Through rose-colored glasses: interesting facts about Elton John. Incredible collections of great musicians

With the help of his extraordinary fortune, Elton John has become one of the greatest collectors of our time. But to everyone's surprise, his collectibles are not paintings and other works of art, but cars, hats, houses and glasses. Elton John - "Britain's Best Bespectacled Man" - has a fantastic collection of glasses.

Sir Elton John is certainly a man who needs no introduction. His legacy is one of constant struggle with challenges, unforgettable moments, stunning highs and equally significant lows and yet everything that happened to him proves his legendary status.

Several decades of variety shows have made Elton John one of the most popular and important personalities in history. Sir Elton John is firmly on the same level as people like Paul McCartney and Frank Sinatra, but with amazing differences that belong only to him - amazing talent and charisma.

Elton John wore glasses from the age of 13, he so wanted to be like the famous star, and this is what ruined John’s eyesight. In that distant time when model range the frames for the glasses were very scanty. It was possible to choose a frame of only 2 maximum 3 options: glasses that had tortoiseshell frames or regular round ones, which, most likely, was the primary reason for collecting glasses.

Over the course of many years he brought to life large number different styles, Elton John managed to become one of the most special in the distant 70s, at a time when sunglasses were one of the most popular accessories.

Throughout his career, Elton John collected a huge collection of these same sunglasses. Some of the exhibits in this collection are now more than 60 years old, but they are all very bright, beautiful and original.

Elton John always loved experiments with his images, some were successful, some were not... But he was always faithful to only one accessory - glasses. The collection of glasses is really huge: from the most sophisticated and “a little crazy” to the classic ones. Today, he is very well versed in vintage eyewear collections and always follows the emergence of new products, some of which become items in his collection.

Elton John's glasses are so different: large and small, with colored lenses, frames of various colors and intricate shapes. All his glasses are an integral part of his image.

Elton John once admitted that over all these years he had purchased 20 thousand pairs of glasses, including glasses with wipers, like those on a car windshield.

Today Elton John celebrates his 70th birthday. Despite his venerable age, the musician continues to lead active life- perform, record records, and attend parties.

“Some people don't like celebrating birthdays, but I always liked this day. “Seventy” sounds very old-fashioned, doesn’t it? But in fact, you are only as old as you feel,” Elton said in a recent interview, adding that he feels just fine in this sense. On the occasion of the anniversary of the great artist, ELLE collected interesting facts from his life and work.

22 years ago, Elton John became a Knight Bachelor and Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Now the artist has his own coat of arms, and it is not at all the same as one might imagine for an English sir. The coat of arms has two circles, black and white; black is a vinyl disc, white is a CD.

Last year, Elton decided to make peace with his mother Sheila. And he made peace - they began to communicate again after eight years of silence. The disagreement that arose in 2008 was serious, so much so that Sheila did not invite her son to her 90th birthday, inviting an impersonator - Elton's double. And he entertained the guests with classic hits.

Elton John (then named Reginald Kenneth Dwight) mastered the piano when he was four years old.

He is the godfather of David and Victoria Beckham's eldest sons.

The artist is sometimes inconsistent in his statements and actions. In the early 2000s, after releasing the album Songs From The West Coast, Elton upset fans with the announcement that there would be no more studio releases - only concerts. However, three years later it went on sale new album Peachtree Road, and then everything went as before: The Captain & the Kid (2006), The Union (2010), The Diving Board (2013).

In 2016, Elton John was awarded the title of "Most Generous British Celebrity". During the year, the musician donated about 27 million pounds to good causes. Most of this money went to the work of foundations that fight AIDS. Let us remember that back in the early nineties, Elton created the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which during this time collected more than 200 million dollars for various programs.

Elton John decided not to leave an inheritance to his children so that they could learn to earn money on their own. "Of course I want my boys to have a reliable financial condition, but it’s terrible to give children wealth just like that, it will destroy them,” he said. The musician has $279 million in his account, and the bulk of his fortune will be donated to charity. Let's remember that John and his husband David Furnish have two children - Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, born December 25, 2010, and 4-year-old Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John. Both boys were born with the help of a surrogate mother.

