Long before the towering boots and jeweled glasses, he was just a boy named Reginald Dwight teaching himself piano in a quiet corner of Middlesex. Across the 1970s he rebuilt himself into Elton John, a songwriter and showman whose partnership with Bernie Taupin and appetite for spectacle turned him into one of the decade’s defining stars. Here is the story behind the era, told through the milestones, collaborators and costumes that shaped it.
A Triptych of Looks From One Restless Decade
Three quick snapshots show how much ground his style could cover: waving from a red convertible in a flat tweed cap, propped at a diner table in a red beret and crimson glasses, then caught plain in tinted sunglasses against a wooden fence. Each look served the same relentless output. By the end of the decade he had sold tens of millions of records worldwide, making him one of the best selling recording artists of the era regardless of genre or outfit.