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Sir Elton John recently shared that he had been recovering from a severe infection, which had left him with limited sight in one eye.
The Your Song singer, 77, said it had left him struggling to work because his vision in his left eye is ‘not the greatest’ either.
It’s not the first time the musician has dealt with health issues as he’s opened up on his multiple surgeries, infections, and addiction battles over the decades.
‘To be honest with you, there’s not much of me left. I don’t have tonsils, adenoids or an appendix. I don’t have a prostate,’ he told People Magazine earlier this year.
‘I don’t have a right hip or a left knee or a right knee. In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip. But I’m still here. And I can’t thank you [enough], you’re the people that made me.’
Here we take a look at Sir Elton’s health woes that he has spoken about during his career.
Addiction issues and bulimia
Sir Elton’s battles with addiction have been well documented across the years, including in the 2019 biopic Rocketman.
In a 2010 interview with Piers Morgan, the star explained how he experienced much of the 1970s and 80s intoxicated by alcohol and drugs.
‘This is how bleak it was: I’d stay up, I’d smoke joints, I’d drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I’d stay up for three days and then I’d go to sleep for a day and half, get up, and because I was so hungry, because I hadn’t eaten anything, ‘ he said.
‘I’d binge and have like three bacon sandwiches, a pot of ice cream and then I’d throw it up because I became bulimic and then go and do the whole thing all over again.
‘And I’m not being flippant when I say that, when I look back I shudder at the behaviour and what I was doing to myself.’
He went on to say that his substance abuse issues ‘very nearly’ ended his life: ‘I mean, I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later I’d be snorting another line.’
Sir Elton credits meeting AIDs patient Ryan White as helping him get sober and start his AIDs foundation.
During a Harvard University talk in 2017, he said: ‘I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family.
‘I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more. Ryan was the spark that helped me to recover from my addictions and start the AIDS foundation. Within six months [of White’s death] I became sober, and clean, and have been for 27 years.’
In 2012, the musician told NPR how he still has vivid dreams about his drug use: ‘I still dream, twice a week at least, that I’ve taken cocaine and I have it up my nose. And it’s very vivid and it’s very upsetting, but at least it’s a wake-up call.’
Throat surgery
In 1987, Sir Elton had throat surgery to remove potentially cancerous nodules from his vocal cords while on tour.
It came after the musician had spent 15 months on tour, performing roughly 200 shows.
The surgery altered Sir Elton’s singing voice, with him telling Billboard in 2004: ‘I just have more resonance in my voice and I’m much happier with that.
‘Halfway through my career I got a voice change, thanks a lot! And I’ve learned to breathe properly, I’ve watched other people singing, I’ve become a much better singer. I’ve become a singer that plays the piano instead of a piano player that sings.’
Having a pacemaker fitted
In 1999, Sir Elton had a pacemaker fitted after it was discovered he had an irregular heartbeat.
A source told The Sun at the time that the music icon was ‘anxious but calm’ as he travelled from the South of France to London for the surgery.
He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat after collapsing while travelling to perform at the wedding of Victoria and David Beckham.
Sir Elton had cancelled several shows at the time due to similar episodes which he put down to an ear infection.
The insider continued: ‘He couldn’t believe that his collapses were just down to an ear infection.
‘It made sense that there was a problem with his heart and he is enormously relieved that it has been discovered early enough for him to be treated.’
E-coli infection
In 2009, Sir Elton was hospitalised after contracting a serious E-coli infection while suffering from influenza.
At the time he had to pull out of several UK and Ireland tour dates due to illness.
Speaking to reported outside of the hospital, his husband David Furnish assured: ‘He’s OK. He’s fine.’ (per The Independent).
A spokesperson for the singer added: ‘He is recovering from a case of serious influenza with minor complications.
‘We are confident he will be back on stage in the near future.’
Serious respiratory infection
Sir Elton was forced to cancel four shows in Las Vegas in 2012 after being diagnosed with a serious respiratory infection.
After undergoing a series of tests doctors told Sir Elton he needed ‘complete rest and antibiotic treatment to prevent damage’, it was reported at the time.
‘It feels strange not to be able to perform these Million Dollar Piano concerts at the Colosseum,’ he told TMZ.
‘I love performing the show and I will be thrilled when we return to the Colosseum in October to complete the 11 concerts.
‘All I can say to the fans is “sorry I can’t be with you”.’
Appendicitis
Sir Elton was ‘lucky to be alive’ after suffering from appendicitis and having his appendix removed in 2013.
The music legend was forced to cancel his gig at London’s Hyde Park as well as many more of his European tour dates after he was left crippled with stomach pains on Friday.
Tests soon showed he had suffered a dangerous appendix abscess.
‘I’m lucky to be alive,’ he admitted to The Sun. ‘I was a ticking time bomb. I guess I could have died at any time.’
Sir Elton mistakenly diagnosed his appendix abscess as food poisoning and pushed himself to continue with his gigs.
