Who deserves a musical biopic? Part 3: Sir Elton John

This is a continuation of my 3 part series on "Who deserves a musical biopic?", naming three people who would make excellent topics for their lives and contributions to music. 
Part 1 was about Robert Johnson. 
Part 2 was about Quincy Jones.

After the Beatles broke up, and before Michael Jackson rose to super-stardom, there was a period in the early to mid-1970's that was dominated by one of the great singer-songwriters of the 20th century, Sir Elton John.

(hat tip to The Independent for the pic)

Although considered part of the "glam rock" movement started by David Bowie and extending through to such artists as Freddie Mercury and Queen, Elton was a superstar above those others during his prime, and outlasted the glam rock movement by making some of the best and most popular music of his era.

Most of Elton's songs came from his collaboration with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Taupin would write the lyrics, and Elton would write the music.

Elton's first song to chart was the spiritual-influenced Border Song, but it only reached number 92 on the U.S. charts.

It was Elton's second song from his second album ("Elton John") that finally propelled him to popularity: Your Song, which reached number 8 in the U.S. in 1970.



Through 1976, Elton had 6 number 1 hits, as well as 8 hits in the single digits (2-8). If his career ended there, he would still have a huge place in music history.

Elton went through many ups and downs during his career, but he never stopped producing hits, including Mama Can't Buy You Love (1979), Little Jeannie (1980), I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues (1983), Sad Songs (Say So Much) (1984), Nikita (1985), I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That (1988), The One (1992), and Can You Feel the Love Tonight (1994).

But one of Elton's most unique feats was to chart with the same song twice, having done it two times.

The first time Elton did this was with his 1974 hit Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, which he re-did with singer George Michael in 1991.

The second time Elton accomplished this feat was with his 1974 hit Candle in the Wind. Originally written as a tribute to the late Marilyn Monroe, he updated the song's lyrics for the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997.



Aside from the music, which will make an awesome soundtrack, Elton's life is also the story of a homosexual man in an era when that was discouraged. But he eventually showed the courage to stand up and admit his sexuality in defiance of the norms of the period.

There was also Elton's battle with drugs, which culminated with an overdose in 1975, at the peak of his career.

There is a lot in Elton John's story upon which to build a movie. Take your narrative pick.

P.S. I cannot mention Elton John without my favorite song of his, 1975's Philadelphia Freedom, performed with a live orchestra:

Who deserves a musical biopic? Part 2: Quincy Jones

This is a continuation of my 3 part series on "Who deserves a musical biopic?", naming three people who would make excellent topics for their lives and contributions to music. Part 1 was about Robert Johnson.

Any musical biopic has to first be about the music, and few people have touched more musical artists than producer/arranger Quincy Jones.

(hat tip to Quincy's Twitter feed for the pic)

In the second half of the 20th century, there is very little Jones didn't do. (most of this info is from his Wikipedia entry) 

When Jones was 14, he met 16 year old Ray Charles, who inspired him. Jones went to college with Clint Eastwood, who was also a music major at Seattle University. 

Jones left college to tour Europe with bandleader Lionel Hampton. Jones worked as a trumpeter and pianist, but also displayed his gift as an arranger. Afterwards, he moved to New York, where he got commissions for doing arrangements for such notable artists as Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and even Ray Charles.

Jones first touched musical super stardom when he played second trumpet behind a studio band for Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey's tv show, where Elvis Presley made his first tv appearances, including a performance of Heartbreak Hotel, which was his first number 1 hit.

But playing music was only a sidelight for Jones. His musical genius was in arranging, and his work in movie and tv scores is legendary, including such films as In Cold Blood, In the Heat of the Night, and They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, as well as tv shows Sanford and Son, Ironside, and The Bill Cosby Show, as well as tv miniseries Roots.

But it is his work with famous singers and their hits that makes a biopic of Jones such an intriguing concept. Just consider the following list:

--Lesley Gore It's My Party and You Don't Own Me were both produced by Jones.



 --Frank Sinatra's 1965 album "Sinatra at the Sands", considered by many to be his finest album, where Jones arranged and conducted the Count Basie Orchestra.



