David Furnish, the husband of Sir Elton John, has shared an update on his spouse’s health ahead of his upcoming surgery.
Furnish spoke about Sir Elton’s current health during a new interview with The Sun, and revealed that he has hopes that the surgery will leave the rock icon feeling like “a new man”.
The singer, songwriter and pianist is set to undergo a knee operation in the next few weeks and, according to his partner, he is doing well in the run-up to the surgery.
“He’s doing amazing,” he told the outlet at his and Sir Elton’s annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscars viewing party (via Music News).
“He’s having another knee done in a couple of weeks and by the time the summer rolls around, he’ll have two brand new spanking knees.”
Furnish also joked that his 76-year-old partner may be up for hitting the dancefloor again after the surgery, despite wrapping up his final tour last year. “I think you’ll see him breakdancing down the carpet next year,” he said.
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The rock veteran completed his final ever tour – titled ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ – last year, which included an already iconic slot at Glastonbury in the summer.
The performance at Worthy Farm was given a glowing five-star review by NME’s Andrew Trendell, who described it as “one of the festival’s best-ever headline sets”.
“The crowd present are all ages, with the youngest singing even louder for one simple reason: Elton’s music is timeless and travels. Banger after banger comes, with never a lull,” it read. “It was a Glasto set for the ages from a true all-time great. We’ll never see his kind again.”
Although his touring days have come to an end, the musician has said that the decision doesn’t mean he has ruled out live shows altogether, as he still has plans to play the odd show in the future.
In his time away from the live stage, he has already begun working on new music and has been recording with various names across the music industry.
For example, it was recently reported that he had completed a new album with country music icon Brandi Carlile. He has also shared that he had just finished recording a new album, which features the help of his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
Currently, few details are known about the upcoming album, which was announced at the 2023 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Ceremony, when Taupin was inducted after nearly 60 years of collaborating with Sir Elton.
Shortly before the ceremony, Taupin also teased new music was in the works, telling Rolling Stone: “We’ve got some plans laid that can’t really be discussed right now.
Back in 2021, Sir Elton spoke about what the future holds when he sat down with NME as part of The Big Read series, ahead of his now-completed final tour.
“At the moment I finish supposedly in 2023, in the summer, by which time I’ll be 76 – and that’s it, baby,” he said at the time. “I can’t wait to do it and have a great time, and I can’t wait to finish and say, ‘No more – I’ve had enough.’”
“I will do records and I’ll do my radio show, but as far as schlepping and doing shows? I’ve had enough applause,” he added. “I wanna be with my family. I wanna be with my boys. I’ll still be creative, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life flying here, flying there. I can’t do any more than I’ve done now and save for the odd charity thing that may come up, that’s it for me.”
“It’s the future I’m interested in. I’m not interested in the past – not even Elton John’s past,” he concluded during the interview. “I know I have to sing what I do onstage but I very, very rarely go back and listen to my own records. I’m more interested in hearing something new.”