Elton: Why I fell out with Rod
Rocker’s jibes ‘turned friendly barbs into sad and strange spat’
SORRY seems to be the hardest word for former pals Sir Elton John and Sir Rod Stewart – after Elton lifted the lid on their feud.
The pair have enjoyed a friendly rivalry for 55 years but their jokey barbs have turned into a “sad and strange” spat over the past two years.
In a new chapter for the paperback edition of his autobiography, Elton accuses Rod of blanking him after making digs in March 2018 about his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
“He said that announcing my retirement was dishonest and ‘stank of selling tickets’,” fumes Elton. “It didn’t sound like one of our usually jokey swipes at each other.
“He was accusing me of being dishonest about one of the biggest decisions of my life.
“What’s more, I thought he had a f*****g cheek complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour.”
At the time, Rod, 75, claimed he emailed his pal a quip about his retirement tour, joking “what, again, dear?” in reference to Elton’s Final Curtain shows.
The Maggie May singer claimed he never heard back and last November, during an interview where he compared Elton film Rocketman to ABBA musical Mamma Mia!, Rod said they were no longer on speaking terms. Then last week, Rod said Elton
“had the hump” with him and claimed he snubbed an invitation for the family to play football at his home.
But Elton says he tried to reach out in an email in August 2018, saying of Rod’s quip: “Maybe he had meant it jokingly and it came out wrong.”
Elton says he added in the email: “We have known each other far too long to fall out over something like that. I love you dearly and only wish you the best. Looking forward to the new album. Much love to you and Penny, E xxx.’”
A few months later, he heard his former friend wanted to get in touch, and asked for his mobile number.
“I heard back that he couldn’t talk because he was on ‘constant vocal rest’ between shows,” Elton says.
“That seemed fair enough, until I noticed his complete vocal rest didn’t preclude him going on more chat shows and radio programmes calling me ‘money grabbing’ and slagging off Rocketman.
“He was happy enough chatting away on Loose Women, he just didn’t want to speak to me.
“I haven’t heard from him since... It just seems really strange and sad, not least because it’s deprived me of the opportunity to point out how much better my tour’s selling.”
The paperback edition of Elton John’s Me is available to buy now.