Rocket Man: The Life of Elton John

by Mark Bego

The colorful and kaleidoscopic life of one of the world’s most original and talented musical artists.

Here’s the book every pop music lover has been waiting for—full of the scandals, addictions, affairs, and tantrums that underscored the life of arguably the world’s greatest pop musician. Flamboyant, iconic Elton John is as much part of the American musical landscape as he is in his native England.

In the 1970s, when popular music on both sides of the Atlantic fragmented into disco, soul, hard rock, pop, and folk, Elton John embraced them all with his signature creative panache. Emerging in the late 1960s as a singer/songwriter, Elton was widely acknowledged as the most prolific pop and rock star of the decade by the mid-1970s. His peerless musical style and ability to jump from sensitive ballads to bawdy rock anthems to campy pop have made him a musical superstar for the ages.

From his heartfelt ballads like “Tiny Dancer” and “Your Song” to his rock & roll hits including “Bennie and the Jets” and “Crocodile Rock,” Elton has lived one of the most outrageous and colorful lives in show business.

Having met the “Rocket Man” the first time in the 1980s, Bego has drawn upon his personal observations and vast research, and has been able to interview dozens of Elton’s collaborators and lifelong friends to produce the the ultimate story on the amazing and larger-than-life Elton John.

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction, Art

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 7, 2020

Reviews

[Carol Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you grew up reading the fiercely partisan rock biographies by Dave Marsh and Peter Guralnick, it's hard to take this feel-good PEOPLE magazine feature very seriously. There's not much good writing about the music and no insight into the big picture or the rise and fall of rock culture. But the details about Elton's life are interesting anyway, and the last chapter, about the movie ROCKET MAN, is surprisingly candid and perceptive.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good solid biography of Elton John. It is sound and fine but it is not outstanding. I would recommend Elton’s autobiography for that but I learned from this book and I enjoyed it.

[Mark Hartzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable, but kinda gossipy biography of Sir Elton. A couple of errors that are not too bad. Example includes classifying Elton's tour date of Kiev (Ukraine) as part of Russia as late as 2020 when the book was written.

Lots of stuff about Sir Elton's personal life which necessarily focuses on his homosexuality. I had wished a little more info about the songs and songwriting process, though. He has a 50+ year recording career after all. A pretty good run down of his albums and where they fit in to his life at the time. However, I don't really care about the where the albums charted in Italy (or the USA for that matter). Nonetheless, a good, albeit breezy biography that is neither a hatchet job nor overly obsequious.

[Klf Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more like a research book in which the author tells you about Elton’s life as seen through others eyes. Okay but dry reading. I suggest you go right to the man and read ME by Elton John

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry and boring for the most part. It’s mostly a cataloguing of every song and album and how they charted in seemingly every continent.

[Emmanuel Orchard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting a book called The Life of Elton John to teach me something about Elton's life. How wrong I was. Instead, I read a dry list of all the music Elton's ever made laced with insufferably salutary commentary on Elton's flaws and drug habit. Bego hasn't interviewed Elton or people close to Elton; he hasn't tried to obtain his diaries and journals (even though he knows they exist). He didn't research what Elton's school was like, or marshal medical evidence to show how a person who did as many drugs as Elton did would have behaved. What he did was cobble together a list of all the things the public already knows about Elton and arrange the quotes chronologically. It's more of a scrapbook than a biography.

I don't consider it worth my time to comment on the effect Bego's writing has on Elton because it's barely there. This book is saved only because of its subject; even without providing any insight at all, just reading the headlines was a good time. Elton probably fed a hundred tabloid writers in his time 一 here's one more.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps it was a bad idea to read this a few weeks after reading Elton John's Me, but I got it from a library mystery bag of biographies and thought "why not?"

Unfortunately, this book is riddled with editorial and fact checking issues (endnotes randomly numbered, a song credited to two different lyricists in less than a page, and more). It's also got a thinly-veiled meanness about it, with several borderline snide references to John's homosexuality. It feels like the author was trying to be hip and clever, but instead ended up sounding snarky.

[Rose Appel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it interesting how many other famous people Elton John really knew. His life takes so many twists and turns that I never heard about...family, friends, health, sexuality, stardom. It's amazing he's still alive! It's written as if he is speaking to you, very conversational.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read that definitely tends "gossipy" but also breaks down when albums were recorded, how they charted, etc. One big problem is that there are typos and spelling/grammar issues, which is why this got 3 instead of 4 stars.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Roxanne Tate]

I don't usually read this type of book, but i found in very interesting.

[Lilly T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bjöd på många skratt men också mycket allvar. Helt klart läsvärd

[Madeline Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

One star for Elton, one star for the photos inside. Not only were there a plethora of typos and factual errors, but the author also makes almost constant rude digs at Elton. Don’t recommend

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting facts in the book, but the repetition of where the songs charted got old

[Sameer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious, Honest and an amazing read of the legend who gave us beautiful songs. loved reading it.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhaustive and exhausting; yet, ultimately a fascinating read. I would have personally preferred about 30% less detail on the albums of this prolific music man, but for a dedicated fan it would be nirvana. The salacious (though in relatively good taste) regarding cocaine abuse and indiscriminate gay trysts also became tiresome. Charming, however, were tales of relationships with other musicians during the course of Sir Elton’s career. I left the book thinking more of him as a musician/showman less of him as a man.

[Kathy Zorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. Actually read the whole book.

[My Isden · Rating 1 out of 5]

https://classicrockbooks.blogspot.com...