Elton John Icon by ACC Art Books

INTRODUCTION

VAL WILMER

ED CARAEFF

AMALIE R. ROTHSCHILD

GOVERT DE ROOS

DAVID NUTTER

ALLAN TANNENBAUM

SONIA MOSKOWITZ

GERED MANKOWITZ

NORMAN PARKINSON

BARRY SCHULTZ

ROB VERHORST

JANET MACOSKA

DAVID CORIO

PATRICK HARBRON

JIMMY STEINFELDT

DAFYDD JONES

BRIAN ARIS

MARK ALLEN

TERRY O ʼ NEILL

CAPTIONS

J IMMY STEINFELDT

Elton John’s songs have been a soundtrack to my life.

I was in junior high when he came to town for the Follow the Yellow Brick Road Tour. My younger sister and her friend had tickets to the show, and they asked me if I wanted to come along. Regrettably, I said no. At the time I was more into the music of Herb Alpert, the Carpenters and soft rock. This would change the year I started high school – the year Caribou was released.

I bought that album and listened to it constantly. Then I listened to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – then everything else. I pasted Elton’s poster on my bedroom door and gave his Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album pride of place on my bookshelf. Deciding his music was more important than study, I made cassette tapes of his songs and brought them to school. I couldn’t play them during class, but I figured I could listen to them through headphones on the Wollensak tape player in the language lab during break times.

Needless to say, this was not what the lab was intended for. The tape player had a plug-in which allowed six students to listen to foreign language tapes together. Word got around that I was using it as a jukebox, and soon, instead of improving our German and French, a bunch of us were enjoying the hit songs of Elton John. For me, an added bonus was that most of my co-listeners were cheerleaders. Eventually, however, our teacher found out, and it was back to practising Spanish verbs.

At some point I learned that Elton composed the music while Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics, and this would be something I kept in mind when years later I started to write and record songs. Almost all my songs are co-written with amazing musicians I first met through photographing them. In each case we became friends, jammed, and eventually started writing songs together. I’ve always admired how Elton could take words written by Bernie and sing them with the passion and skill of someone who’d written them himself. I can’t think of any songwriting team where this has been better demonstrated.

I am lucky enough to have met both halves of the duo, and they couldn’t have been nicer. I encountered Bernie in Idyllwild, California

ELTON COULD TAKE WORDS WRITTEN BY BERNIE AND SING THEM WITH PASSION AND SKILL

at a songwriters’ camp, and he signed the Captain Fantastic poster I had cherished for decades. I met Elton during his 1986 tour. Just before he took the stage, he graciously signed a large print of my photo of him in a star-emblazoned hat playing the piano – a wonderfully kind thing for him to do. That print is proudly displayed in my photo studio.

I’ve been honoured to photograph Elton during three of his tours. He is one of the most photographable performers in history, with his charisma and enthusiasm, and his wardrobe, from the hats to the platform shoes – and, of course, the outrageous glasses. I thank him for his influence on my songwriting, and will always consider him one of the greatest musical artists of all time.

Jimmy Steinfeldt is a self-taught photographer from Minneapolis who has captured musical legends such as Madonna, Willie Nelson, Miles Davis, Dee Dee Ramone and many more. In 1986 his dreams as a music fan and photographer came true when Rolling Stone published his photo of Bob Dylan. His work has also appeared in TIME, SPIN, Playboy, the Los Angeles Times and hundreds of other publications. In 1998 and again in 2007, Jimmy was named Photographer of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards. He also won Best Music Video of 2014 at the New Media Film Festival, Los Angeles, and received the Best of LA Award in 2017. His major solo exhibitions have been held in LA, Las Vegas, La Quinta and Minneapolis. In 2012, Jimmy was part of the internationally recognised group exhibit Who Shot Rock & Roll at the Annenberg Space for Photography. He is an ambassador for Leica cameras.

THE WHO WERE CLOSING THEIR WORLD TOUR AND ELTON WAS ONE OF THE GUESTS. NO BIG ACCESS, NO SPECIAL TREATMENT –I JUST NEEDED TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH, STEADY MY HANDS, AND CAPTURE THE MOMENT

Elton John: ICON is more than a collection of photographs; it is a celebration of a man who has touched the lives of millions through his music, his style, his generosity and his unwavering authenticity. Above all, it is a testament to Elton’s enduring legacy. Featuring the work of 19 remarkable photographers, alongside reminiscences about their encounters and collaborations with Elton, this volume presents rare and unseen images, album covers, outtakes, portraits, and live performances.

Elton: ICON is a visually stunning tribute to one of music’s all-time legends.