![]() ![]() “It was the most artistic and creative time you could ever imagine,” John says. I would kill someone who shot animals.”įurnish played a Russell recording and John began to weep, as the music transported him back to the outset of his career. “No, I do not shoot the animals, 100 percent no,” John says, appalled at the thought. John’s dedication to improving the autumn years of his longtime idol is the result of an epiphany in January 2009 in South Africa, at a wildlife and game preserve where for the past seven or so years the singer-songwriter and his partner, David Furnish, and friends have started each new year on safari. I appreciate Elton trying to raise my (travel) class, though.” “It’s just that every day when I wake up I’m in a different location. ELTON JOHN DISCOGRAFIA MEGA SKINYet he sounds like a man who’s comfortable in his own skin wherever he is. “It would be better if we had a slightly better bus, but it’s what we do,” Russell says. Russell’s spotlight revival-style version of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” just about stole the show from Harrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and all the others who were the piano player’s peers. That’s quite a contrast from New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1971, where he was a pivotal player and performer in George Harrison’s 1971 “Concert for Bangladesh,” rock’s first all-star benefit extravaganza. ![]() Louis and Knuckleheads in Kansas City, Missouri. “I’m happy to have a job,” says Russell, whose touring schedule in September listed such gigs as Tavern on the Main in Wise, Virginia Voodoo Lounge in St. He jokes that at 68 he’s “too old to be on the road,” then qualifies that. “Between (him) and his manager, Johnny Barbis, they treat me like a king,” Russell says in a phone interview from his home in Nashville. Russell certainly appreciates the efforts John has been making. I just want him to be comfortable, have a new publishing deal, get him back into public consciousness and keep him there.” ON THE ROAD “I don’t want him driving around the country doing five shows a week in his bus any more. “I want to make sure he has a great career ahead of him,” John, 63, says in a phone interview from Europe. And so John sees “The Union” - produced by T Bone Burnett and scheduled for release October 19 by Decca - as the first step in a long-term project with a purpose: to restore Russell to what he and many others believe is his rightful place in the rock pantheon, secure him induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - and get him more comfortable travel accommodations. Russell never stopped working, though in relative obscurity. ![]() And on his own Shelter Records (formed with former partner Denny Cordell), Russell had a productive career as a solo artist, with hit singles (“Tight Rope”) and albums (“Carney”), a deserving legend in his own time.Īnd then that time passed. In 19, from Rolling Stone to Melody Maker to Georgia Straight, a weekly in Vancouver, British Columbia, it was always “my idol.”įrom the late 1960s through 1972, piano player, songwriter, singer, performer, producer and bandleader Russell seemed to be everywhere: playing sessions with Delaney & Bonnie writing classics like “A Song for You” and “Superstar” putting together the large band, arrangements and songs for Joe Cocker’s famed Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour. “Leon Russell is my idol” is like a mantra John recited unprompted during interviews throughout his career. REUTERS/David W Cernyīut John doesn’t have to swear on the family Bible that he’s not just blowing celebrity smoke. British singer Elton John performs during his concert in Prague June 10, 2010. ![]()
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