Elton John is the firstborn child of Stanley Dwight, a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force and a trumpet player with the Bob Millar Band. This semi-professional big band performed at military dances. When Elton was 14 years old, his parents divorced, and his father remarried in the 1970s and had three boys. Stanley passed away in 1991 from a heart attack.

Elton's relationship with his dad and mom was strained. In his new autobiography, 'Me,' Elton confesses that he spent his entire career 'trying to show my father what I'm made of' to obtain his approval and recognition. In an interview with the BBC about the book, he says he doesn't harbor resentment, describing his father as a 'product of his time' - uptight, emotionally stunted and trapped in an unhappy marriage. 'Although he didn't come to the shows or write me a letter to say, 'well done,' I don't think he knew how to.'