‘I feel so lucky and so grateful to be alive. I played nine gigs and the White Tie and Tiara Summer Ball in agony,’ he added to The Sun.
Bacterial infection
Four years later, Sir Elton was struck down by a ‘rare and potentially deadly’ bacterial infection.
The singer became ‘violently ill’ on a flight back to the UK after a visit to Chile and spent two nights in intensive care.
At the time, Sir Elton thanked fans on social media for their support while he recovered.
He wrote in an Instagram post: ‘Woke up this morning to an avalanche of kindness and well wishes. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.
‘Thanks so much to everyone for reaching out. I’m resting well and getting stronger every day. I’m looking forward to getting back on tour in June. #EltonTour.’
In 2018, Sir Elton had to cancel two shows in his farewell tour due to an ear infection.
Secret cancer battle
In his 2019 memoir, Sir Elton revealed that in 2017 he was left ’24 hours from death’ following complications from prostate cancer surgery.
‘I was taken to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, where I had a scan,’ he wrote in Me: Elton John Official Autobiography.
‘I was told that my condition was so serious, the hospital didn’t have the equipment to cope with it.’
He recalled spending two days in intensive care and being told he’d contracted a major infection in South Africa. Despite Elton’s surgery being successful, he suffered complications.
‘The doctors told David I was 24 hours away from death,’ he explained. ‘If the South American tour had gone on for another day that would have been it: brown bread.’
Explaining he was ‘incredibly lucky’ in his experience, Sir Elton recalled: ‘I lay awake all night, wondering if I was going to die.
‘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.’
Walking pneumonia
The singer was once again dogged by respiratory issues in 2020 after he was forced to cancel shows in New Zealand following a walking pneumonia diagnosis.
The musical legend sobbed as he walked off stage midway through the concert after being tended to by paramedics at Mount Smart Stadium as he cut the show short.
Sir Elton mentioned he’d been diagnosed with ‘walking pneumonia’ at the start of the show.
A statement from promoters after the performance read: ‘Elton John was disappointed and deeply upset at having to end his Auckland concert early last night.
‘At this stage, all remaining shows will go ahead as planned.’
Sir Elton took to Instagram to apologise to fans and thank them for their support: ‘I want to thank everyone who attended tonight’s gig in Auckland. I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia earlier today, but I was determined to give you the best show humanly possible.
‘I played and sang my heart out, until my voice could sing no more. I’m disappointed, deeply upset and sorry. I gave it all I had.’
Hip injury and replacement surgery
In 2021, Sir Elton underwent hip replacement surgery after suffering a fall in his South of France home.
He posted on Instagram at the time: ‘At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since.
‘Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.
‘I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications.
‘I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.’
The injury forced the star to postpone his farewell tour until 2023 after it had already been pushed back due to the Covid pandemic.
During an interview on Lorraine, he spoke about the pain he was in following the hip injury: ‘I can’t move sideways, I can’t get in and out of a car. I wouldn’t be 100%fit – I wouldn’t be 100% confident because I’m in pain most of the time.
‘The decision had to be made because I wouldn’t want to go on a stage and give less than 110%.
‘I don’t know, with a year and a half of touring, how long my hip would last – it probably wouldn’t.’
He also spoke about the surgery, adding: ‘Better to get it done now and unfortunately disappoint all the people, but I’ll make it up to them and I’ll be in much better form.’
Knee surgery
Sir Elton’s hip operation wasn’t the end of his surgeries as the musician underwent a knee replacement in January and another soon after in March.
Speaking ahead of his second knee surgery, David joked: ‘He is having his other knee done in a couple of weeks and by the time the summer has arrived he will have two brand new spanking knees and I think we will see him break-dancing down the carpet next year.’
Sight loss
Sir Elton recently issued a statement about his health and the difficulties he faced over the summer due to a severe eye infection.
‘Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye,’ the Nikita legend penned on Instagram.
He continued to say that while he is ‘healing’, it is an ‘extremely slow process’ and his doctors have told him it will be quite a while before his sight returns to his eye.
‘I have been quietly spending the summer recuperating at home, and am feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing and recovery thus far.’
Last month, Sir Elton attended the star-studded gala performance of his new West End show, a musical adaptation of the Oscar-nominated movie The Devil Wears Prada.
Taking to the stage to share his thanks to everyone involved with the production, he told the audience that he had now ‘lost his eyesight’ – but reassured everyone that he had still enjoyed the performance.
‘As some of you may know I have had issues and now I have lost my sight. I haven’t been able to see the performance, but I have enjoyed it,’ he reportedly told the crowd.
Sir Elton confessed to Good Morning America during an interview: ‘It’s been a while since I’ve done anything, I just have to get off my backside.
‘I unfortunately lost my eyesight in my right eye in July because I had an infection in the South of France.
‘It’s been four months now since I haven’t been able to see. My left eye is not the greatest.’
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