Speaking on Good Morning Britain he reveals that while live performance is still on the cards, his recently released "Wonderful Crazy Night" album could be his recording swansong:
"I love playing. My records don't sell anymore because people have enough Elton John records in their collection. I love making them, but it's someone else's turn now."
Meantime Paramount has set a May 2019 release date for its biographical Elton John film, Rocketman. A movie about the fabulously flamboyant singer, songwriter, and composer has been awhile in the making, with several big names floated to play Elton at various points in the past. Tom Hardy came the closest to doing so back in 2013, but that version of Rocketman petered out in pre-production and would-be freshman director Michael Gracey went on to make his big entrance on another biographical musical, The Greatest Showman. The project was suddenly revived last year when Kingsman's Taron Egerton came aboard to play Sir Elton instead and it's been mostly smooth-sailing since then.
As UCR notes, Elton's record sales have seen a slump in recent years, but that could be as much attributed to the record industry's across-the-board sales slump as it does with anything relating to his own career. While his most recent platinum release in the States was 1997's "The Big Picture," he still routinely goes gold in the UK, suggesting that the comment is as much a reflection of the singer's self-effacing attitude as anything.
Here at UG, we think that if Elton loves making records, he should keep making them. If the expense of making records is an issue these days, he could use a home studio and release them digitally to keep costs down. Even if his records aren't selling in the millions anymore, there are still plenty of people that want to hear them.
