British rock and pop

At the beginning of June, the Queen will be celebrating her Platinum Jubilee. In honour of this, we are going to spend this month listening to different musicians from the history of British rock and pop. We have learnt about some already so don't forget to go back and listen to some of the music in our music library below - you will find The Beatles, David Bowie, Coldplay and the Bee Gees already listed. Have a listen!)

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John was named Reginald Kenneth Dwight when he was born on 25 March 1947. He is better known simply as Elton John. 

Elton is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer and was the biggest music star in the 1970s. He is sometimes given the nickname of ‘Rocketman’ after his 1972 hit of the same name. He still releases music today and got a Christmas number 1 in 2021 with Ed Sheeran singing ‘Sausage rolls for everyone’! 

Elton started playing his grandmother's piano as a young boy and could play tunes just by having listened to them. At age 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. According to one of his teachers, John promptly played back, like a "gramophone record", a four-page piece by Handel after hearing it only once.  

He became famous in the 1970s for the songs which he wrote and performed. He was also known for being a flamboyant performer on stage. As well as his pop songs, Elton composed several musicals. He also composed the music for the animated movies The Lion King (1994).