The King And I

An audience Elton John had with Elvis Presley set the Rocket Man’s trajectory.

June 27, 1976, Elton John is face-toface with his idol. Backstage with mum Sheila at an arena outside Washington DC, he shakes hands with the King and makes a fan request for Heartbreak Hotel.

It’s a poignant moment for the Rocket Man, who was on a run of seven straight US No 1 albums and whose Louder Than Concorde But Not Quite As Pretty tour would crescendo eight weeks later with seven sold-out nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Poignant because, as the young Reg Dwight from the sleepy north-west London suburb of Pinner, it was that song – an impulse buy on 78 by his mum – that opened his ears and eyes to the glories of rock’n’roll.

Trouble was, by 1976, the King’s crown was crooked.