In 1976, the musician came out, announcing to the world that he was bisexual. Eight years later he married Renata Blauel, and four years later he divorced her. And in 1993, Elton met David Furnish, his current husband. The couple has been married for 12 years.

Last fall, a limited edition collection of songs from different years was released, designed by the Burberry design team. Limited to 800 copies, the disc features songs from the albums Songs from the West Coast, Elton John, 11/17/70, Madman Across the Water, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and Too Low for Zero. Each record is signed personally by Elton. The price is not so prohibitive - $375.

In March of this year, the Nike brand showed new version the famous Air Force 1 Jet sneakers, inspired by Elton John. The main symbols for the designers who worked on the model were discus throwers and knightly armor. As a result, shoes made in one - one! - a copy was presented to the artist. The Air Force 1 Jet features Silver on the upper while the word "Sir" is emblazoned on the heel.

Elton's passion for glasses of the most amazing shapes is known. In one of his mansions there is a huge closet room, filled from top to bottom with glasses.

1 / 11

“I am often reproached for looking only forward. So it came as a surprise to me how cathartic the process of writing a memoir was. Looking back, I understand how crazy my life was and what a blessing it is to be alive,” said the artist. The book is co-written with renowned music journalist and The Guardian columnist Alex Petridis. It is unknown when the memoirs will go on sale; it is planned to be in 2019.

In 2015, Elton John had a big fight with Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. In an interview with one of the magazines, they stated that children in gay families are wrong, and in addition criticized the practice of surrogacy. “I call chemically created children synthetic, artificial children. The queens are rented, the semen is from a catalog,” Dolce said. This infuriated Elton, who lashed out with an Instagram post: “How dare you call my wonderful children ‘artificial’? And what a shame it is to say something against IVF - a miracle that has allowed millions of loving people, both straight and gay, to realize their dream of having children. Your archaic thinking is at odds with modernity, just like your fashion. I will never wear Dolce & Gabbana again." The post was accompanied by the tag “#boycottdolcegabbana.”

“Fame attracts psychos. Princess Diana, Gianni Versace, John Lennon, Michael Jackson - they are all dead, and two of this list were shot. I've never had a bodyguard before. Never - until some psycho killed Gianni».

Sir Elton John is one of those people who needs no introduction. Undoubted talent, stunning ups and downs, the constant need to overcome challenges - all this reliably supports his highest status.

Elton John is not only an outstanding musician. His enormous fortune helped him become one of the largest collectors of our time. At the same time, Elton does not collect works of art, which would seem to be more appropriate for an artist. No, he prefers to collect real estate, cars, hats and glasses. Because Elton John was able to assemble a fantastic collection of these accessories, he was nicknamed “The Best Bespectacled Man in the United Kingdom.”

While still a teenager, Elton began wearing glasses. His vision was fine then, he just really wanted to become like his favorite musician Buddy Holly, the rock and roll star. Of course, prescription glasses ruined the 13-year-old boy’s vision. However, Elton was not upset by this: he rightly believed that wearing a variety of frames would help him, like Buddy Holly, become memorable. True, then, in the now distant 60s, there was a serious problem. Namely, a meager assortment of eyeglass frames. The only things you could find were glasses with tortoiseshell frames and classic round ones, like John Lennon’s. That's all, actually.

But the 70s came, when sunglasses were one of the most popular accessories, and Elton John managed to become one of the most special performers. Since then, he has constantly kept on par with such “whales” as Frank Sinatra and Sir Paul McCartney, not inferior to them in charisma and talent.

Over the past decades, Elton John has managed to amass a colossal collection of a wide variety of sunglasses. And all of them, even the oldest models, which are now more than half a century old, are original, bright and beautiful. Elton always loved to experiment with his image, but always remained faithful to glasses. His collection includes timeless classics, “a little crazy”, and very sophisticated glasses models. Now an ardent fan of these accessories is well versed in vintage glasses and never tires of following the emergence of new products.

According to the collector himself, over all these years he has purchased at least 20,000 pairs of glasses. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Many copies were donated by friends and fans of the extravagant musician. According to his fans, in Elton John's house there is a separate room for his collection of glasses. Each piece of this collection is unique. They say that Elton even has glasses with “wipers” in case of rain, like on the windshield of a car.

