Very few showbiz superstars of Elton John’s magnitude have been as forthcoming about their past indiscretions. His willingness to kick down the closet doors and rifle through his own skeletons in interviews means that there’s little left for the biographer to reveal that the world at large doesn’t already know.
Buckley is all too aware of this, and his affectionate portrait of arguably the nation’s most durable pop star doesn’t waste too much time trying to unearth fresh scandals. The author does, however, recount Elton’s ups and downs in painstaking detail. The chapters on childhood and the first flushes of success follow the route of a traditional biography. But then the book moves on to the excesses and flamboyancy which perhaps triggered the singer’s mid-career crisis (roughly the mid-70s to the late 80s) and things get really meaty.
The final third could well be subtitled ‘the post-cocaine years’, charting John’s determined selfrehabilitation and the true cementing of his elder statesman status, not to mention his tireless work for AIDS charities and highprofile campaigning for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships. A weighty celeb tome well worth reading.
