Back to Headlines

Elton will welcome Grammy-winning performer Diana Krall as his special musical guest for the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 15th annual fall gala, An Enduring Vision, on November 2, 2016, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

“I’m so thrilled Diana will be joining us for our fall gala this year,” said Elton. “Diana is an extraordinary performer and a dear friend, and I’m thrilled beyond belief to welcome an artist of her caliber to our annual New York event.”

Emmy award-winning producer and popular talk show host Andy Cohen will emcee the evening. EJAF will honor internationally-renowned philanthropists Frank Giustra and Steve Tisch with the Foundation’s Enduring Vision Award and present its second Founder’s Award to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

For ticket information, please contact Andreas Schwarz at EJAF, +1.212.219.0670 or andreas.schwarz@ejaf.org.

Back to Headlines

Guitarist John Jorgenson, who has worked with the likes of Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan, has been nominated as "Featured Artist of The Year" in the 2016 Vintage Guitar Reader’s Choice Awards.

Every year, Vintage Guitar magazine honors those who inspired and awed guitar players, fans, and listeners by inducting great players, innovators, and instruments to the VG Hall of Fame. Also chosen in the Vintage Guitar honors are "Album of the Year", "Featured Artist of the Year", and "Player of the Year" in four categories. Nominations are solicited from editorial contributors and visitors to VintageGuitar.com, then a list of finalists is compiled with input from VG staff.

John Jorgenson's limited edition 3-CD box set, Divertuoso, mixed one of his current passions (gypsy jazz) with an old one (bluegrass) along with electric guitar skills that fans of the Hellecasters and Desert Rose Band enjoy. With John Jorgenson Quintet, John offers true-to-form gypsy jazz using authentic instruments including a ’42 Selmer, a Gitane, an Altamira, his vintage Gibson K-4 mandocello, a Gibson F-5L, flamenco guitar, and a bouzouki. Please take a minute and vote for John Jorgenson! Deadline for voting is November 12, 2016.

Back to Headlines

Until very recently, Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich, who record under the name Whitney, were best known as former members of the Chicago band Smith Westerns.

Now, “Light Upon the Lake,” the band’s debut album, is one of Elton’s favorite records of the year — a metric of success that is surreal, bordering on unthinkable, for the duo. “I just fell in love with the music,” Elton said, after it was recommended by a friend, the Guardian writer Alexis Petridis. “I went on the website and I saw the video for ‘No Woman.’ It was fantastic. I thought it was so wistful and so plaintive and no one else sounded like that.”

Elton was so enamored with Whitney that he has played them on the Beats1 radio show he hosts, “Elton John’s Rocket Hour.” “The whole purpose of me doing the Apple show is to play stuff that I like but to hopefully focus on new people,” he said, noting his displeasure with mainstream radio using colorful, unprintable language. “Anything I can do to put new music on the radio.” Elton, who is 69, is at work on his autobiography, and has begun looking back on a career that spans decades of exploits, musical and otherwise. But last week, he was more interested in talking to Whitney’s 25-year-old Ehrlich about his rapidly ascending new project. “You’re a newborn baby this year and you’re growing in the right direction,” Elton told Ehrlich, his tone paternal but not patronizing. “More power to you and thank you for the music, all right?”

Back to Headlines

The artist discussed the unlikely alliance on his ‘Rocket Hour' show, which airs in full October 18, 2016.

Elton John has spoken about how he considers Eminem to be "a dear friend" of his. Elton hosts a semi-regular show on Apple's Beats 1 station, titled the 'Rocket Hour'. The show, which debuted in July 2015, will air once again on October 18, 2016, and, ahead of the airing, a number of preview clips from the new episode have been shared by Apple.

While discussing fellow Beats 1 contributor Drake's recent claim that Eminem was "the greatest rapper of all time", the veteran musician was keen to agree with the Toronto rapper's high praise. "Eminem just did a show in which Drake introduced him in Detroit as 'the greatest rapper of all time,'" Elton said. "It's very hard to disagree with that. I love him, and he's a dear friend."

Elton will also show his appreciation for both Lana Del Rey and Crystal Castles during the show. Calling Del Rey "a really great girl [who] I love very much," Elton also praised Crystal Castles' most recent album, 'Amnesty (I)'. "It's a really interesting album, full of surprises and not your normal record. I like it very much."

