Elton Celebrates his 70th Birthday and 50-year Songwriting Partnership with Bernie Taupin

Tonight a gala fundraising event celebrating Elton’s 70th birthday and his 50-year writing partnership with Bernie Taupin will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) and the UCLA Hammer Museum.

Held at Red Studios in Los Angeles, the evening will be hosted by Rob Lowe and will feature a gala dinner and special musical performances by Lady Gaga and other surprise guests.

Watch a short film with a selection of highlights from Elton’s amazing career here:

Of his career with Bernie, Elton simply says, “It’s the same excitement now as when we first started. That this year marks the 50th anniversary of my partnership with Bernie Taupin is mind boggling for me because it seems like only yesterday that I met him. It’s an amazing achievement to stay with one person for 50 years on a creative basis, in an industry where that doesn’t really happen very much.”

On reaching his 70th year, Elton notes, “I’m interested in moving forward all the time, with what I create, my collaborations, and also with discovering the work of other people. I think age is immaterial, provided we keep our minds alive by being open to new things. I can be as excited by a new artist who plays me their demo as I am by a new record of one of my musical heroes. I can be excited by playing a new city I’ve never played before, or revisiting somewhere I know well and seeing how it’s changed. Life is a constant state of flux for us all, and I like to embrace that. I also feel very happy to use my position to bring attention to injustice in the world and to try to help where I can. At this time in my life, I’m the happiest I have ever been.”

Bernie says of Elton, “It’s been an unconventional partnership and while we pretty much patented the two-rooms technique I’d venture to say you’d be hard pressed to find a couple of songwriters more in sync with each other and their craft.”

Please join all of us at EltonJohn.com in celebrating Elton’s 70th birthday and 50th anniversary of writing songs with Bernie Taupin.