Sir Elton is 70

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When I was 14 I discovered Elton John, my first rock music and my teenybopper idol. That was a long time ago. Sir Elton turns seventy today (3/25). Wow. Another "wow" thing is the fact that Elton has been relevant for decades. When I was a teenager most of the girls in my high school were ga-ga over Peter Frampton, thanks to the Frampton Comes Alive album. That was a massive album. One of my favorite trivia questions is: "What was the name of the follow-up to Frampton Comes Alive?" You'd be amazed how many people cannot answer that question. (To save you from looking it up, it was I'm in You.) So, Frampton was a super-dooper star, but only briefly. In contrast, Elton was the #1 male artist of the 1970s, period. Not only that, in terms of Billboard chart history, as complied by music historian Joel Whitburn, Elton is the third biggest chart artist in history. The only two bigger than him? Elvis and the Beatles. Elton has won multiple Grammy awards, an Oscar (for the soundtrack to The Lion King), and has the distinction of having the first album in history to debut at #1 on the Billboard album chart (1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy). Oh, he was also the second artist to debut at #1 (the follow-up, Rock of the Westies). His re-working of his tribute to Marilyn Monroe, "Candle in the Wind," as a memorial to Princess Diana is the biggest-selling single in history (outselling Bing Crosby's "White Christmas"). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994; and, in 1998 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Yeah, this guy has done a thing or two in his life. Happy 70th birthday, Sir Elton!!! Last year I counted down my favorite Elton songs so I won't rehash that. Instead, here's a great early EJ song.