Sir Elton John has announced the details of his forthcoming studio album – Who Believes In Angels? – and said he will take to the London Palladium for special performance next month
Superstar Sir Elton John has admitted his career was over after he performed at Glastonbury.
The music legend, 77, said he felt “grumpy and very nervous” following his performance at the music festival in June 2023. His Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour ended the following month – after 330 concerts worldwide across five years, albeit with a break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite this, Sir Elton experienced self-doubt when he tried to develop his next album and he considered his time in music – which started professionally in 1962 – had come to an abrupt end.
“When I did Glastonbury and finished the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, I thought that’s my Elton John career finished… I was not in a good space when I went in [to the studio for this album] I was tired, I was grumpy and I was very nervous because I had a visual of how I wanted this album to be… but all the problems I had to start with were my self-doubt,” the superstar said last night.
Sir Elton, who has won six Grammy Awards, overcame his difficulties with support from friend Brandi Carlile. The US singer, 43, has collaborated with Sir Elton for his new album, Who Believes In Angels?, which will be released in the spring. Before the album’s release, Sir Elton and Carlile will take to the London Palladium on March 26 for an evening of performance and storytelling.
And the singer and pianist told Nicki Chapman on Magic Radio he is hugely grateful for Brandi’s strength. He added: “Brandi was so helpful with overcoming that self-doubt, she would come round to the house and one morning I was sitting here with the newspaper and saying ‘it was so awful, the world is such a bad place’ and I was so miserable and she took that and wrote A Little Light.
“She took my bad, grumpy, irritable feelings about the world and turned it into a really positive song… I’m happier with this than anything I’ve done in years and years. and have a different combination.”
Brandi, from Washington, US, is known for hits including The Story and has collaborated with artists including Hozier, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys. She said the album, which also features Swing For The Fences, represents “joyful and euphoric happenings”.
Sir Elton’s headline set at Glastonbury in 2023 was his last UK performance as part of the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which ended with an emotionally charged show in Stockholm, Sweden.
