Elton John has performed with many iconic musicians, and he once had the opportunity to play with Prince. Prince had a history of pulling odd stunts, and John said it was no different during their performance. He compared the experience to playing with John Lennon, which he did many years ago.
Prince once snubbed Elton John at a restaurant
Elton John became an international pop sensation during the 1970s. A decade later, a young Prince was beginning to make the same ascension. Both had unique styles that made them larger-than-life figures outside of their music.
In Duane Tudahi’s book Prince and the Parade and Sign O’ the Times Era Studio Sessions: 1985 and 1986, John recalled an awkward encounter with the “Purple Rain” singer at a Los Angeles restaurant. The “Tiny Dancer” went to go meet Prince, but Prince ignored him and walked away silently.
“He was standing alone by a wall, so I went up and introduced myself to him: ‘Hi, my name’s Elton, and I’m a huge fan of yours, and I just wanted to say… ‘ That was as far as I got – Prince just walked off without a word,” John said. “As you can imagine, that was quite a deflating experience, but I knew how shy he was – everyone knew how shy Prince was – and I loved his music so much that a few years later, I tried again.”
Elton John said his performance with Prince was like playing with John Lennon
Years later, Prince had a 6-month residency in Las Vegas. John was in attendance and asked Prince if he could join him on stage, to which Prince agreed. However, the duet ended early as Prince abruptly walked off stage.
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“So I went on stage with him, and we started playing ‘The Long and Winding Road’,” John explained. “It’s sounding great. Midway through the song, I looked around. No Prince: he’d just walked off again.”
The two finally performed a duet of the Beatles track in 2007, which Elton John compared to playing with “John Lennon, or Bob Dylan, or Ray Charles.” Even with all of these odd incidents, the “Candle in the Wind” singer considered Prince the greatest performer he’d ever seen and “a true genius.”
John got Lennon to make a rare appearance at Madison Square Garden
John Lennon and Elton John formed a strong friendship at the beginning of the 1970s. The two worked on a pair of songs: John’s “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” cover and Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” The pair made a bet that if Lennon’s song hit No. 1 on the charts, then he would have to join Elton to perform it live. Lennon lost the bet and made a surprise appearance at a 1974 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The pair performed three songs together, and it, unfortunately, became Lennon’s last major concert performance before his 1980 death. In the BBC Radio documentary, John Lennon at 80, Elton said Lennon was quite nervous about performing and was “absolutely physically sick.” However, he stuck to his end of the bargain, and all the nerves disappeared when he stepped out of the curtain.
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