After an iconic five decades as a performer, Sir Elton John had two big reasons to drop the mic and retire from touring. “Why now? Well, before the children, I thought … this is what I’m going be doing till the day I die,” John, 70, said on Good Morning America on Thursday, January 25. “But I don’t want to be traveling away from my children … I’d rather be with my children than still be playing shows.”
“There’s no contest,” he continued of Elijah, 5, and Zachary, 7, his sons with husband David Furnish. “It’s a very easy decision to make.”
He added: “I’ve never … experienced anything like it, being a father.”
As previously reported, the singer opened up on Wednesday, January 25, about his decision to stop touring. “I’m not going to be touring anymore. Apart from the last tour that is going to start in September,” the eight-time Grammy winner said during a livestream press conference, noting that he will embark on the three-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road global tour before he ultimately retires. “My priorities have changed in my life. We had children and that changed our lives.”
He added: “In 2015, David and I sat down with the school schedule and I said, ‘I don’t want to miss too much of this.’”
The retirement announcement comes just nine months after the music legend revealed he had to cancel the May 2017 shows of his Las Vegas residency due to illness. “During a recent, successful tour of South America, Elton cotacted a harmful and unusual bacterial infection,” his rep told ABC news at the time. “Thankfully, Elton’s medical team identified this quickly and treated it successfully. He is expected to make a full and complete recovery.”
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