Elton John Im Still Standing a Grammy Salute Backdrop Art
Bernie Taupin: A man of lyrics, and now art
Bernie Taupin has been been Elton John'south musical collaborator for over l years, but his lyrics are but ane side of his creativity, as Lee Cowan found out on a recent visit:
You'd exist hard pressed to find whatsoever musician not influenced in some fashion by Sir Elton John, including Lady Gaga. She recently joined some other big-name artists for an upcoming Grammy salute to the fable who is, indeed, "however standing."
But information technology'southward not but Sir Elton's party. It'southward also for the man who has taken him down that Yellow Brick Road one give-and-take, one lyric at a fourth dimension: Bernie Taupin, who mostly prefers to stay out of the limelight. "I'm non the sort of person who sits around listening to my own music, or our own music," he said.
"How can you avoid information technology?" asked Cowan.
"It's hard to escape, right!" he laughed. "I mean, you're going to hear it in the supermarket and the elevator. Only so I'd be a little upset if I didn't, I suppose."
In the last v decades Elton John and Bernie Taupin have created at least 35 golden and platinum albums together -- a collaboration that's outlasted well-nigh everything, except their music'south popularity.
How did they stay together for 50 years? "Keeping out of each other's hair, I recall," Taupin said. "He's always proud of that, the fact that we've never really had a knock down, drag out fight."
"Is that truthful?" Cowan asked.
"That's true, yeah. I think nosotros just constitute a bond of brotherhood and camaraderie that it was me and him confronting the earth."
The hole-and-corner to their longevity, he says, is that he and Elton are as different as they are alike.
Before they met, Taupin was working odd jobs in rural central England, where he grew upwards without electricity.
While Elton was knighted, Taupin left England and became a U.South. citizen, making his abode on a thirty-acre ranch near Santa Barbara. "I always wanted to accept something that was indicative of a Western lifestyle," he said.
He started riding horses, and fifty-fifty began competing. His passion for horses was inherited by the eldest of his ii daughters, who is now an achieved barrel racer herself.
Taupin'southward wife, Heather, says it's a lifestyle that suits a human whose inventiveness has e'er needed some placidity isolation. "It never turns off; that's who he is," she told Cowan. "He'south an introvert all the mode. When he comes out of his beat out, it'south boot and screaming!"
And he works in a very solitary way, up in what Taupin calls his crow's nest.
"I'm just actually comfortable in my own environment when I write," he said. "No distractions. And the 1 benefit here, as you lot tin can imagine, is it's totally silent most of the time."
That'due south the way he's e'er worked -- separate from Elton, who doesn't play a note until he gets the words from Taupin first.
Cowan asked, "When you write something, do you tell Elton what the backstory is, or does he ask what the backstory is?"
"He never questions what I write," Taupin replied. "At that place are times that he doesn't understand the meaning of a song 'til a couple of years later.
"You should never over-think things. You should never have to explain things also much to people. Leave a little mystique, a little mystery, else it kind of spoils the whole game, I think."
That same kind of mystery extends to his other creative passion -- something you might take missed had you just walked by the Chase Contemporary Gallery in New York. Hanging on the walls are the visual extensions of Bernie Taupin's lyrical talents.
"I've lived in my imagination for 68 years," he said. "And this is the outcome of it."
He started painting back in the '90s, doing it quietly for the most part, until one of his pieces found its way in front end of collector and exhibition curator Dana Yarger.
"I said, 'Who's the artist?' And they said, 'Bernie Taupin.' And I said, 'Who's that?'" recalled Yarger. "I had no idea."
But he immediately saw something that went beyond Taupin'due south celebrity, and Yarger finally convinced him to put some of Taupin's works on display.
Now, Taupin said, "I only write when it's time to make a record. Now, quite honestly I mean, this is definitely my twenty-four hours job."
One sculpture, called "American Burka," uses items found on his ranch -- twine, barbed wire and padlocks.
But recently the ingredient he finds most appealing is the American flag. He's got a box full of them in his studio at his dwelling -- what used to be an one-time racquetball court.
"Hopefully at some point in the futurity, all of these [flags] will detect a home, mounted some style," he said.
He uses them in his work in part, sometimes in whole, only he says, ever with respect.
"I'1000 only in many ways just trying to show different means that the flag can be reassembled and come back from adversity, which it has done all through history," he said.
He's incorporated both the American flag and the British Union Jack into his almost contempo work -- the comprehend art for a new anthology called "Restoration," released this past week. In it, Taupin picked country artists similar Footling Large Town to embrace some of his favorites Elton John classics.
Information technology joins a companion anthology chosen "Revamp," a separate drove of Elton John covers done by pop artists like Sam Smith, Florence + the Automobile, Demi Lovato and Mumford and Sons.
Together, the two records celebrate two sides of one of the near successful collaborations in music -- a catalogue v decades in the making that has Bernie Taupin remembering what his fans have never forgotten.
"I've actually institute myself walking around singing and humming our songs, which is something I've never ever done," he said. "It gives you a whole new appreciation for your piece of work."
"Sounds like you're kind of surprised that yous were that good!" Cowan said.
"I think you might be right! This has definitely made me sit back and think, y'all know, this is pretty good. We've done practiced!"
See also:
- Elton John celebrates his wonderful life with song ("Sunday Morning," 02/28/16)
- Sir Elton John'due south photo album ("Sun Morning," eleven/13/sixteen)
For more info:
- "Revamp" and "Restoration" - Superstar artists re-imagine Elton John's biggest hits, on two collections from Virgin EMI and RCA Nashville; Bachelor via Amazon
- berniejtaupin.com
- Bernie Taupin at the Chase Gimmicky Gallery, New York City
- "Elton John: I'm Still Standing - A Grammy Salute" airs April 10 at nine p.g. ET/8 p.k. CT on CBS
Story produced by Alan Golds.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-taupin-elton-john-revamp-restoration/
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