When Bernie Taupin accepts his Musical Excellence Award on the thirty eighth Annual Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame Induction Ceremony on Nov. 3 in Brooklyn, it gained’t be the primary time he’s mounted that stage.
When Elton John was inducted again in 1994, he referred to as his longtime lyricist to the stage, saying that, “I’m type of dishonest standing right here as a result of with out Bernie there by no means would have been an Elton John in any respect… and I would really like him to return up and I wish to give this to him. We’ve been collectively for a really very long time. I really like him dearly.” Now, together with his personal Rock Corridor honor on the horizon, Taupin tells Billboard from his residence in California that John’s magnanimous gesture had an unintended consequence.
“That’s the massive thorn within the paw as a result of in lots of people’s minds, that’s the rationale I used to be not inducted prior to now, as a result of sure components of the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame didn’t like the very fact Elton introduced me up on stage… and gave me his award,” says Taupin, who had the trophy “for years” earlier than returning it to John. “So they simply assumed that I already had the award so I didn’t should be inducted myself, which is fairly puerile, if you concentrate on it, and fairly infantile and churlish on the identical time.
“However, hey, that’s all previously. What’s gone is gone and it’s all forgotten now and God’s in his heaven and all is sweet.”
Taupin is, the truth is, totally stoked to be receiving the glory this 12 months, becoming a member of fellow Musical Excellence Award winners Chaka Khan and Al Kooper. “Clearly it was good good information,” he says. “It’s all the time good to be appreciated. I actually respect it. At my age I don’t get excited (by) that a lot, however that is actually one thing I’m very appreciative of.” He provides that “these round me” have been mentioning his exclusion from the Rock Corridor through the years. “They are saying issues like, ‘You’re not in there already? I simply figured you had been in there’ or ‘You must have been in there way back,’” he notes.
“I don’t put an amazing quantity of thought into it. I don’t actually replicate a lot on what I’ve contributed. Do I really feel I belong in there? Yeah, in all probability. I believe I’ve contributed sufficient that it offers me credence to be in there, actually.”
Born in Lincolnshire, England, Taupin graduated from the College of Cambridge and met John (then Reginald Dwight) in 1967 after each auditioned for Liberty Data and John, who didn’t write lyrics, was given a few of Taupin’s poems to think about. Famously writing individually, the pair has labored collectively on greater than 30 albums and enduring hits starting from “Your Track” in 1970 and the vast majority of John’s biggest hits to tracks on John’s Great Loopy Night time album in 2016.
“It’s humorous as a result of I don’t consult with myself as a songwriter,” Taupin says. “I’m simply principally a man who writes tales. In our early days I used to be featured on the album covers, and there weren’t many individuals that actually wrote songs the best way Elton and I did, the place I wrote first and the melody got here after. There are a pair folks of that ilk, like Keith Reid (with Procol Harum) and Robert Hunter (for the Grateful Lifeless), however I believe if I did something I took it to a different stage and turn into extra of part of the band — to not say I used to be a rock star in any respect. That’s laughable. However I grew to become within the eyes of lots of people, say, an artist in my very own proper for what I contributed to the Elton John canon.
“So, yeah, I believe if something I’m distinctive in that sense. I’m not saying distinctive within the sense that I’m nice, or good. That’s for different folks to evaluate. What I’m saying is I believe my complete profession has been totally different to what the perceived idea of a songwriter is. I’m a contributor, principally.”
Along with John, Taupin has additionally written songs with and for Alice Cooper, Rod Stewart, Melissa Manchester, Coronary heart, Starship, Peter Cetera, Richie Sambora, Marianne Faithfull and others. He’s tried his hand as a performer as nicely, with three solo albums and, in the course of the 90s, two with a band he shaped referred to as Farm Canine.
Taupin says he’s heard from John a number of occasions in the course of the week (“He’s ecstatic”) and credit his longtime accomplice in addition to John’s husband David Furnish and Common Music Publish Group Chairman and CEO Jody Gerson for “placing some leverage into the voting committee” because it decided this 12 months’s recipients. “I had lots of people pushing for me and having my again,” Taupin acknowledges. “I’m grateful to all of them.”
Taupin’s induction will come after the September publication of his memoir Scattershot. He spent two years engaged on it — together with modifying it from an 800-page draft to “slightly below” 400 pages — and he’s acquired the preliminary galleys for it this week. “I believe folks might be stunned by it,” Taupin says. “It’s not a standard rock slog biography It’s not an A-to-Z life story. It’s non-linear. It’s extra vignettes of my life… I’m not evaluating it to Dylan’s Chronicles, nevertheless it has the identical kind of free-form really feel to it. I couldn’t be tethered to any restrictive autobiographical code. I simply needed to write it as I felt it.
“It’s fairly thrilling, I’ve to say. I by no means pat myself on the again about issues. I’m my very own worst critic. However I’m completely thrilled with it. It’s in all probability the most effective factor I’ve ever accomplished in my life. It’s extremely satisfying, and… I’m wanting ahead to having it out.”
The Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction ceremony will happen at Barclays Heart in Brooklyn on Nov. 3. Ticket data might be introduced sooner or later.
