-My first guest is a Tony, Oscar, and Grammy-winning
music legend who has sold over 300 million records worldwide.
Holy moly. 300 million.
[ Cheers and applause ]
His new album, "The Lockdown Sessions," is out now.
Please welcome the one and only Elton John!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Whoa! That's what I'm talking about!
Yes!
Ah, it's so good to see you.
-Thank you. Lovely to see you, Jimmy.
-Thank you so much for being here.
I know you're in London.
So I appreciate you Zooming in and talking to me.
I just want to tell you how much I love
the album, "The Lockdown Sessions."
And congrats on having a number 1 with Dua Lipa.
[ Cheers and applause ]
You're always doing something different and I just love --
You know I'm a big fan, but I love when you get together
with Dua and that came out, I go, "'Cold Heart'?
What is going on? This is, like, the coolest thing ever."
And you didn't even get to the --
♪ It's no sacrifice ♪
You didn't even do that. -Nope.
-No. -No, we cut that bit out.
-Yeah, you didn't need it.
You just had "cold, cold heart."
I go, "Ah." I just loved it so much.
Congrats. -Thank you very much. Thank you.
-Did you know you were going to put an album out?
-Listen, it all came about by accident.
During lockdown, I was in this house in Windsor
in England with my family, with the kids and David.
And the last thing I thought
I was going to do is make any music.
And then people asked me to start playing
and singing on their own records,
which I -- you know, that's how I started out.
I was a session guy before I became Elton.
So I played on a Rina Sawayama, a Gorillaz thing, a Metallica,
Miley Cyrus track, Glen Campbell, Lil Nas X,
Years & Years, and I thought, "I like this."
I like this, going back to where I used to be.
-Yeah. Then you're like, "Why don't you come on my album?"
-Yeah. [ Laughs ]
Well, when I did the Lil Nas X, Glen Campbell,
I was in Studio 2 at Abbey Road.
And 54 years, practically to the day, I was playing piano
on The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother."
So that's kind of a nice feeling to have.
-That is pretty cool.
I was surprised to find out but I guess it's true that --
'cause Stevie Wonder is on here.
Everybody is on this album, by the way.
This is an awesome gift, by the way.
Because if you're like, "Oh, yeah, I love --"
Obviously, I love Elton John, but if you love Stevie Wonder --
You guys have never done a duet together.
-No, we've never done a duet.
And we've known each other for so long.
And so, when I wrote this song,
I suddenly thought there's a harmonica solo here.
And then he came and played piano.
And then we put drums and bass and then the choir.
And in the end, he sang on it.
And it's a dream come true for me
because, you know, not only do I love him as a musician
and worship him as a songwriter,
but he's one of my favorite people in the whole wide world.
So this was a very exciting thing for me.
-I have a photo here from 1973.
And I think there's a cool story behind it.
Do you remember where this was or what this was?
-I do remember.
It's not one of my brightest and most wonderful moments.
I was on "The Starship," which was a jet that we were renting.
I had just done a show. It was birthday.
And I wasn't happy with the show.
So I went up front and sat on my own.
And they said, "Come up to the bow.
We want to sing 'Happy Birthday' to you."
And I went, "I'm not interested in my birthday."
And this happened about three or four times until
my publicist burst into tears and said,
"You have to come up there. Stevie Wonder is at the organ."
Of course, the plane had an organ on it.
[ Laughter ] "And he wants to sing
'Happy Birthday' to you." And I felt such a horror.
I felt so bad and I went up there,
and he sang "Happy Birthday" to me.
And it's an incident I will never forget,
and as I say, I'm not very proud of.
-No, yeah, but it's still cool that, first of all,
the name of the private plane was called "The Starship."
I love that, and then the fact that you have a --
of course you have a piano on the plane
or an organ on the plane.
-Yeah. -That's pretty rad.
Have you ever surprised anyone with a happy birthday?
By singing them a "Happy Birthday" song?
-I can't remember. I must have in my life.
But Stevie actually sang "Happy Birthday" to me
at my 70th birthday as well,
along with Lady Gaga, Ryan Adams, and Rosanne Cash.
So, I mean, I've been very lucky in that respect.
And at my 60th birthday, Tony Bennett,
the Scissor Sisters, and Mary J. Blige.
So I've been quite lucky with people singing to me,
but I'm not very good at singing birthdays.
I haven't really sung at anybody else's birthday party,
but I've had lots of people singing to me.
So I'm very lucky. -Yeah.
Mine's coming up September.
[ Laughter ] So I will just...
-Okay. -...throw it out there,
and we'll see where you're at.
-Well, just give me an e-mail and I'll see where I am.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, no problem.
You know, last time we talked,
I was talking about how you always are into new music.
And you're always supporting new artists,
which you do as well on this, not only Dua Lipa,
but also you have Young Thug on here.
You always know about music before it comes out,
which is opposite of me.
I'm going backwards.
I'm just finding old music and going like,
"Have you guys heard this song?"
And everyone's like, "Yeah, it came out 30 years ago."
But how do you stay up to date
and why has it become a cool new tradition for you?
You've been calling all these people
and just saying hi and that you're a fan.
-Well, I do a radio show on Apple
every week for six years now.
Every week for six years, called "The Rocket Hour."
And during that hour,
I try and play new music that hasn't been played before.
And so, you know, I get to hear new music,
and then when I love something,
I have the person on to interview them
and I get to know them.
On the album, there's Olly Alexander from Years & Years,
Rina Sawayama, Surfaces, and SG Lewis.
And I've gotten to be friends with all these artists.
You know, ever since I was a kid,
I've been a fan, and I love records.
And I know the new. I know the old.
But I'm more interested in the new
because that's what's going to take music further.
And a lot of these people don't get enough exposure
because radios have so many definite playlists
and these songs don't fit in.
And so if I can get a chance to promote them
and then be friends with them and then play with them
and record with them, then it's fantastic for me.
-Do you stay friends with --
[ Applause ] Absolutely.
That's why you're the -- Do you stay in touch with these people?
Do you actually stay friends with them?
-Yeah, yesterday, I rang Teyana Taylor,
who was a guest on my show a year and a half ago.
I did a video with her because we became friends.
Yes, I do, and I think it's really good and it's important.
Jimmy, when I came to America, I had so much kindness
shown towards me by Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys,
Neil Diamond, Leon Russell, the Beatles,
Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, The Band,
and that made me feel so good.
It kind of ratified what I was doing.
And so I always thought I must carry on that tradition
of being, if you like something, tell the person that it's good.
It doesn't have to be a musician.
Could be a photographer, a painter, an actor, whatever.
But if it gives you pleasure and it makes you feel good,
then ring them up and tell them.
-Yeah, I love that. [ Cheers and applause ]
More with Elton John after the break.
We're going to talk about his tour. Come on back.