Cheerful, highly readable memoir from one of the world's most beloved pop stars. John's career is astonishing in its length and width - after thirty years at the game he was still turning out hits. Reading this can give you an idea why - he follows his passions, he always tries to be honest (which has gotten him into trouble but helps him survive long term), he's had one of the great collaborations in songwriting history with Bernie Taupin but is always open to collaborating with new artists (George Michael, Lady Ga Ga), he has a strong constitution and work ethic.
The book reads like it was from someone who went through a lot of therapy - his feelings about his RAF dad, and his mother (who turned on him increasingly as life went on), his various co workers. I admit I didn't find the stuff about his childhood that gripping but I loved it once he became famous which took about seven years though he started very young.
The most fun is the section on the seventies - all the cocaine, sex (to which John came to late in life but he made up for it; he used to lure men to his pool room and seduce them with coke but mostly participate as voyeur), extravagance, love (he was engaged to a woman, he would fall for straight men repeatedly), all his famous friends (Keith Moon, Ringo Starr). The eighties stuff is fun too - still more cocaine, reinventing himself as a musician, a disastrous love life (he married a woman... it lasted several years). He doesn't mention befriending the 1986-87 Ashes tourists but credits his ownership of a football club to helping him survive his cocaine addiction. He gets his act together in the nineties and the book is less fun though still interesting as he finds love, has kids, conquers Broadway etc.
Full of great anecdotes - Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone alpha-chesting over Princess Diana, the press didn't care when he came out as bisexual but was obsessed with his hair transplant (they only let up when he got a wig), he wet himself live on stage in a nappy while recovering from prostate cancer, he clashed with Tina Turner (too temperamental) and Billy Joel (too drunk). A grand read.
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