Elton John - The rocket man blasts off in full pomp (and sequins)
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Your support makes all the difference.This photograph of a sell-out concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1975 shows Elton John, in sequinned Dodgers baseball kit. "I jumped on stage to take this shot after the song was over," says the photographer Terry O'Neill. "He didn't mind, and even announced who I was. I knew him well enough by then to get on stage."
The photograph is part a collection from O'Neill's private archive that make up Eltonography: A Life in Pictures, which opened in Camden this week. Photos include John at his Windsor mansion posing next to his sports car in the 1970s. "We wanted to make the picture more eye-catching so he wore a mask." Another shows John in the bedroom on his private jet, underneath a fur cover. There's John in his bathroom during the 1970s, in an old towelling robe, surrounded by aftershave. "He always did things in abundance and the aftershave is an example. He's the best-smelling pop star I've met," O'Neill says.
John lying on his bed at home in Windsor is a 1970s classic. Another "at home" classic shows him in his orangery with a white rabbit. "Every time I photographed him, I never knew what he was going to wear. He went through a fur period, a fancy-dress period, hot pants – he had the most bewildering selection of clothes. He just produced all these magic looks."
Eltonography: A Life in Pictures, Proud Gallery, London NW1 (020-7839 4942; www.proud.co.uk), to 2 November
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