Fifty years ago Friday, Elton John’s duet with Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” became his first #1 hit in his native U.K., and it stayed on top for six weeks. To mark the occasion, Elton’s Rocket fan club has posted to YouTube for the first time a performance of Elton and Kiki performing the song back in November 1977.
The performance was filmed at the Empire Pool, Wembley, England. Elton says in the video, “We weren’t gonna do this number. [But] we found out that a certain person was in the country, so we panicked and we said, ‘Well, we must do it.’ So she has agreed to come on and sing it. It’s Kiki Dee, ladies and gentlemen.”
The crowd goes crazy as the two perform the hit, which Elton and Bernie Taupin wrote under the fake names Ann Orson and Carte Blanche. It also spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Over the years, Elton and Kiki have sung the song together live more than 10 times, including at his final U.S. tour stop at LA’s Dodger Stadium in November 2022. Elton has also sung the song with Miss Piggy, RuPaul, Minnie Mouse, the Spice Girls and Ed Sheeran.
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