Biography
Bernie Taupin, who supplied words for many of Elton John’s most enduring pop successes, came into the world on May 22, 1950, in the countryside of Lincolnshire, England. Growing up in a farming household, he absorbed the gunfighter ballads of Marty Robbins, an early spark that ignited a lasting preoccupation with the American West and surfaced repeatedly in his songwriting. Leaving school at 16, he took a post at a nearby newspaper and later worked at a chicken ranch; the following year he answered a Liberty Records call for new talent. Although the label rejected him, A&R executive Ray Williams proposed he pair with aspiring singer and composer Reg Dwight, who soon took the name Elton John. The pair began writing for Dick James Music, exchanging ideas solely by mail and meeting in person only after several months. Their initial compositions reached the public through vocalists such as Lulu, Roger Cook, and Brian Keith; Elton John himself recorded several on his 1969 debut album Empty Sky, yet the record stirred little response.
Elton John’s self-titled 1970 release shifted their fortunes, its centerpiece “Your Song” establishing the singer as a rising star while Taupin issued his own self-titled solo album the same year. The 1971 album Tumbleweed Connection channeled the outlaw imagery that had captivated Taupin since childhood, but the team’s genuine commercial ascent arrived with 1972’s Honky Chateau, which topped the U.S. charts behind the hits “Honky Cat” and “Rocket Man.” Through the mid-1970s John amassed a string of Top Ten singles—“Crocodile Rock,” “Daniel,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “The Bitch Is Back,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The 1975 album Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first to enter the American charts at number one, contained Taupin’s most autobiographical verses to that point and yielded the chart-topping “Philadelphia Freedom.” Relations between the two men grew strained, however, and after 1976’s Blue Moves John began collaborating with other lyricists.
Taupin settled in Los Angeles and released his third solo album, He Who Rides the Tiger, in 1980; that year he and John also reunited on 21 at 33, though the singer continued working with additional writers. Their partnership resumed fully with 1983’s Too Low for Zero, which produced the hits “I’m Still Standing” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.” Later entries such as “Sad Songs (Say So Much),” “Nikita,” and “Sacrifice” reached the charts, yet the duo’s subsequent material rarely recaptured the vitality of their peak years. Away from John, Taupin co-wrote Starship’s 1985 smash “We Built This City,” issued the solo album Tribe two years later, and published his memoir A Cradle of Haloes: Sketches of a Childhood in 1988. He subsequently formed the roots-oriented group Farm Dogs, whose self-titled debut album appeared in 1986. After Princess Diana’s death the following year, Taupin revised the lyrics of the perennial “Candle in the Wind” as a tribute; John performed the new version at the royal funeral, and the resulting single became one of the biggest chart hits of all time.
Elton John’s self-titled 1970 release shifted their fortunes, its centerpiece “Your Song” establishing the singer as a rising star while Taupin issued his own self-titled solo album the same year. The 1971 album Tumbleweed Connection channeled the outlaw imagery that had captivated Taupin since childhood, but the team’s genuine commercial ascent arrived with 1972’s Honky Chateau, which topped the U.S. charts behind the hits “Honky Cat” and “Rocket Man.” Through the mid-1970s John amassed a string of Top Ten singles—“Crocodile Rock,” “Daniel,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “The Bitch Is Back,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The 1975 album Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first to enter the American charts at number one, contained Taupin’s most autobiographical verses to that point and yielded the chart-topping “Philadelphia Freedom.” Relations between the two men grew strained, however, and after 1976’s Blue Moves John began collaborating with other lyricists.
Taupin settled in Los Angeles and released his third solo album, He Who Rides the Tiger, in 1980; that year he and John also reunited on 21 at 33, though the singer continued working with additional writers. Their partnership resumed fully with 1983’s Too Low for Zero, which produced the hits “I’m Still Standing” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.” Later entries such as “Sad Songs (Say So Much),” “Nikita,” and “Sacrifice” reached the charts, yet the duo’s subsequent material rarely recaptured the vitality of their peak years. Away from John, Taupin co-wrote Starship’s 1985 smash “We Built This City,” issued the solo album Tribe two years later, and published his memoir A Cradle of Haloes: Sketches of a Childhood in 1988. He subsequently formed the roots-oriented group Farm Dogs, whose self-titled debut album appeared in 1986. After Princess Diana’s death the following year, Taupin revised the lyrics of the perennial “Candle in the Wind” as a tribute; John performed the new version at the royal funeral, and the resulting single became one of the biggest chart hits of all time.
Albums
