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Sir Elton John is retiring from the road after his upcoming three-year global tour, capping nearly 50 years on stages around the world.
Key points:
- Sir Elton said he wanted to spend more time with his family, adding he has "had a good run"
- He will tour Australia and New Zealand from December 2019 to February 2020
- He has sold 300 million records after launching his first tour in 1970, and boasts having performed over 4,000 times in more than 80 countries
The 70-year-old singer, one of the best-selling recording artists in the world over a 50-year career, told a news conference in New York that his priorities have changed after becoming a parent to two children with his husband David Furnish.
"I love them so much. I don't want to miss them and I don't want them to miss me," he said.
"My priorities now are my children and my husband and my family.
"This is the end."
He added that he has "had a good run" and said he wanted to "leave people thinking, 'I saw the last tour and it was fantastic'."
His children will be aged 10 and eight when he stops in 2021, and Sir Elton said he hoped he might be able to take them to soccer practice.
'I want to be home with my children more'
He said his last tour, called Farewell Yellow Brick Road, would start in September 2018 in the United States and would last through 2021, taking him all around the world.
He will tour Australia and New Zealand from December 2019 to February 2020.
"It will be a wonderful way to thank people," he said.
"It's a way of going out with a bang. I'm not the kind of guy to go out with a whimper."
Sir Elton made the announcement after a live performance of his hits Tiny Dancer and I'm Still Standing.
He wore his signature glasses and a colourful suit jacket that read "Gucci Loves Elton".
With a penchant for flamboyant stage costumes and an ear for piano rockers and ballads, he has dominated the pop industry for decades with hits like Your Song and Candle in the Wind.
He denied British media reports that he was quitting touring because of ill health.
But he said he had been on the road since he was 17, adding: "I can't physically do the travelling anymore. I want to be home with my children more."
Sir Elton and Furnish married in 2014 and the couple are raising two sons, Zachary, seven, and Elijah, five, who were born through a surrogate mother.
"I never thought that I could love anything as much as I love my sons ... I never thought I could be a father, I thought I'm too selfish, too set in my ways," he said.
Star plans to still remain creative
Sir Elton is due to perform at the Grammy Awards in New York on Sunday. On January 30, musicians including Miley Cyrus, John Legend, Chris Martin and Sam Smith will pay tribute to his music and career at a previously announced concert in New York.
Sir Elton, who has Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards for his work in film and theatre including The Lion King and Billy Elliott, said he planned to remain creative but said that after the tour he would likely take two or three years off from writing music.
Once a hard-partying rock star with a voracious appetite for cocaine and alcohol, Sir Elton has achieved the kind of long-lasting fame enjoyed by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
He has sold 300 million records after launching his first tour in 1970, and boasts having performed over 4,000 times in more than 80 countries.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
He also was one of the first celebrities to become involved in the fight against AIDS. His AIDS Foundation, established in 1992, has raised millions of dollars for prevention and services.
AP/Reuters
Topics: music, arts-and-entertainment, human-interest, united-kingdom
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