Elton John

I’ll admit, I approached this expecting the usual rock-bio glamour—a parade of hit singles and backstage antics. But *Elton John* surprised me by being far more layered and, at times, brutally honest. Buckley doesn’t just chronicle the hits; he digs into the *why* behind them, like the way Elton’s collaboration with Bernie Taupin became a creative pressure cooker, or how his public persona masked deep insecurities. The pacing is relentless, mirroring Elton’s own life: breakneck highs (the Dodger Stadium shows, *Goodbye Yellow Brick Road*) slam into crushing lows (the bulimia, the failed marriages). It’s exhausting in the best way. Simon Shepherd’s performance is the audiobook’s secret weapon. He nails Elton’s arch wit—listen to his delivery of the singer’s infamous zingers—but he’s just as compelling in quieter moments, like the sections on Elton’s AIDS activism or his fraught relationship with his father. My only gripe? The book occasionally gets bogged down in tangential industry gossip (do we *really* need another deep dive into the *Thom Bell Sessions* drama?), and Shepherd’s pacing in these stretches feels slightly rushed, as if even he’s eager to move on. Still, the raw energy of the narration makes up for it. If you’re here for a sanitized legend, look elsewhere. But if you want the unvarnished truth—flamboyant, flawed, and frequently hilarious—this is your audiobook.