Pictures of Elton John With His Parents at Their Apartment in London, 1971

Sheila Farebrother gave birth to Reginald Kenneth Dwight, later known as Elton John, on March 25 1947, in Pinner, Middlesex. Shelia married Elton’s dad Stanley Dwight when Elton was six years old, but they divorced when her son was 14.

“I suppose my mum and dad must have been in love once, but there wasn’t much sign they ever had been by the time I came along. They gave every impression of hating each other. My dad was strict and remote and had a terrible temper; my mum was argumentative and prone to dark moods,” John wrote in a personal essay for The Guardian in May 2019. “When they were together, all I can remember are icy silences or screaming rows. The rows were usually about me, how I was being brought up.”

She later married a local painter, Fred Farebrother, who became a supportive step-dad to Elton. When he began to consider a career in music, Elton’s father, who was a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, tried to convince him toward a more conventional career, such as banking.

Both of his parents were musically talented, with his father having been a trumpet player with the Bob Millar Band. His parents were also keen record buyers, showing Elton the popular singers and musicians of the time, and he has spoken of being inspired by the rock and roll records his mother brought home.

Here are some photographs of Elton John with his mother Sheila and stepfather Fred Fairebrother at their apartment in London, 1971.

(Photos by John Olson)