Elton John is one of the most successful British pop singers (Image: Getty Images)
He is one of the most successful pop singers, with his memorable tunes regularly topping the charts.
first stormed onto the music scene back in 1969 when he released his number one hit single Your Song.
It didn’t take long before the 77-year-old became an international sensation with such legendary hits including Tiny Dancer, I’m Still Standing, and Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
Throughout his fifty-year career, the dad-of-two has sold over 300million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time.
Over the years, he has received an Emmy award, five Grammys, two Oscar Academy Awards, and a Tony Award, completing the EGOT among many more.
But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the musician, who has struggled with his health over the course of his life. Ahead of the launch of the star’s annual AIDs foundation gala, let’s take a look inside the singer’s health battle.
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In his early career, the singer battled with an eating disorder (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
Eating disorder
Elton has been open about his previous issues with bulimia, a condition he had in common with his close friend, the late Princess Diana.
In an interview with Larry King, the singer was asked whether he knew about the late royal’s battle with the illness. He replied: “Yes, I did. We were both bulimic.”
In 2019, Elton explained further about his struggles with the condition to his unofficial biographer. He told Philip Norman: “I was bulimic for six years. It was all through being paranoid about my weight but not able to stop eating.
“So, in the end, I’d gorge, then make myself sick. For breakfast I’d have a fry-up, followed by 20 pots of cockles and then a tub of ice cream, so I’d throw it all up.
“I never stood still. I was always rushing, always thinking about the next thing. If I was eating a curry, I couldn’t wait to throw it up so that I could have the next one.”
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He also struggled with drugs in the early years of his career (Image: Terry O’Neill / Iconic Images)
Drug addiction
Although the pop legend is completely sober, the star has been open about his issues with addiction throughout the early years of his career.
In 2012, he confessed to NPR: “I still dream, twice a week at least, that I’ve taken cocaine and I have it up my nose. And it’s very vivid and it’s very upsetting, but at least it’s a wake-up call.”
His addictions ended up fuelling his struggles with bulimia as he explained to in a 2010 interview.
John told the journalist: “This is how bleak it was: I’d stay up, I’d smoke joints, I’d drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I’d stay up for three days and then I’d go to sleep for a day and a half, get up.
“And because I was so hungry, because I hadn’t eaten anything, I’d binge and have like three bacon sandwiches, a pot of ice cream and then I’d throw it up, because I became bulimic and then go and do the whole thing all over again.”
The dad-of-two admitted he once came “very close” to death (Image: Getty Images)
He told the broadcaster that he even came “very close” to death due to his drink and drug addictions. The doting dad went on: “I mean, I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later I’d be snorting another line.”
Speaking in 2017, the chart-topper said that meeting Ryan White, a teenager who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, helped him to kick his addictions. During a talk at Harvard University, the star explained: “I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family.
“I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more, Ryan was the spark that helped me to recover from my addictions and start the AIDs Foundation. Within six months [of White’s death] I became sober, and clean, and have been for 27 years.”
The singer suffered from appendicitis in 2013 (Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
‘Dangerous’ appendicitis
In 2013, the singer cancelled a performance in Hyde Park after he fell terribly ill. It turned out that Elton required immediately surgery due to appendicitis.
In an interview with the Telegraph at the time, he explained: “I knew I was sick but I didn’t know I had such a dangerous thing inside of me until I had a scan, which was after nine shows, 34 flights and a summer ball. I could have easily died.
“This is a wake-up call. I’m 55 not 36 anymore. I want to write another musical for Broadway and I want to spend more time with my children.
“I don’t have to tour. I don’t need the money. I just love playing. When I had the operation, I said, ‘This has got to stop, this is crazy, why am I doing this?’
“I’m a great believer in signs coming to you in life to tell you something. This appendix thing, it’s so lucky I didn’t die.”
The dad-of-two also battled with a “potentially deadly” infection (Image: PA)
Bacterial infection
Four years later, Elton was forced to cancel dates on his US tour and spend two days in intensive care after the musician contracted a bacterial infection.
His management said at the time that the infection was “rare and potentially deadly”. Elton later added: “I am so fortunate to have the most incredible and loyal friends and apologise for disappointing them.
“I am extremely grateful to the medical team for their excellence in looking after me so well.”
The singer had one of his kneecaps transformed into a necklace (Image: Getty Images)
Bone necklace
Over the years, Elton has undergone countless surgeries throughout his life, including knee operations and hip operations.
At the 2024 premiere of his biopic Never Too Late, the musician turned heads when he posed up a storm wearing his kneecap as a necklace. In an interview on the red carpet, he joked: “I don’t have tonsils, adenoids or an appendix.
“I don’t have a prostate. I don’t have a right hip or a left knee or a right knee. In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip.”
Speaking with The Sun, Elton’s husband David Furnish reassured fans: “He’s doing amazing.
“He’s having another knee done in a couple of weeks and by the time the summer rolls around, he’ll have two brand new spanking knees.”
This year, the musician revealed he now has “limited eyesight” (Image: Getty Images)
Limited vision
In September, Elton said that he had been left with “limited eyesight” after contracting a “severe eye infection.”
Taking to , he wrote: “Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye.
“I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.” He went on: “I am so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me over the last several weeks.
“I have been quietly spending the summer recuperating at home and am feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing and recovery so far.”
In November, during an interview with Good Morning America, Elton admitted it had been “a while since I’ve done anything.”
He told host Robin Roberts: “I can do something like this [interview] but going into the studio and recording, I don’t know, because I can’t see a lyric for a start.
“It’s never fortunate for anything like this to happen, and it kind of floored me and I can’t see anything, I can’t read anything, I can’t watch anything.”