O'Connell was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 18, 2001. She is the daughter of teacher, actress, and screenwriter Maggie Baird, and construction worker Patrick O'Connell, who worked part-time as an actor, appearing in films like Iron Man. Both her parents are amateur musicians. She is of Irish and Scottish descent. The singer's middle name, Eilish, was originally meant to be her first name, while Pirate (proposed by her brother Finneas, four years her senior) was to be her middle name. She was conceived via in vitro fertilization. She was raised in Los Angeles' Highland Park neighborhood.
John was awarded Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004 and a Disney Legends Award in 2006. In 2000, he was named the MusiCares Person of the Year for his artistic achievement in the music industry and dedication to philanthropy. In 2010, he received the PRS for Music Heritage Award, which was erected on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Northwood, London, where John performed his first gig. In 2019, President Emmanuel Macron appointed John a chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
More InfoA longtime tennis enthusiast, he wrote the song "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to his friend Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis team, the Philadelphia Freedoms. King was a player-coach for the team at the time. John and King remain friends and co-host an annual pro-am event to benefit AIDS charities, most notably the Elton John AIDS Foundation, of which King is a chairperson. John, who maintains a part-time residence in Atlanta, Georgia, became a fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team when he moved there in 1991.
More InfoA biopic about John's life from his childhood to the 1980s, Rocketman, was produced by Paramount Pictures and released in May 2019. It was directed by Dexter Fletcher, who had also directed Bohemian Rhapsody (a biopic about John's close friend Freddie Mercury), and stars Taron Egerton as John. John and Egerton performed a new song written for Rocketman, "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again", which premiered on BBC Radio 2 in 2019. The song would see John win the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the second time. In October 2019, John released what he described as his "first and only autobiography," Me. The audiobook of Me was narrated by Egerton, with John reading the Prologue and Epilogue.
More InfoElton John has written with Bernie Taupin since 1967, when he answered an advertisement for talent placed in the popular UK music publication, New Musical Express, by Liberty records A&R man Ray Williams. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. Their method involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. Taupin writes a set of lyrics, then sends them to John, who then writes the music and records the song. In November 2017, John said of their 50-year partnership,
More InfoElton John has written with Bernie Taupin since 1967, when he answered an advertisement for talent placed in the popular UK music publication, New Musical Express, by Liberty records A&R man Ray Williams. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. Their method involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. Taupin writes a set of lyrics, then sends them to John, who then writes the music and records the song. In November 2017, John said of their 50-year partnership,
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