Elton John has revealed how he “hijacked” a Rolling Stones gig in the 1980s while high on cocaine.
The music icon, who battled drug addiction in the 1980s, revealed how he outstayed his welcome after being invited to play ‘Honky Tonk Women’ at a gig in Colorado.
The ‘Rocket Man’ singer outlined the incident in his upcoming autobiography Me, revealing how guitarist Keith Richards gave him the first indication that the band weren’t happy with his antics.
“I decided it was going so well, I’d stay on and jam along to the rest of their set, without first taking the precaution of asking the Stones if they wanted an auxiliary keyboard player,” he wrote, as serialised by the Daily Mail.
“For a while, I thought Keith Richards kept staring at me because he was awestruck by the brilliance of my improvised contributions to their oeuvre. After a few songs, it finally penetrated my brain that the expression on his face wasn’t really suggestive of profound musical appreciation.”
Describing his eventual exit, Elton explained: “I quickly scuttled off, noting as I went that Keith was still staring at me in a manner that suggested we’d be discussing this later, and decided it might be best if I didn’t hang around for the after-show party.”
Recommended
The new memoir also sees Elton outlining his more recent battles – including undergoing treatment for prostate cancer in 2017.
He revealed that he was “24 hours from death” when he contracted an infection following cancer surgery.
“I was incredibly lucky – although, I have to say, I didn’t feel terribly lucky at the time,” John wrote. “I lay awake all night, wondering if I was going to die.
The illness also encouraged his decision to embark on one final farewell tour, before retiring to spend more time with his husband, David Furnish, and their sons, Zachary and Elijah.
“In the hospital, alone at the dead of night, I’d prayed: please don’t let me die, please let me see my kids again, please give me a little longer,” he wrote.
“In a strange way, it felt like the time I spent recuperating was the answer to my prayers: if you want more time, you need to learn to live like this, you have to slow down.”
Elton John’s Me is set for release on October 15.