Elton John: 'I still want my dad's approval'

He may have started out singing cover versions on cheap compilation albums, but Elton John went on to become the fifth highest-selling recording artist of all time.

He was the first musician to enter the US album charts at number one. He has won a Brit award for outstanding achievement three times. And he owns six gold, 38 platinum and one diamond albums.

None of this, however, impressed his father. 

Stanley Dwight, a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, never attended one of Elton's shows, and never expressed pride in his son's success. Their relationship was strained until his death from heart disease in 1991.

Writing in his new autobiography, Me, Elton admits he spent his whole career "trying to show my father what I'm made of".

"It's crazy, but I just wanted his approval," the star tells the BBC, in the only print interview about his book. "I'm still trying to prove to him that what I do is fine - and he's been dead for almost 30 years."

Strikingly, however, the star harbours no resentment, describing his father as a "product of his time" - uptight, emotionally stunted and trapped in an unhappy marriage. 

"Although he didn't really come to the shows or write me a letter to say, 'well done', I don't think he knew how to," he explains.

Read the full article from the BBC here