Sir Elton John admits he's 'terrible at business'

10 November 2017

Sir Elton John thinks he is "terrible at business".

Sir Elton John and David Furnish

The 70-year-old music legend strongly believes he could run a record company "very, very well" because he is "fascinated" by the music industry but he's not sure he could venture into other avenues like many of his pop peers who have their own clothing lines and or gadget lines.

Speaking to The I Paper, the 'Tiny Dancer' hitmaker said: "I've always been fascinated by charts. I could run a record company very, very well, except that I'm terrible at business, but I'm fascinated by what I do."

Despite his lack of confidence in his business acumen, Elton did become chairman and director of Watford Football Club in 1976, appointing Graham Taylor as manager and he invested large sums of his own money to get the team into the top division of English soccer and eventually to the 1984 FA Cup Final, although they were beaten by Everton.

After selling the club in 1987 he remained president, but re-purchased it again in 1997 and was chairman until 2002. He still holds a significant financial interest in Watford and is a regular at games with his husband David Furnish and their two sons, four-year-old son Elijah and Zachary, six.

Elton has always been an avid collector of albums and he insists he's still as interested in the new releases coming out not as he's ever been in his life.

He said: "I go on [the music website] Pause&Play, which says which albums are coming out in the next two months, I write down the ones I want, I order them in America. I write done the ones I want in England, and I order them in England. I do it with books and DVDs, because I want to be at the front of the cultural movement that's going on all the time. I'm not going to look back; I want to be there now."

And his top tip for aspiring musicians is to get out there and play.

He said: "If you're an artist, or if you want to be an artist, you go and play - you get a band together or you go and play live. Ed Sheeran, who is signed to our management company, started out playing in people's living rooms and busking. Go out if you've got a guitar or piano; play in a bar, in a hotel. If I'm in a hotel, I always go up to the piano player and say, 'How are you doing?' Because there, but for the grace of God, go I."