Why won't ailing Sir Elton slow down

Why won't ailing Sir Elton slow down



He’s 70 years old, relies on a pacemaker and has suffered a series of health scares. And four years ago, Sir Elton John himself admitted that his workaholic lifestyle and endless worldwide touring were ‘killing him’.

‘I know I’m addicted to playing,’ the veteran singer said. ‘I’m addicted to working. I’m addicted to touring. I’m addicted to everything. I can’t have one bunch of flowers. I can’t do one show. That’s part of my nature.’

But he added: ‘You know, I’m fed up with it. The travelling is killing me. I can’t do it any more. I’ve never taken enough time to smell the roses.’

Last night, it seemed he was proven right after it emerged he had been rushed to intensive care in yet another health scare — this time suffering from an infection.



And I can now reveal that his illness was much more serious than first thought — with the singer suffering a ‘rare and potentially deadly’ bacterial infection that left him in intensive care for two days and requiring multiple surgeries.

Sir Elton — who was taken ill on a flight home from his recent South American tour — has been forced to cancel two months’ worth of concerts in order to recover.

But the question on the lips of his legions of fans is simple: Why hasn’t Sir Elton — the father of two young sons — cut back on his punishing work schedule?

After all, he has spoken many times of his desire to spend more time with his husband David Furnish and their children. As early as 2013, he said: ‘The time has come in my life when I will definitely cut back on shows so I have more time with my family. That’s a conscious decision.’

Then, in 2016, he spoke again about cutting back, saying: ‘I’m hurtling towards 70 and I’ve made a promise to David and to my sons that I really don’t want to be schlepping around the world at 72.



I don’t want to do tours any more that take me away from my children.’

Despite these words, though, he is still going — and in the face of his increasingly frequent health issues.

It’s not as if he needs the money. Sir Elton has an estimated fortune of £280 million — plus a string of luxurious homes in Atlanta, London, Windsor, Los Angeles and Nice.

So why keep up a workload more intense than stars half his age?

Despite disappointing album sales, Sir Elton has committed to a gruelling worldwide tour this year — planning to play in Australia in September before zig zagging across Europe and finishing up in Moscow in December.

At the same time, he is working on his long-awaited autobiography, detailing his difficult struggles with bulimia and drug addiction. (And what a treat the book is likely to be for Sir Elton has a notoriously short fuse and a habit of picking fights with celebrities.)

On top of that, he must find time to write the music for an upcoming Broadway musical based on the film The Devil Wears Prada — and is also contemplating an exhibition of his famous stage costumes.

His work ethic is surely admirable — and his spokesman insists he is simply the same ‘tireless performer’ he’s always been and ‘has every intention of keeping it up’.

But what other artist of his calibre would consider performing — as he did this year — in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day?

You wouldn’t catch his old friends Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart ringing in the New Year with a bunch of paying punters. A loving husband and father, Sir Elton must envy the ample family time that his husband David carves out with his young sons.

The couple’s boys Zachary, six, and Elijah, four, live with Furnish at Sir Elton’s palatial home in Windsor during term-time.



The children — born via a professional surrogate when Elton was well into his 60s — also have a team of nannies and staff on hand.

But Sir Elton, the man they know as ‘Daddy’, is generally based in Los Angeles — thousands of miles away from the main family home.

From there, he takes his private plane to tour venues all over the world.

But while Sir Elton is often busy working, Furnish — who the children refer to as ‘Papa’ — is frequently seen enjoying happy holidays with the boys.

For instance, while Sir Elton was performing in Vegas over New Year, Furnish and the children spent the school Christmas break relaxing and having fun on a skiing holiday in the Alps.

At the end of March, Sir Elton had travelled alone by private jet to South America to perform another string of gigs. By the time the exhausted star fell ill on April 10 — on a flight to the UK from Chile — his family were on their way back from another holiday, in Furnish’s native Canada.



They had enjoyed an outing to watch the Toronto Blue Jays’ first game of the baseball season, followed by another skiing trip to Aspen, Colorado — again without the singer.

Furnish, who worked as an advertising executive before he met Sir Elton, showed off various holiday snaps on Instagram and proudly posted videos of Zachary and Elijah on the slopes.

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