Gold records, gold Grammys, gold lamé outfits, gold jewelry — Elton John‘s life has been full of gold. That’s why he’s starring in a new documentary called Touched by Gold, produced by the World Gold Council — who knew that was a thing?
In the doc, Elton shows off his first-ever Gold record, which he says made him feel like he’d “made it”; his gold stage outfits, including his gold platform boots; and his trophies, including a custom EGOT statue he commissioned to mark the fact that he’s won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. “An award doesn’t really look right unless it’s in gold,” he points out.
Elton also reminisces about his and husband David Furnish‘s wedding day, which took place when gay marriage became legal in the U.K. They already had their sons, Zachary Furnish-John and Elijah Furnish-John, who were 3 and 1 at the time, so they tied their gold wedding rings to stuffed rabbits and had the boys present them to their dads at the ceremony.
Gold also follows Elton into the studio: He explains that the best microphones have a gold-coated diaphragm inside them. “So obviously, I’ve gotten through a lot of gold, as I’ve been in the studio many times,” he notes. Gold is even found inside the pacemaker Elton had to get in 1999.
The weirdest gold thing Elton owns, though, would have to be the gold pendant and brooch he had made out of his left and right kneecaps after he had them removed and replaced with artificial knees. “I will no longer bow to any man” is written in Latin on the back of the pendant, because you can’t without kneecaps.
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