Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, 25 March 1947) is a British singer, composer and pianist. An influential figure in popular culture, he is known for his flamboyant fashion, showmanship and songwriting partnership with the lyricist Bernie Taupin. With over 300 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. An EGOT winner, John's accolades include five Grammy Awards, two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award and the Kennedy Center Honors. John learnt to play piano at an early age, winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. In the 1960s he formed the blues band Bluesology, wrote songs for other artists alongside Taupin, and worked as a session musician, before releasing his debut album, Empty Sky (1969). Throughout the next six decades, John cemented his status as a cultural icon with 32 studio albums, including Honky Château (1972), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Rock of the Westies (1975), Sleeping with the Past (1989), The One (1992), Songs from the West Coast (2001), The Diving Board (2013) and The Lockdown Sessions (2021). He has also had success in musical films and theatre, composing music for The Lion King (1994), Aida (2000) and Billy Elliot the Musical (2005). John's final tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road (2018–2023), became the highest-grossing tour ever at the time. His life and career were dramatised in the 2019 biographical film Rocketman. John is an HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser and has been involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised over £300 million since its inception, and a year later he began hosting his annual AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Party, which has since become one of the biggest high-profile Oscars parties in the Hollywood film industry. John was the chairman and director of Watford Football Club from 1976 to 1987, and again from 1997 to 2002, and is an honorary life president of the club. From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, John developed a severe addiction to drugs and alcohol, but has been clean and sober since 1990. In 2005 he entered a civil partnership with his long-term partner, the Canadian filmmaker David Furnish. They married in 2014, when same-sex marriage was legalised in England and Wales. John has had nine number-one singles on the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums on the US Billboard 200. He is the most successful solo artist in the history of the US Billboard charts, and was the first solo artist with UK top 10 singles across six decades. His tribute single to Diana, Princess of Wales, "Candle in the Wind 1997", a rewritten version of his 1974 single, is the best-selling chart single of all time. John was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of The Ivors Academy. He was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to music and charity in 1998 and was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2020. Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists, greatest singers and greatest songwriters of all time.