Blauel filed case against singer after details of their marriage featured in his memoir and Rocketman biopic
Sir Elton John and his ex-wife, Renate Blauel, have settled a legal case brought after details of the marriage were featured in the singer’s memoir and biopic.
Blauel had sued John for allegedly breaching an agreement the pair signed after their divorce in 1988 which, her lawyers said, prevented either of them discussing the marriage or reasons for their separation.
Continue reading...Singer responds after complaint filed over photos of him without face covering on Italian island of Capri
Elton John’s spokesperson has said the singer is “fully supportive of wearing a mask in public” after he was accused of flouting face mask rules during a visit to the Italian island of Capri this week.
Codacons, Italy’s leading consumers’ association, filed a complaint to local and regional authorities, saying John should be fined after photos appeared of him not wearing a mask outside a hotel. The Campania region, of which Capri is part, last week made it obligatory for face coverings to be worn outside as it attempted to stem a rise in coronavirus infections.
Continue reading...The T Rex singer captivated generations with his strutting music and hyper-sexual charisma. As a tribute album is released, stars explain why he is glam’s greatest icon
In early 1971, a nine-year-old called David Evans was sitting at home in the suburbs of Dublin watching Top of the Pops. He was already a Beatles fan, but, by his own admission, he was completely unprepared for what was about to happen on screen.
“It was kind of challenging,” says Evans – better known as U2’s guitarist the Edge – of T Rex’s celebrated appearance performing Hot Love, frontman Marc Bolan sporting glitter under his eyes, the ground-zero moment for glam rock. “Marc Bolan was magical, but also sexually heightened and androgynous, with this glitter and makeup. It’s funny, the go-go dancers of the era were the legendary Pan’s People – he was way more intriguing sexually than they were. I’d never seen anything like it: ‘What the hell is this? Real lads are not into this kind of stuff – this is clearly music for girls.’ But when I picked up a guitar a year later, Hot Love was the first song I learned to play.”
Continue reading...Renate Blauel claims damages as high as £3m for breach of privacy after the release of Rocketman
Sir Elton John’s ex-wife Renate Blauel adopted a new identity and went into hiding in a British village in an attempt to shed her connection to the singer, according to court filings in her multimillion pound legal case against the songwriter.
Blauel is seeking substantial damages from John, which could be as high as £3m, claiming he has caused her deep psychological distress by repeatedly breaching a 1988 divorce agreement to not discuss their marriage.
Continue reading...Ex-partner who has avoided limelight since divorce is seeking high court injunction
Sir Elton John’s ex-wife, Renate Blauel, has launched legal proceedings against the singer at the high court, in a rare intervention by a woman who has been avoiding publicity for decades.
Blauel filed the legal paperwork last week and is seeking an injunction against her former partner, according to filings seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Returning to the sound of her maximalist electro-pop heyday, Gaga explores buried trauma, mental illness and the complexities of fame on this return to form
A criticism often levelled at Lady Gaga is that the fantastical imagery she constructs around her albums eclipses the music itself. But it’s a sliding scale – and one that certainly mattered less when she was knocking out undeniable dance-pop party starters like Poker Face and Just Dance, or cementing her status as pop’s freaky outlier on the twisted Bad Romance. That she appeared in alien-like form in that song’s video made perfect sense: here was a chameleonic pop superstar in the vein of Bowie, Prince and Madonna opening a portal to an escapist dimension. Later, it made sense that she would lean into the imagery of hair metal on 2011’s gloriously OTT, Springsteen-referencing Born This Way. Yet on 2013’s bloated Artpop – billed as an exploration of the “reverse Warholian” phenomenon in pop culture, whatever that may be, and featuring at least one performance in which she employed a “vomit artist” to puke green paint on her chest – the aesthetic felt more like desperate distraction tactics.
Continue reading...Health concerns have caused a number of high-profile singers to quit the road but what will it all mean for the industry at large?
In a chilling quote from much-loved music documentary The Last Waltz, about The Band’s final concert in 1976, leader Robbie Robertson looks straight into the camera and ominously says: ‘The road will kill you.”
