Last night, I finished reading Elton John’s new autobiography called ME. What a great book! I really enjoyed the movie, Rocketman, this summer but was a bit disappointed that it didn’t cover more of Elton’s life. The book definitely made up for it!

You’d think that with a life like his, the book would be huge. Not so. It’s only 354 pages but it’s packed with interesting stories and covers Elton’s entire life. There was never a dull moment for me.

I’ve been a long-time fan of his, at least since the 80’s when I became old enough to really start falling in love with certain kinds of music. I think his 1989 album, “Sleeping With the Past,” was probably the first album of his I bought. Eventually, I’d go back and discover his earlier work. I was surprised that some of his later albums which I loved, like “Made in England” and “The Big Picture,” were some of Bernie’s least favorites.

The book is full of interesting stories, and tons of celebrities, but Elton tells the story quickly and moves on. He doesn’t get bogged down in unnecessary details. He gives you the juicy details and keeps going. I particularly liked a story about Princess Diana, Sylvester Stallone, and Richard Gere being at his house for a dinner party and Stallone and Gere almost got into a fist fight over Diana! There’s another heartfelt story about Leon Russell and the 2010 duet album they did together called The Union. It’s one of my favorites and I still listen to it today.

I even discovered an album I’d never even heard about! It took me longer to read this book than others simply because I kept stopping and Googling songs or other things that were mentioned in it. I’ve really been enjoying a lot of biographies this year, but I have to say this is one of the best. I highly recommend it!