The mouth that roars has been temporarily silenced.
Elton John has canceled a second concert date due to a throat infection.
The singer nixed a long-planned Sunday concert at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Center in Glasgow. Just two days prior to the Scottish gig, John called in sick on a Nottingham, England, concert. The flamboyant one is currently on a mini-tour of the U.K.
"I've been doing all that I can to try to get my voice back and I've seen a throat specialist again today," John said in a statement Sunday. "[The doctor] advised that it would be foolish to go ahead with tonight's show."
The ailing John managed to rally for a Monday night show in London, the first of a four-night at the Carling Apollo Hammersmith.
"I'm happy to say I'm amazed that I'm still around," John told the audience Monday.
The Rocket Man's most recent set of problems were also voice-related. Comments he made last month regarding George Michael have come back to haunt him. John was quoted in November as saying Michael was "in a strange place" with "a deep-rooted unhappiness" based on listening to the former Wham! singer's new album. But Michael shot back this week in an open letter to a U.K. tabloid mag, saying, "Elton John knows nothing about George Michael...we have rarely spoken in the past 10 years."
Last week, John provided more fodder for the London tabs when he mouthed off that Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham was responsible for her alleged marriage woes to soccer star David Beckham. In October, John caused a minor controversy after he accused Madonna of lip-synching. And in September, John certainly had no trouble finding his voice when he shouted down Taiwanese paparazzi in Taipei's airport, calling them "rude, vile pigs."
John has since apologized to the Taiwanese people (although he refused to take back his comments directed at the shutterbugs), Madonna and Posh.
The Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who was feted earlier this month with a star-studded tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors, will keep himself busy on this side of the pond in 2005. He will start his blockbuster Vegas residency in February at Caesars Palace. John will also spend some of 2005 producing a half-hour comedy for ABC about an aging rock superstar and his entourage. In addition, he will finish work on his Broadway adaptation of Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat, which is slated for a 2005 debut.