elton john (45 posts)
Flu Knocks Out Elton's Tour
Jo Hale/Getty Images
Ticket holders for Elton John's Red Piano tour will have to have to wait a little longer to see the Grammy winner tickle his famed ivories.
The 62-year-old "Rocket Man" crooner was forced to cancel several concerts in the U.K. and Ireland and postpone three stateside gigs after he was doubly hit with an E. coli bacterial infection and the flu (the normal, not swine variety) last week.
John's doctor advised him to postpone dates in Seattle and Portland scheduled for early November to allow for more recovery time, according to a statement on the singer's official website.
"Promoter Live Nation, The KeyArena and The Rose Garden were informed by management that Elton has been advised by his doctor to postpone these performances due to a serious case of e-coli bacterial infection and influenza," the statement said.
Sir Elton is being treated at King Edward VII Hospital in Marylebone, London, according to the Daily Mail. The veteran performer was taken there Friday after his condition worsened and he was forced to cancel another performance in Dublin.
John's spokesman said Friday the singer was "bitterly disappointed not to [play] Dublin. He had picked Dublin to close the Red Piano worldwide, because of the great warmth of the people and the great concerts he had in the city over many years. He is hoping to reschedule the dates in the very near future."
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Update
Elton John Won't Be Adopting His Own Tiny Dancer
Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com
UPDATE: Looks like baby won't make three for Elton John and David Furnish.
A Ukrainian official has put the preemptive kibosh on any plans the pop icon may have had to adopt a 14-month-old HIV-infected boy named Lev.
Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told reporters that Ukrainian law requires adoptive parents to be both married (same-sex unions don't count) and under the age of 45 (John has considerably more rings around his trunk at the ripe old age of 62).
So, two strikes and he's out.
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Elton John might be expanding his brood.
The "Your Song" singer visited Ukraine with his AIDS Foundation on Saturday and found himself taken by a 14-month-old boy who lost his parents to the disease.
"David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said no because I am 62 and I think because of the traveling I do and the life I have...wouldn't be fair for the child," John said of his longtime partner, who was along for the trip.
So why now?
Curtain Time for Neil Patrick Harris, Dolly, Elton, Poison & Tonys!
Nancy Kaszerman/ZumaPress.com, Stephan Lovekin/Getty Images, Chris Delmas/ZumaPress.com, Jo Hale/Getty Images
If you thought all the stars singing and dancing at the Oscars was impressive, wait until you see the star power in tonight's Tony opener.
Pretty much all we can tell you is that Anne Hathaway, who opened the movie awards show with Hugh Jackman in February, will be sitting up close and personal at Radio City Music Hall as she's shown how it's done.
We know. We saw the dress rehearsal.
Here's what else we know...
First George Clooney! Next Sir Elton and the Nanny
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images, AP Photo/ Charlie Neibergall, Jeff Vespa/ Getty Images
George Clooney met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden yesterday at the White House, so which Hollywood stars could be next to visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
How about Elton John and Fran Drescher?
Sir Elton tells me he's hoping to meet with the president sooner than later to lobby about HIV/AIDS and gay rights.
"I want to go there as soon as possible to discuss [a national AIDS strategy] and gay marriage," John said at his 17th annual Oscar party and fundraiser for his AIDS foundation. "You read in papers that there are schools that won't even put on Rent! You think, 'Oh, my God! What kind of country is this?' Hopefully, with this administration we will be making headway."
Meanwhile, Drescher revealed that she's working on getting some face time with first lady Michelle Obama in April.
Madonna, Prince & Elton: Inside Their Star-Studded Soirees
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Just call them the Three Amigas.
Eva Longoria Parker, Victoria Beckham and Kate Beckinsale were inseparable last night at Elton John's 17th annual Oscar party and benefit for his AIDS Foundation. (He raised $4 mil this year.)
The pretty trio barely left their table, spending most of the evening chatting with one another or asking Beckinsale's hot hubby, director Len Wiseman, to take photos of them on their camera phones.
Gerard Butler was a late arrival to the bash. "I want to sing at the Oscars," Butler told me. "I just don't think they'd have me."
Dominic Cooper, who did take part in the big musical number with Hugh Jackman and Beyoncé, hit Sir Elton's with his Mamma Mia! costar and rumored-to-be romantical lady, Amanda Seyfried.
"I got a phone call that said singing and dancing at the Oscars," Cooper said. "I thought it was a joke. It was good fun. In the great scheme of things it was just a little dance and sing-song halfway through an incredible show."
Across town, Madonna, Demi Moore and Guy Oseary cohosted their second annual postawards-show party at Oseary's house. So who was there?
Exclusive
Madonna and Moore Teaming Up Again for Oscars
Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
Move over, Vanity Fair.
Madonna and Demi Moore are on their way to becoming the new queens of Oscar night.
I just got word that the two Hollywood sirens will, as they did last year, cohost a party with Guy Oseary at Oseary's L.A.-area home after this year's awards ceremony on Feb. 22.
Elton's Piano Leaving Las Vegas
Jo Hale/Getty Images
Elton John's Red Piano is going black.
The erstwhile Rocket Man has announced plans to close his long-running Las Vegas revue, taking his final curtain call on the Strip April 22.
Tickets for the final run of shows will go on sale tomorrow.
John kicked off his Sin City residency back on Feb. 14, 2004, and while he initially only signed on for 75 performances, popular demand led to an extension of his original 18-month run. His April 22 bow-out will mark his 241st time taking to the stage at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
"Caesars Palace has been honored for the past five years to host one of the world's most beloved performers, Elton John," resort president Gary Selesner said.
"Caesars Palace has a long history of memorable entertainment, and Elton John is an icon in the music industry, with international stature as not only a performer but also a gifted songwriter. We are grateful to Elton and his talented band for bringing so many memorable performances to Caesars Palace."
Not that his departure means a lack of star power on Caesars' marquee. John's show alternates with those of fellow headliners Cher and Bette Midler, who will continue their runs.
Lily Praises Po-po, Eviscerates Elton
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images; Ash Knotek/ZUMAPress.com
She may have had nothing but vitriol for cohost Elton John, but at Tuesday night's London-set GQ Men of the Year Awards, Lily Allen did have some kind words reserved for one British icon: the bobbies.
Before berating the Rocket Man onstage—and, as it were, before dispatching plenty of complimentary tipple—the 23-year-old "Smile" singer had nothing but praise for the London Metropolitan Police, thanking them publicly for rescuing a friend who had recently been abducted at gunpoint.
"My friend Charlie was kidnapped a few weeks ago and was kept in a car boot for six days without food or anything," she told reporters on her way into the show. "It was really scary."
Scarier even than going head-to-head with a cantankerous knighted pop star, if you can believe it.
Elton John Gets Iced (Cream)
Ben & Jerry's, Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com
The Rocket Man just hooked up with the ice cream guys.
Elton John has joined the rarified and rather delicious ranks of Stephen Colbert, Jerry Garcia, Monty Python, Dave Matthews and Phish, becoming the latest celebrity inspiration for a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor: Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road
The limited-edition treat will be rolled out for one week only later this month to coincide with John's first concert in the pint purveyors' home base of Vermont, the last state in the U.S. the Brit rock star has yet to perform in.
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