The musician does not part with his favorite glasses even on concert tours, because they are an integral part of his stage image. His riders invariably contain a clause about a separate room with a certain temperature, specifically for storing glasses. And concert organizers do not see anything strange in such requirements.

Collects: photographs, cars, eyeglass frames

British singer and composer Sir Elton John collects cars, clothes, art, and a variety of eyeglass frames. However, many of these things do not stay with Elton John for long - he sells most of them under the hammer. In 1988, his collection of antiques, costumes and art objects was sold at Sotheby's for $18 million.

One of the most interesting is the collection of rare cars; his garage contains as many as 26 unique examples. But Sir John's greatest passion is eyeglass frames. He is mainly interested in the original and extravagant.

Sir Elton loves to dress well and selects glasses from a collection of more than 250,000 different pairs of glasses for each of his wardrobe. His collection is so large that on tour in Brazil (March 2013), Elton John, as expected, rented numbers for himself and his assistants, but also rented a separate number for his glasses! Lenses of all colors of the rainbow, glasses with antennas, headlights and other devices. His collection even includes glasses with wiper blades, like those on a car windshield.

Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys)

Collects: photographs of musicians from the 60s and 70s

In May 2014, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex gave an interview to Esquire where he talked about his new hobby: collecting rock photographs. In the studio where the group was shooting for the May issue of Esquire, he showed one photo from his collection. It was a photograph of Tina Turner from Jack Robinson, a Vogue photographer whose career ended in 1972 due to problems with alcoholism. “He got drunk and became a watchman. Cool story,” Alex commented.

David Bowie

Collected: paintings, art and design objects

The British rock star not only left a significant musical legacy, but was also an avid collector and connoisseur of art. Among the 400 works from the musician's collection, which were put up in three stages at auction in London on November 10 and 11, you can find not only works by famous authors amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but also more affordable design objects that were Bowie's personal belongings .

“Honestly, the only thing I always dreamed of having was art. For me it is a constant source of inspiration. And I use it. When I wake up in the morning, one look at a painting can change my mood for the whole day. The same job can affect my state of mind in the most unexpected ways, depending on specific life circumstances,” Bowie said in an interview with The New York Times in 1998.

David Bowie was especially passionate about Contemporary British and Modern Art. More than half of the works in his collection were created by outstanding British artists of the last century. Among them are works by Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Frank Auerbach and Damien Hirst. But Bowie's interest in contemporary art also extended to Outsider Art, Surrealism, and contemporary African art. The musician did not miss the work of the eccentric Italian designer Ettore Sottsass and the work of the Memphis group.

David Bowie assembled his collection with particular care, based not on the fame and status of the artist or designer, but solely on his own perception of each work. Thanks to this, the musician’s collection turned out to be quite personal and can tell a lot about its previous owner.

Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead)

Collected: Nazi-related items

Some call Lemmy a Nazi because he has a large collection of relevant paraphernalia, including even the comb of Hitler's companion Eva Braun. In an interview with IdahoStatesman.com, the Motörhead leader spoke about a large article in Rolling Stone dedicated to the musician:

“It was quite funny because I showed the journalist my house, which looks like the birthplace of Nazism. But this is just my collection. I mean, you can’t put it all away in a drawer.”

Disturbed singer David Draiman responded to Kilmister's comments that his collection was a museum of military history by saying, “I don't care who you are. If you want to promote symbols of Nazism, then you will have problems, because I do not consider it normal for a person to wear symbols of the destruction and genocide of my people. I am against this and will not accept any apology or explanation.”

Kilmister himself says about his hobby: “I collect things, not ideas.”

James Hetfield (Metallica)

Collects: old guitars, animal skins, cars

James Hetfield is interested in many things, and one of his many hobbies is collecting antique cars. James is a member of the Beatniks Of Koolsville club, which unites owners of the most expensive and exclusive cars. He not only collects them, but also takes part in the process of restoring cars, which he then enjoys driving.

In his free time from music and the band, James spends time outdoors, devoting his leisure time to hunting, collecting the skins of animals he has killed. James also collects guitars, especially those produced in the year of his birth, 1963.