At the time, he was just 34. Yet, over four decades later, musicians of his storied era are still on the road – and facing escalating health issues as a consequence. Since the start of this year, Ozzy Osbourne, 71, had to cancel his 2020 tour to seek treatment for issues related to his recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Elton John, 72, had to ditch dates on what was already advertised as his goodbye tour, after declaring himself “extremely unwell”. Madonna, 61, was forced to scratch a bunch of shows from her British tour due to “overwhelming pain” from injuries she sustained on the road which already caused her to nix some US dates. Meanwhile, Aerosmith felt compelled to disinvite drummer Joey Kramer from their Grammy performance, over alleged difficulties the 69-year-old was having keeping the beat, while the group itself has had to scratch dates due to various health issues experienced by Steven Tyler. Then, just this last week, the 56-year-old frontman of Metallica, James Hetfield, needed to cancel shows to, in his words, “look after my mental, physical and spiritual health”.
Continue reading...Singer ‘deeply upset and sorry’ for cutting short farewell concert in Auckland
Sir Elton John has said he is “deeply upset and sorry” for cutting short a concert in New Zealand after being diagnosed with a mild form of pneumonia.
The musician, 72, was performing at Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday when he lost his voice and broke down in tears on stage.
Continue reading...The queen of pop gets intimate, Taylor Swift feels the sunshine and Stormzy takes on the world … plus, classical celebrations begin for Beethoven’s 250th
Continue reading...Musician recognised alongside stars of sport, politicians and hundreds of ordinary people
Sir Elton John has received the highest acknowledgement in a new year honours list in which hundreds of ordinary people were recognised alongside household names from sport, the arts, entertainment and politics.
The singer and songwriter was awarded the Companion of Honour for a remarkable career spanning more than five decades, in which he has sold more than 300m records worldwide, and used his fame to promote the work of 23 charities, including his own Aids foundation. He becomes one of only 64 people apart from the monarch who can hold the honour at any one time.
Continue reading...Singer reveals he paid for a flight for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son Archie
Sir Elton John has defended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex over their use of private jets, revealing that he had paid for a flight for them and their son Archie to “maintain a high level of much-needed protection”.
The singer hit back at what he called “these relentless and untrue assassinations on their character”, after Prince Harry and Meghan faced mounting criticism for reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days, rather than opting for commercial flights, despite speaking out on environmental issues. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
Continue reading...Pacific nation’s censor says homosexual activity depicted on screen violates its laws
The Pacific nation of Samoa has banned the Elton John biopic Rocketman because of its depictions of homosexuality.
About 97% of people in Samoa identify as Christian, and the society is generally considered conservative and traditional. Under Samoa’s 2013 Crimes Act, sodomy is deemed an offence punishable by up to seven years in prison, even if both parties consent.
Continue reading...Elton John biopic’s gay sex and kissing footage edited out in effort to play down singer’s sexuality
A Russian media company has reportedly cut all scenes featuring gay sex and men kissing from the Elton John biopic Rocketman because of laws banning “homosexual propaganda”.
An estimated five minutes of footage have been cut from the film in an attempt to play down the sexuality of one of the world’s most famous gay celebrities for a conservative Russian audience.
Continue reading...Brunei’s introduction of new laws allowing stoning for adultery and sex between men has sparked international outrage. Elton John and George Clooney’s calls for a boycott of luxury hotels owned by the tiny south-east Asian kingdom have grabbed the spotlight. The United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has condemned the “cruel and inhuman” measures, as have the EU, Australia and others.
The punishment is only one of many horrifying changes in a penal code which also covers apostasy, amputation as a punishment for theft and flogging for abortions. Lesbian sex is punishable by 40 strokes of the cane as well as jail. In some cases children who have reached puberty are subject to the same penalties as adults; younger ones may be flogged. The sharia code was first introduced in 2013, and was supposed to be enacted gradually; following an outcry the government did not bring forward its harshest elements until now. Many suspect that the impact of declining oil revenues on public spending has left Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the longest-ruling absolute monarchs, keen to bolster support among conservative elements.
Continue reading...Singer follows George Clooney in protest at sultanate’s death penalty for gay sex and adultery
Elton John has joined George Clooney in calling for a boycott of nine Brunei-owned hotels over the sultanate’s new death penalty laws for gay sex and adultery.
“I commend my friend, George Clooney, for taking a stand against the anti-gay discrimination and bigotry taking place in the nation of Brunei – a place where gay people are brutalised, or worse – by boycotting the sultan’s hotels,” the singer wrote on his Twitter page late on Saturday.
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