The other day Charlie and I were out Window Shopping. Charlie saw a book called Captain Fantastic: Elton John’s Stellar Trip Through the ’70s Charlie said I needed because the story line covered Elton John and his career.
I told Charlie I would like to have the book and that we could use it in our Homeschool Music Class but I didn’t want to spend any money so we put it back and kept on walking.
Later on Charlie said mom I need to go back inside the store I wanted to ask the Clerk a question. Charlie had me sit down outside on a Bench to wait for him.
Charlie went back inside and purchased Captain Fantastic for me to add to my Music Captain Fantastic to my Music Collection because he knows I love Elton John and collect music memorbilla.
We went home and I sat down to browse through Captain Fantastic and before I knew what was happening Charlie and David came and sat down beside me.
We looked through the book and discussed the pictures inside and Charlie and I took turns reading Captain Fantastic out loud which lead to Charlie wanting to study Elton John for our Homeschool Music Class.
David kept talking about a movie called Tommy Wizard Elton John was in that Charlie and I plan on purchasing for David for Christmas. Along with the movie on Elton John’s life.
Based on rare one-on-one interviews with the flamboyant rock ’n’ roll icon, this is the first book to trace Elton John’s meteoric rise from obscurity to worldwide celebrity in the wildest, weirdest decade of the twentieth century.
In August 1970, Elton John achieved overnight fame with a rousing performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Over the next five years, the artist formerly known as Reginald Dwight went from unheard of to unstoppable, scoring seven consecutive #1 albums and sixteen Top Ten singles in America.
By the middle of the decade, he was solely responsible for 2 percent of global record sales. One in fifty albums sold in the world bore his name. Elton John’s live shows became raucous theatrical extravaganzas, attended by all the glitterati of the era.
But beneath the spangled bodysuits and oversized eyeglasses, Elton was a desperately shy man, conflicted about his success, his sexuality, and his narcotic indulgences. In 1975, at the height of his fame, he attempted suicide.
After coming out as Bisexual in a controversial Rolling Stone interview that nearly wrecked his career, and announcing his retirement from live performance in 1977 at the age of thirty, he gradually found his way back to the thing he cared about most: the music.
Captain Fantastic gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the rise, fall, and return to glory of one of the world’s most mercurial performers. Rock journalist Tom Doyle’s insider account of the Rocket Man’s turbulent ascent is based on a series of one-on-one interviews in which Elton laid bare many previously unrevealed details of his early career.
Here is an intimate exploration of Elton’s working relationship with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, whose lyrics often chronicled the ups and downs of their life together in the spotlight.
Through these pages pass a parade of legends whose paths crossed with Elton’s during the decade—including John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, Princess Margaret, Elvis Presley, and an acid-damaged Brian Wilson.
A fascinating portrait of the artist at the apex of his celebrity, Captain Fantastic takes us on a rollicking fame-and-drug-fueled ride aboard Elton John’s rocket ship to superstardom.
Tom Doyle is an acclaimed Music Journalist, Author and long-standing contributing editor to Q. His work has appeared in Mojo, The Guardian, Billboard, The Times and Sound On Sound.
Over the years he has profiled Paul McCartney, Elton John, U2, Madonna, Keith Richards, Kate Bush, and Yoko Ono, among many others. He is the author of The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie, which has attained the status of a classic rock biography, and Man On The Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s, which has recently been optioned for a feature film by StudioCanal. His third book, Captain Fantastic: Elton John’s Stellar Trip Through the ’70s, is to be published in March 2017
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