--Michael Jackson's albums "Off the Wall", "Thriller", and "Bad" were all co-produced by Jones. "Thriller" is still the best selling album of all time.



--We Are the World was produced by Jones, and was performed by a list of singers that was a musical Who's Who of late 20th century artists, including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and Tina Turner, just to name a few.

Jones' influence didn't end in music. He was even a producer on the Oscar-winning film The Color Purple.

This list just scratches the surface of Quincy Jones' impact on 20th century music and culture. Any musical biopic of Jones would be epic in its scope, making him well deserving of a movie.

Who deserves a musical biopic? Part 1: Robert Johnson

Bleeding Cool had a post the other day, which stated:

The box office success of Bohemian Rhapsody could pave way for other musician biopics to strike while the coals are hot. 

Here are three artists Hollywood should consider for their next biopic film...

The writer, Tom Chang, chose Janis Joplin, The Ramones, and David Bowie. While I consider Bowie a fine selection for that list, I have different choices. today begins a three-part series where I present my top three choices.

First on my list is Robert Johnson:

Arguably one of the founders of the Blues genre, Robert Johnson's story is also the most mysterious and fascinating.

The opening to his Wikipedia page summarizes him nicely:

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson's poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend. One Faustian myth says that he sold his soul to the devil at a local crossroads of Mississippi highways to achieve success. As an itinerant performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson had little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime. 

After the reissue of his recordings in 1961, on the LP King of the Delta Blues Singers, his work reached a wider audience. Johnson is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly of the Mississippi Delta blues style. He is credited by many rock musicians as an important influence; the blues and rock musician Eric Clapton has called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived." 

Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first induction ceremony, in 1986, as an early influence on rock and roll. In 2003, David Fricke ranked Johnson fifth in Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Here is one of his most popular songs, Cross Road Blues:



But most people are more familiar with the Eric Clapton version, known as Crossroads, performed with the band Cream:



While Johnson's influence on both the blues and rock are undisputed, the best part about any musical biopic about Johnson would be how it handles his "deal with the devil" rumor, or even his mysterious death, probably murdered, at the age of 27. There is a ton of good mystery here, allowing for even a fanciful biopic of Johnson to be quite entertaining.

"Cheap Thrills" and Paul Simon

Music videos are an art form of their own. But watching them can sometimes remind one of songs that are almost completely unrelated.

Case in point: Sia's Cheap Thrills, which was released in 2016 and dominated the worldwide charts that year, hitting number 1 on more charts than you can shake a stick.



Admittedly, Cheap Thrills isn't a deep song. But it is fun and bouncy.

However, the video, which features the singer dancing around and not visually singing at all, reminds me oddly of another old but fun music video for Paul Simon's 1986 hit You Can Call Me Al:



You Can Call Me Al is a song of mid-life crisis and exploring the world, whereas Cheap Thrills is a basic party song. The only connections between these two songs are both are upbeat, and the lead singers keep their mouths shut for the better part of their music video (although Simon does lip sync the background chorus). Other than that, these are just two very good songs for different reasons.

"Tell Me Something Good"

(hat tip to Discogs for the pic)

There are some songs that are just cool. Stevie Wonder has more than his share of cool songs, and Tell Me Something Good is one of the best examples, even though he never had a successful cover of it.

The best known and most popular cover of it was by the band Rufus (with Chaka Khan) back in 1974, going all the way to number 1 on the Cash Box top 100 chart. They also garnered a Grammy Award for it.

From the lyrics, it is a song of seduction:

You ain't got no kind of feeling inside
I got something that will sure 'nough set your stuff on fire
You refuse to put anything before your pride
What I got something will knock all your pride aside 

Tell me something good
Tell me that you love me, yeah
Tell me something good
Tell me that you like it, yeah

The most clever part of the lyrics is in the second verse:

Got no time is what you're known to say
I'll make you wish there was forty eight hours to each day

More recently, the song was given a good cover by Pink, in the 2006 movie Happy Feet.


Pink shows Tell Me Something Good covers cannot travel too far from the original. The song requires that slow, awkward tempo, which helps to give the lyrics their seductive power.

Tell Me Something Good is a song which has stood the test of time quite well, even if it is very much an example of the 1970's R&B genre.