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Elton John And His Band Teaming up to UK

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947, is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. In his four-decade career Elton John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. Elton John has won six Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. Elton John has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998. Elton John continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".

Elton John was educated at Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School and Pinner County Grammar School, until age 17, when he left just prior to his A Level examinations to pursue a career in the music industry. Elton John started playing the piano at the age of 3. After performing at parties and family gatherings, at the age of 7 he took up formal piano lessons. Elton John showed musical aptitude at school, including the ability to compose melodies, and gained some notoriety by playing like Jerry Lee Lewis at school functions. At the age of 11, Elton John won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.

In 1964, Dwight later known as Elton John and his friends formed a band called Bluesology. By the mid-1960s, Bluesology was backing touring American soul and R&B musicians like The Isley Brothers, Major Lance, Billy Stewart, Doris Troy and Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles. In 1967, what would become the first Elton John/Bernie Taupin song, "Scarecrow", was recorded; when the two first met, six months later, Dwight was going by the name "Elton John", in homage to Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

Elton John album was released in the April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 album chart. The concept album Tumbleweed Connection was released in October 1970, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. The live album 17-11-70 was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the US. John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends".

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became Elton John's first US Billboard Hot 100 number one hit. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established Elton John as a glam rock star. Elton John formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it. Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album.

Pete Townshend of The Who asked Elton John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform a song named "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, Elton John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976. The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in Elton John's life. In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the Blue Moves album in October, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", were released. His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 Elton John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in Rolling Stone'in 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.

Elton John's 1981 album, The Fox, was recorded in part during the same sessions as 21 at 33, and also included collaborations with Tom Robinson and Judie Tzuke. His 1982 hit "Empty Garden", came from his Jump Up! album, Elton John's second under a new US recording contract with Geffen Records. Elton John was able to return to the charts with the 1983 hit album Too Low For Zero, which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", the latter of which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica and reached number 4 in the US, giving John his biggest hit there since "Little Jeannie". In 1985, Elton John was one of the many performers at Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium. In 1988, he performed five sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden, giving Elton John 26 for his career. Netting over $20 million, 2,000 items of Elton John's memorabilia were auctioned off at Sotheby's in London.

In 1990, Elton John would finally achieve his first UK number one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks. In 1992 Elton John released the US number 8 album The One, featuring the hit song "The One". In April 1992, John appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "The Show Must Go On" with the remaining members of Queen, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Axl Rose and Queen.

Elton John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works on 9 October 2006, by The Walt Disney Company. Along with Tim Rice, Elton John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King, which became the 3rd highest-grossing animated feature of all time. At the 67th Academy Awards ceremony, The Lion King provided three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song, which Elton John won with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Both that and "Circle of Life" became hit songs for Elton John. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win Elton John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 37th Grammy Awards. After the release of the The Lion King soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.

Elton John also released a live compilation album called Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits from the show Elton John did at Madison Square Garden in New York City that same year. In August 2003, Elton John scored his fifth UK number one single when "Are You Ready for Love" topped the UK Charts. Returning again to musical theatre, Elton John composed music for a West End Theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall.

In 2006 he told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B/hip-hop genre. n March 2007 he performed at Madison Square Garden for a record breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday, the concert was broadcast live and a DVD recording was released as Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden; a greatest-hits compilation CD, Rocket Man – Number Ones, was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo; and his back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download.

Elton John performed a piano duet with Lady Gaga at the 52nd Grammy Awards. On 6 June 2010, Elton John performed at the fourth wedding of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh for a reported US$1 million fee. Eleven days later, and 17 years to the day after his last previous performance in Israel, he performed at the Ramat Gan Stadium; this was significant because of other then-recent cancellations by other performers in the fallout surrounding an Israeli raid on Gaza Flotilla the month before. In his introduction to that concert, Elton John noted he and other musicians should not "cherry-pick our conscience", in reference to Elvis Costello, who was to have performed in Israel two weeks after Elton did, but cancelled in the wake of the aforementioned raid, citing his conscience.

Elton John's latest studio album is entitled The Union and was released on 19 October 2010. John says his collaboration with American singer-songwriter and sideman Leon Russell marks a new chapter in his recording career, saying: "I don't have to make pop records any more."

Elton John is going to perform in UK in comming Year. The Elton John Tour tickets are on sale now. Elton John will kick off the tour Jun 08, 2011.

Sold Out Ticket Market is ideal for Elton John Tickets for UK tour 2011 at nominal rates. Sold Out Ticket Market provides its customers with Elton John Tickets for UK tour 2011 for all dates and venues in which Elton John is going to perform. Get your Elton John Tickets from our safe and secure system and watch him Live in UK.

Elton John Tickets for Elton John And His Band UK tour 2011

Starting Date: Jun 08, 2011
Day: Wednessday
Starting Time: 19:00
Venue: Cardiff International Arena

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Legal MP3 downloads?

Looking for international (outside USA) legal download sites.Sites such as Yahoo, Napster, and Rhapsody will not accept credit cards where the address is outside the U.S.

Raji's answer is incorrect, most of the files on Limewire are illegal & many have a virus or trojan attached.

i use napster, it's 100% legal:

http://www.napster.co.uk/

The University of Santo Tomas Singers - Bohemian Rhapsody, Cork International Choral Festival 2010

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