Well to be precise Reginald Kenneth Dwight was born on this day in 1947, but he’d find fame after he changed his name to Elton John.
He teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin and they started writing together. The first album they submitted in 1968 was rejected by their record company. Regimental Sgt. Zippo would remain in the vaults until 2021.
What did become Elton John’s debut, 1969’s Empty Sky was not successful either, but soon they were soon topping the charts around the world.
In 1970 Elton John scored his breakthrough hit with Your Song, and he went on to be one of the biggest artists of the next five decades in popular music. To date Elton John has released 32 studio albums, 5 live albums, 10 soundtracks, 5 records where he collaborated with another artist, and a holiday album.
He’s also put out countless greatest hits compilations, and there’s three albums of other artists paying homage by recording his songs.
Along the way Elton John has also been a major fundraiser for HIV research and support. His charitable foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
HIs life was brought to the screen in the musical bio-pic Rocket Man and in 1998 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2020 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Choreographer Robert Joffrey died in 1988
He was born Anver Bey Abdullah Jaffa Khan but found fame as Robert Joffrey. The acclaimed dancer and choreographer co-founded his company The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago in 1953.
He was one of the first major choreographers to have studied both modern and classical dance, and his work combined the two. While that’s quite common today in the 1950’s in was groundbreaking.
In 1966 the company moved to the New York City Centre replacing the New York City Ballet. The company later opened a Los Angeles branch. In 1995 its New York operations returned to Chicago where it remains to this day.
Besides works from Joffrey, the company also featured works from his co-founder Gerald Arpino, who was also his romantic partner. George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey and Twyla Tharp are also major choreograhers who have created works for the Joffrey Ballet.
Sadly, Joffrey died of an AIDS related illness in 1988, he was 57 years old. Arpino took over as the company’s Artistic Director, a role he held until 2007 when he became the Artistic Director Emeritus. He died aged 85 in 2008 after battling prostate cancer.
In 1985 documentary ‘The Times of Harvey Milk’ wins an Oscar
Documentary The Times of Harvey Milk won the Oscar for Best Documentary on this day in 1985. It was the first documentary covering a LGBTIQA+ subject to win the award.
The film documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco’s first elected representative who shared that they were gay. The film documents Milk’s rise from a neighborhood activist to a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination in November 1978 at San Francisco’s City Hall, and the subsequent trial of politician Dan White who shot Milk.
In front of nearly a billion viewers producer Richard Schmeichen thanked his partner John Wright, making another Oscar first.
WAAC CEO Andrew Burry died in 2017
Community leader Andrew Burry suddenly died on this day in 2017. Burry was the CEO of the WA AIDS Council and he passed away while on holiday in Taiwan.
Prior to joining WAAC he held the position of Vice President for the Australian Federation of AIDS Councils, was formally General Manager of the AIDS Action Council of the ACT and also worked at the Victorian AIDS Council.
