: Sir Elton John turns 72 years old today (March 25th). Elton John’s: “Bennie and the Jets” from the album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” in 1973 first broke on black radio in Detroit, which couldn’t have pleased Elton more. Elton John was against releasing “Bennie and the Jets” as the third U.S. single off Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. He felt “Candle in the Wind” had a much better shot at success. Then he heard from his record label that a Canadian station in Windsor, Ontario, near Detroit, had started playing the song, which had become a hit on the Motor City’s black radio stations. Sir Elton recalls his reaction.
“How ironic that one of the greatest soul music places in the world like Detroit. You have to realize that when I first came to America and went to places like Memphis, I went to the Stax studio and knelt before the 8-track machine and kissed it. I went to Motown Studios. I went to the Apollo Theater in New York. As a British person who loved American music, it was very, very important to me to pay homage to the places where the great music came out of.”
Photo Credit: Andrew Evans / PR Photos
