His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Rosenthal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2001

Few artists in the music world have achieved the awesome success of Elton John. From his self-titled debut album in 1970 to his Academy Award for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” to his music for the hit Broadway musical Aida, he has been lauded both for his recordings and his extravagant live performances.

His Song is destined to become the definitive critical volume about this remarkable artist. More comprehensive and in-depth than other biographies, this authoritative reference reveals the full story behind all Elton’s recordings; offers a complete chronicle of the artist’s concert tours, including his 1979 tour of the Soviet Union and his 1994–1995 tour with fellow piano superstar Billy Joel; divulges how he grew from a meek, unassuming man into a personality powerhouse and major superstar; and uncovers the untold story behind his flamboyant costumes and why he wore them.

This enlightening biography also examines the ebb and flow of this outstanding artist's career. It discloses the real reason for Elton’s commercial downturn and his difficult business relationship with David Geffen; his “coming out,” first as a bisexual and finally as a gay man; his problems with drugs, alcohol, bulimia, and sexual addictions; his relationship with AIDS sufferer Ryan White; and much more. It also tells the true story regarding his performance at Princess Diana’s funeral and his rewriting of “Candle in the Wind,” which went on to become the biggest-selling single in music history. Plus, over 40 photographs and a complete discography chronicle the breadth of this legend’s celebrated career.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rosenthal, a freelance writer, here attempts only the second serious biography of the bespectacled pianist (after Philip Norman's Elton John, LJ 2/1/92) and the first to include significant critical analysis of the star's music. As a biographer, Rosenthal relies exclusively on secondary sources to cobble together John's story, risking the perpetuation of inaccuracies. She also presents an assembly line of factoids but fails to give the reader a broader understanding of the man. As a critical analysis of John's music, the book is more successful, but here, too, are puzzling inconsistencies. Rosenthal takes pains to discuss every album track John has recorded in his 30-plus-year career, yet she ignores the plethora of nonalbum B-sides that he has released on singles a significant oversight. Oddly, the author devotes considerable space to lesser-known songs and only two sentences to "Your Song," arguably John's most beloved composition. Still, as a secondary selection, Rosenthal's well-meaning work is vastly superior to Susan Crimp and Patricia Burstein's The Many Lives of Elton John (Birch Lane Pr., 1992). Despite being dated, Norman's book remains the most definitive account. Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Documentation rather than biography is the raison d'etre of new books on aging rock superstars.Rosenthal on Elton John details all one could ever want to know about the intricacies of, say, "The Bitch Is Back." Copiously annotated, the dense recording-by-recording study comprises a full discography with some lamentable limitations; all songs and composers are listed, but none of the sidemen who played with John on recordings. Entertaining yet meaningful, disposable yet probably significant, John's continued popularity seems to guarantee readers for this good source of information on the working aspects of a career so voluminous that people will be serious about it, even if most of the songs are little more than Paul McCartney's "silly love songs." Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823088936
• ISBN-13: 978-0823088935
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth J. Rosenthal's current book is Birdwatcher: the Life of Roger Tory Peterson (Lyons Press). Out in time for the Centenary of Peterson's birth in 2008, Birdwatcher is now available in paperback. For Birdwatcher, the author interviewed 116 people from around the world who knew Peterson at different stages of his life. Through these interviews and extensive archival research, Rosenthal presents in Birdwatcher a thorough portrait of Peterson, one of the greatest conservationists of the Twentieth Century - as well as an accomplished artist, photographer, writer, teacher, and adventurer, and the man who made modern birding possible. Roger Tory Peterson's influence has spanned generations, not to mention the world. Among others, he mentored or inspired Pete Dunne, Kenn Kaufman, Victor Emanuel, Tom Lovejoy, even Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist and author E. O. Wilson, plus many other great names in birding, conservation, and natural history. You will read about their fascinating experiences with Peterson in Birdwatcher.

The author's first book, His Song: the Musical Journey of Elton John, was published in fall 2001 by Billboard Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications. As the most well-researched, exhaustive musical biography of musician Elton John ever written, His Song remains the only John biography to have been sold in the Elton John Store at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, during his hugely successful Red Piano run of shows. His Song is also the first John biography to be translated into the Russian language and sold in Russia.

But let's back up a minute to author Elizabeth J. Rosenthal's early years.
After graduating magna cum laude with a journalism degree from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1982, Rosenthal attended Rutgers-Camden School of Law, from which she graduated With Honors in 1985. Subsequently, she was admitted to the bars of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1986, she married Stanley Shur, another Rutgers-Camden graduate. For the past 20-plus years, Rosenthal has been a civil servant, writing regulations for New Jersey state government, testifying before the state legislature about pending legislation affecting the civil service system, and serving as liaison to the State Attorney General's Office.