Back to Headlines

Hillary Clinton returned to Los Angeles for one last fundraising swing before the general election, at a high-dollar fundraiser where Elton John performed to an industry-centric crowd.

Elton opened by singing “Your Song,” after being introduced by Casey and Laura Wasserman, who hosted the event at their new home along Foothill Road. Clinton gave what was described by one attendee as an “energized” and a call to get out the vote. She praised Elton for his philanthropy, and even quipped that the would switch roles some day (he’d do the political speech, she’d sing.)

There were a few digs at Donald Trump. Casey Wasserman, in introducing Clinton, said he wasn’t sure how she was able to get up on a debate stage and face Trump. According to an attendee, John said of Clinton, “We have to elect this humanitarian — we cannot let this barbarian in office.”

Among the 135 people or so present: Barbra Streisand, Skip Paul, Berry Gordy, Ken Ziffren, Craig Jacobson and Steve Tisch. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke, and other guests included Marc Nathanson, Jon Vein, Russell Goldsmith, Gloria Allred and Evelyn de Rothschild and Lynn Forester de Rothschild. Co-hosts of the event were Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, Sean and Alexandra Parker, Haim and Cheryl Saban, Chris and Crystal Sacca and Thomas and Alba Tull. Others who committed to the event: Damon Lindelof and Seth MacFarlane.

Tickets to the event started at $33,400, and went up to $100,000 to be listed as a co-chair. Although polls are looking much more favorable for Clinton, one attendee said that there was a note of caution. “I don’t think anyone was resting on their laurels because it is such a turbulent election,” the attendee said.

The event was on the same property where Casey Wasserman’s grandfather, Lew, hosted political figures for decades. That included Bill Clinton, who was the headliner at a fundraiser at the home after he secured the nomination in 1992. Casey Wasserman said he hoped she would have the luck the location gave her husband.

Elton also sang “Circle of Life” and dedicated it to Katzenberg, according to an attendee.

Across town, in Santa Monica, Vice President Joseph Biden and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi attended an event at the home of Peter and Megan Chernin to raise money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Tickets started at $5,000 per person, and an attendee said that the gathering drew about 40 people.

This may have been Clinton’s final L.A. visit, but it isn’t her campaign’s last fundraiser in the region. Chelsea Clinton is scheduled to headline an event on Oct. 20 at the home of David and Andrea Nevins, with Kristen Bell as the special guest, according to an invite.

Back to Headlines

Pan Macmillan has acquired Elton's autobiography alongside sister company Henry Holt in New York, for publication worldwide in 2019.

Pan Macmillan m.d Anthony Forbes Watson and publisher Jeremy Trevathan at Pan Macmillan, along with Stephen Rubin, president and publisher, and Gillian Blake, editor-in-chief, at Holt, jointly acquired world English rights from Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency.

The book will be the first and the only official autobiography of the multiple Grammy-winning international singer-songwriter. It is being written by Sir Elton with writer and music critic Alexis Petridis as a "no holds barred account" of his life and work. It was tipped to be one of the hottest properties ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair, with the advance predicted to "certainly eclipse seven figures”.

Elton John said: "I'm not prone to being a nostalgic person. I'm often accused of only looking forward to my next gig or creative project. It's come as quite a surprise how cathartic I am finding the process of writing my memoirs. As I look back, I realise what a crazy life I have had the extreme privilege of living. I have grown up in a period of extraordinary change in our world - and have had the joyful honour of rubbing shoulders and working with so many of the people at the heart of these changes. My life has been one helluva rollercoaster ride and it's still lumbering on. I hope readers will enjoy the ride too."

Forbes Watson said: "Elton's life transcends classification and his wildly readable, deeply human story will speak to anyone and everyone, everywhere. We look forward to working alongside our close colleagues at Holt to make Elton the biggest worldwide publishing event of 2019."

Trevathan, publisher for Macmillan UK, added: "Elton John's memoir is a Holy Grail of book publishing. Publishers around the world have long contemplated the excitement and potential of such a wonderful project. When the material arrived we were overwhelmed by how authentic, open, charming and, yes, commercial it was. I'm more than proud that we will be working with Elton and David to bring out this fantastic book."

Related News