One of my should have read in2019 choices  was this long-awaited autobiography which appeared in many Christmas stockings over the festive period. It also appeared on lots of “best of” year lists with both The Guardian and The Daily Mail heralding it as the celebrity memoir of the decade.

None of this is surprising given Elton John’s stature and celebrity. The focus of many biographies over the years 2019 also saw the well-received “Rocketman” film so this book from Elton’s perspective is very timely. I wickedly cannot resist the observation that the title is short of a few words and that “Me Me Me Me” might have been more fitting!

In the dedication Elton thanks Alexis Petridis, rock music journalist, who has obviously ghost-written the work. I don’t know what the share of the work was between them but Elton must have done enough to be acknowledged as the sole author on the cover and for copyright purposes.

We all know quite a bit about Elton John although the worldwide level of success he has enjoyed makes for staggering reading. I like that he is a chart nerd who knows the positions his records have achieved and lots of statistics about his career. But, also, with Elton it is the things we don’t know that appeals. This, together with his celebrated frankness and fondness for gossip is what made this such a tantalising prospect. I was a bit disappointed that since publication so much of this has been shared within the media and in his TV interview with Graham Norton that it has lost a lot of its power to surprise. I wasn’t quite able to hold with The Telegraph’s opinion that it was “as eye-popping as his wardrobe.”

Where I do agree with The Telegraph’s verdict is how “self-aware” it is and that is pretty amazing for someone who has lived in a mad celebrity world for close to 50 years where you would imagine all sense of reality would be strained. Perhaps much of this sensitive reflection has come about through therapy and treatment for his much reported-on addictions. The great appeal is that Elton knows everyone and has done everything someone in his world can do and luckily he is able to convey much of this to his readers.

The only area of his life he purposely plays down is his inexplicable first marriage to Renate which seems so out of character. Here he respects his ex-wife’s continued determination never to publicly discuss matters to do the same. Other relationships are more thoroughly explored, the “open secret” of his relationship with manager John Reid, at a time when an admission of homosexuality could have damaged his career, with husband David Furnish and their children and perhaps most fascinatingly with his mother who famously hired an Elton John tribute act for her 90^th birthday party because she knew the real thing would not turn up. Now, here is a complex, difficult woman who Elton himself could never fathom. Both she and his father were prone to the same explosive temperament as the singer which has made Elton something of a figure of fun in the past as tales of his petulancy became commonplace. Another complex relationship is the one with lyricist Bernie Taupin. I never knew they were as close as they were, at one point, before fame kicked in sharing bunk beds in a bedroom in Elton’s mum’s house. I did know about the long-distance writing partnership this evolved into. This was for me, most memorably lampooned by Matt Lucas and David Walliams in one of their “Rock Profiles” where Matt as Elton turns lyrics Taupin has just faxed over into a song incorporating the “PS: Can you tape “Lovejoy” for me tonight?” That, joking aside, is pretty close as to how this legendary partnership came to function.

I’m no huge Elton John fan, if I was I think I would find this book pretty amazing. For the general music/celebrity bio fan it is a highly memorable, rich, entertaining read and it  livened the early days of the New Year.

Me was published in hardback by Macmillan in October 2019