British singer-songwriter Elton John has confirmed that he has lost eyesight. The 77-year-old shared the heartbreaking news at the Dominion Theatre in London’s West End on Sunday, following the premiere of The Devil Wears Prada: The Musical.
John, who composed the score for the musical, addressed the audience after the show, saying, “As some of you may know, I have had issues and now I have lost my sight. I haven’t been able to see the performance, but I have enjoyed listening to it.”
The musician also thanked his husband, Canadian filmmaker David Furnish, for his support during this challenging time. “To my husband, who’s been my rock, because I haven’t been able to come to many of the previews...but I love to hear them. And, boy, it sounded good tonight! Okay! Thank you for coming!”
In October, John revealed on Good Morning America that he had lost complete vision in his right eye after catching an infection while in the south of France. “It's been four months now since I haven't been able to see, and my left eye is not the greatest. I'm kind of stuck in the moment...going into the studio and recording, I don't know, because I can't see a lyric for start,” the singer said.
John is best known for composing the music for the 1994 mega-hit animated musical The Lion King, in collaboration with Hans Zimmer, who created the musical score. His most popular songs include Your Song, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man, and Tiny Dancer, to name a few.
He wrote Candle in the Wind as a tribute to American actress Marilyn Monroe, and in 1997, released a revised version of it to perform at the funeral of Princess Diana, which quicky peaked at No. 1 in the U.K. Charts. The '97 version became the second-best-selling single in the world, with 33 million copies sold according to the Guinness World Records.
John is one of the few entertainers in the world to have received the prestigious EGOT, having won an Emmy Award, five Grammy Awards, two Oscars, and a Tony Award. A film based on his life, Rocketman, was released in 2019, starring Taron Egerton as the famed singer, along with Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Gemma Jones.