Evgeniy Khavtan

Collects: old guitars and other musical instruments

Composer, vocalist, leader of the Bravo group, Evgeniy Lvovich Khavtan has been collecting his guitar collection for more than 20 years. In a small studio in the garage of his house there is practically a museum musical instruments 50-70s. There's a 1959 Fender amplifier, a 1964 Vox Continental organ, and more than twenty guitars from 1959 to 1969. The musician’s collection also includes the legendary Rickenbacker 335S from 1965; such guitars were played in their time by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, and Suzi Quatro. Another source of pride for Evgeniy Khavtan is a real drum kit, like The Beatles' - Ludwig Blue Oyster from 1961. The cymbals on it are modern, but the drums are the same ones that Ringo Starr sat behind. Fender E.Havtan Telecaster is a personalized guitar that was made for Evgeniy at Fender by Russian master Yuri Shishkov.

On March 25, Sir Elton John, the legend of world music, turns 70 years old. In this regard, we recall the most interesting facts from the life of a brilliant musician.

Elton John (real name Reginald Kenneth Dwight) was born on March 25, 1947 in the British town of Pinner, in an ordinary family, and already in early childhood showed his unique abilities.

1. He was a child prodigy. Already at the age of 4, little Reggie could play any melody on the piano. This delighted his mother Sheila, but his father, a trumpeter in a military band, was not pleased with his son’s success; he did not want his son to follow in his footsteps.
2. Usually people put on glasses after their vision deteriorates. With Elton John, everything happened exactly the opposite. At age 13, he began wearing glasses to look like American singer Buddy Holly. Because of this, the boy developed myopia, and glasses became urgent need.

3. He was included in the ranking of the most extravagant women. Elton was included in this ranking, compiled by fashion critic Mr. Blackwell, because of his love for the outrageous outfits in which he performed at the beginning of his career. They say that the singer still has not forgiven Blackwell for this trick. As for the suits, Elton auctioned them off in 1988 along with his record collection. Revenue was $20 million!

4. Elton John is an avid collector. He collects cars, photographs, music records, his stage costumes... But the most extravagant is his collection of glasses, which numbers more than 250,000 pieces. Among them there are some very unusual ones, for example, glasses with wiper blades. The singer treats his collection with great trepidation: in 2013, while on tour in Brazil, Elton ordered a separate hotel room for his glasses!

5. He was friends with Princess Diana. For many years he and the princess were connected by sincere friendly relations. By telling her sons about Elton and his partner David Furnish, Diana taught them to respect same-sex love. At the princess's funeral, Elton John performed the song "Candle in the Wind", which was subsequently included in the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling single.


6. Elton John is a knight. On February 24, 1998, he was knighted by the British Queen.


7. Elton John is an AIDS fighter. He believes that it was a miracle that he did not contract the disease, because in the 1980s, many gay men became victims of HIV. Then the disease had just appeared, and no one had any idea what terrible consequences unprotected sexual intercourse would entail. A close friend of the musician, Freddie Mercury, died of AIDS. After his death, John began an active fight against the disease. He founded charitable foundation, where he constantly transfers huge amounts of money.


8. He is married and has two children. Elton John does not hide the fact that he is homosexual. He has been in a relationship with his partner David Furnish since 1993. In 2005, immediately after same-sex marriage was legalized in the UK, the couple formalized their union. In 2010, their eldest son, Zachariah, was born, and in 2013, their youngest son, Elijah. Both children were carried by surrogate mothers.



9. In addition to his family, Elton John has 10 more godchildren, including the sons of John Lennon, David Beckham and Elizabeth Hurley. And the godmother of Elton’s children is Lady Gaga!


10. Elton John has his own coat of arms. It depicts piano keys, vinyl records and CDs. At the very top of the coat of arms is a satyr playing a wind instrument and holding a ball with his hoof. He probably personifies John's passion for a cheerful wild life and his passion for football. Once he even said:

“Football is the best cure for alcoholism”


11. He loves his birthdays! With age, this holiday becomes less and less loved, reminiscent of the passing of youth, but Elton John belongs to that rare type of people who sincerely rejoice at another year:

“There are people who don’t like birthdays, don’t want to remember them and celebrate them, but I’ve always liked this day. Seventy sounds archaic, doesn't it? While I was growing up, this figure was associated with the end of the world, but everything has changed. You are as old as you feel..."

Happy Birthday Elton!