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.^[63] 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.^[2]

In 1995 John released Made in England (number 3, 1995), which featured the single "Believe".^[66] John performed "Believe" at the 1995 Brit Awards, and picked up the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music.^[67] A compilation called Love Songs was released in 1996.^[68]

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.^[69]

	"Candle in the Wind 1997" noicon Most of the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind 1997" were written to suit the circumstances of Diana, Princess of Wales' life and death
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

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.^[70] On 6 September 1997, John performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in Westminster Abbey.^[71] The song became the fastest, and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually selling over 33 million copies worldwide.^[2][72][73] The best-selling single in UK Chart history, it sold 4.86 million copies in the UK.^[74] 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.^[75][76] 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.^[73] 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.^[77]

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,^[78] and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards.^[79][80] 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[link]

Elton John performs at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, July 2008

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.^[81] 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.^[82]

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.^[83] 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."^[84]

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;^[85] 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.^[86]

Elton John on stage at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium, London, 1 July 2007

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.^[87] 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".^[87]

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.^[88]

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.^[89] 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.^[90] On 6 June 2010, John performed at the fourth wedding of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh for a reported US$1 million fee.^[91] 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.^[92][93]

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."^[94]

Elton John began his new show "The Million Dollar Piano" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas on 28 September 2011.^[95] 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.^[96][97] In 2011, John performed vocals on Snowed in at Wheeler Street with Kate Bush for her 50 Words for Snow album.^[98]

It was announced in March 2012 that Elton had recently completed work on his thirty-first album entitled The Diving Board. The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett and is set for release in the fall of 2012.^[99][100] The album's release will be delayed until February 2013 for promotional reasons.^[101]

Artistry[link]

Songwriting[link]

Elton John with Bernie Taupin (left) in 1971.

John has written with his songwriting 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.^[102] The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.^[103]

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.^[104] John is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).^[105]

Music style[link]

John's voice was once classed as tenor; it is now baritone.^[17] His piano playing is influenced by classical and gospel music.^[106] He used Paul Buckmaster to arrange the music on his studio albums during the 1970s.^[107]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

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".^[108][109] 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,^[108][109] but after his divorce from Blauel in 1988 he told the magazine that he was "comfortable" being gay.^[110]

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,^[111] thought to have cost £1 million.^[112] Their son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born to a surrogate mother on 25 December 2010 in California.^[113][114] John and Furnish chose Lady Gaga, magazine editor Ingrid Sischy, and Sichy's partner Sandy Brant as Zachary's godmothers.^[115]

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.^[116] Furnish stated they would continue to financially support Lev and his brother and would campaign for a change in Ukrainian law.^[117] 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.^{[118][119][120]}

Wealth[link]

John on stage in July 2008

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.^[121] 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.^[122] 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.^[123]

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.^[124] 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.^[125] 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.^[126] 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.^[127] Every year since 2004, John has opened a shop called "Elton's Closet" in which he sells his second-hand clothes.^[128]

Other[link]

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.^[129] 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."^[130]

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 was coached by Donald Watt, who often toured with him during the 1980s & early 90's. Watt was a coach at David Lloyd Leisure and then operations director for it, then Next Generation Clubs^[131] (now merged with David Lloyd). Watt was also close friends with Tim Henman,^[132] and also David and John Lloyd. 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.^[133]

Watford Football Club[link]

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.^[134] The pinnacle of the club's success was finishing runners up in the First Division in 1983 and reaching the FA Cup Final a year later. He sold the club to Jack Petchey in 1987, but remained their life-long president.^[135] 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.^[135] 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.^[135] For a time^[when?] he was also a part-owner of the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League.

AIDS Foundation[link]

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.^[136] Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey.^[137] Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.^[138]

Activism[link]

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.^[139] 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".^[139] 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.^[139]

He is an occasional columnist in The Guardian.^[140]

Honours and awards[link]

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.^[141] 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.^[142]

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.^[143]

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[link]

Since 1970, John's band, of which he is the pianist and lead singer, has been known as the Elton John Band.^[144][145] 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[link]

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)
• The Diving Board (2013)

Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums

• Friends (1971)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Aida (1998)
• The Muse (1999)
• The Road to El Dorado (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[link]