Travel safe, mum. Thank you for everything. Love, Elton

Tender tribute after 7yr rift

ELTON John has been left devastated following the death of his mum whom he had reconciled with after a seven-year feud.

The singer, 70, posted on Instagram a picture of him and Sheila Farebrother, 92, together, and wrote: “So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning. I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum. Thank-you for everything. I will miss you so much. Love, Elton.”

Their rift began in 2008, when Elton reshuffled his team and told her to cease contact with Bob Halley – his chauffeur turned personal assistant of 30 years – and ex-manager John Reid.

Speaking in 2015, Sheila said she refused to “drop them”, saying: “To my utter amazement, he told me he hated me. And he then banged the phone down. Imagine! To me, his mother!”

“And it was all so stupid – so petty.

WEDDING

“He told me I thought more of Bob than I did of my own son. I said, ‘You think more of that f***ing thing you married than your own mother.’ Those were the last words I spoke to him.”

Elton has said there were issues between his mum and his husband, David Furnish, 55. He said: “It upsets me but, to be honest, I don’t miss her.”

She previously said: “I’d like to give Furnish a punch right on the bloody earhole! If I had the chance, I’d do it.”

Sheila was not invited to their 2014 wedding, attended by their sons, Zachary, seven, and Elijah, four, and he did not go to his stepdad Fred’s funeral. But in 2015, when Sheila turned 90, she hired an Elton John impersonator to sing at her party, and Elton bought her white orchids.

Insiders said he also paid for her to have a double hip replacement.

This year, on American Mother’s Day, he wrote on social media: “Dear Mum, Happy Mother’s Day! So happy we are back in touch. Love, Elton xo.”

BEFORE FIGHT At an Elton AIDS charity do in 2003 FAMILY Elton with Sheila and stepdad Fred Farebrother BIRTHDAY Sheila with lookalike