In 2002, Rosenthal inexplicably became bewitched by birds, since then reading everything about them that she could get her hands on and going birding - with New Jersey Audubon and other groups - whenever possible. Like many of her birding compatriots, while driving she pays more attention to starlings flitting overhead than to traffic signs and usually extracts more joy from a simple encounter with an immature grackle than from a more prolonged encounter with immature or mature humans. The New Jersey home she shares with her husband is surrounded by birdfeeders frequented by loyal patrons. Rosenthal's life list may be modest, but her admiration of even the most common of birds is unassailable.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars E.J. biography centers around the music, November 26, 2001

By 

Gary Gardner "Your resident dillettante" (Ellsworth, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John (Hardcover)

Seeing as Elton John's career in popular music has been going strong for well over thirty years, it is easy to see why there are so many biographies about him. And why not? After all, John has always been an artist of unusual candor, not to mention unusual stage uniforms running from the trashy to the just-plain garish. But the music has always been the main thing, the reason his fans throughout the years still pay good money to see him, even at the ripe old age of 54.
Elizabeth Rosenthal's take on Elton revolves predominantly on the music in this lastest John biography. Those looking for fresh perspectives behind the man, rather than the performer, will be disappointed; certainly those more interested in the recording and performing parts of Elton's life will be most thrilled.
In fact, some of the more interesting items about E.J.'s off-stage life are given short shrift, indeed. Rosenthal hardly mentions the musician's public and private tiffs with his father, his early struggle with his dubious sexuality, or even his renowned drinking/drugging binges...and subsequent recovery in the early 1990's. Only scant mention is made of these life stories, which for better or worse have molded the man into what he is today. Many of the quotes you see (and they are few and far between) are ones given many years ago to other publications. Apparently, Rosenthal had the pleasure of meeting the singer in Atlanta, GA, where he makes his American home, but was apparently not able to interview him. Perhaps it's because John was still managed by the imposing John Reid, who has since been canned by Elton after some financial treachery done by the one person the megastar trusted for almost twenty-five years; Reid had been known to stand in the way of independent biographers who wanted fresher quotes from the star.
It's obvious to anyone who reads the book that Rosenthal is a big fan; she even runs a website devoted to her subject. She does an admirable job, however, of noting many of Elton's career missteps, if not all of them. She is less critical, however, of some of his missteps in his personal life, choosing instead to merely recount these unfortunate events.
Where Rosenthal eventually fails is in neglecting certain events in John's career that proved noteworthy. For instance, she doesn't elucidate in even one sentence why Elton split with lyricist Bernie Taupin after the recording of 1976's "Blue Moves." The motives behind the separation of the two in work collaboration is explained only briefly later on in the book. Other biographies had done a better job with this issue. After all, Taupin was as instrumental to the Elton John hits machine of the early-mid 1970's as the pianist himself. Without Taupin's entrancing lyrics, Elton's music had little outreach beyond some nice melodies constructed here and there.
Still, I enjoyed the copious background on the music. Rosenthal examines each album track, one by one, dissecting them and explaining why each one succeeded or failed. Her prose is definitely unique, and it provides an upbeat style that makes it an absolute joy to read. Those looking for more personal stories about the singer's extremely interesting life will only thirst for more, and are urged to seek out the various other E.J. biographies available.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on a great entertainer, November 29, 2001

By 

Scott N. Burton (Bridgeport,CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book today & all I can say is "WOW"-Elizabeth Rosenthal did an enormous amount of research & it shows-Rosenthal is undoubtedly a major fan who fortunately paints a rather convincing portrait of Elton John-Here you read about his various triumphs (gold & platinum records,a sell-out cross country tour with Billy Joel in 1994)& tragedies (the deaths of fashion designer Gianni Versace & Princess Diana,which both occurred in 1997)-The appendix lists a complete discography of every single & album that Elton has released during his monumental career-This is a great Christmas present to give someone who likes Elton John just as much as I do.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT READ FOR ELTON FANS!, March 25, 2003

By 

Benjamin Okuly (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John (Hardcover)

This book was a Christmas gift for me, and when I started it I figured I would read bits and pieces here and there. Instead I started on page one and just couldn't put the book down! The information was interesting and the notes on all the music from all the albums was very interesting! The one thing I liked about this book was that it stuck to discussing the music, and did not dwell into Elton's personal life too much. I'm not a fan of Elton for what he does and does not do off the stage, to me it's the music that matters. I highly recommend this book, especially if you want to know about all of Elton's albums and the songs that went into the making of a classic musicial and singer. Thanks, Liz, for the great read!!!! :)