# Um. Is Elton John bankrupt? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207 "2010-06-06T23:10:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/21 "2010-06-07T13:57:23Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (What gets me is that the woman he’s marrying is said to be thirty-three. In what – dog years?) Yeah, she does look a little long in the tooth. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/22 "2010-06-07T13:58:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > If this were a British drawing room farce there’d be a mix up on the license and Rush would be married to Elton. That’d be cool. > > As for Elton being bankrupt, I doubt he’s ever missed a meal but he is notorious for living beyond his ENORMOUS means. In 2006 he borrowed $40 million to pay off his credit cards and various other credit accounts (not including his mortgages)- [cite](http://seriouslyomg.com/?p=1620)- and he’s famous for being insanely generous in gift giving and insanely lavish in multimillion dollar shopping sprees, so I’m sure every million helps. Sir Elton has a pretty full concert schedule this summer. He’s playing the big venues like Rome, Milan and Monte Carlo, but he’s also playing places like Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Prince George, British Columbia, not exactly teeming metropolitan areas. Maybe he really does need the money. Or he just likes performing. Wasn’t Sammy Davis Jr. like that? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/23 "2010-06-07T14:07:28Z")
Also, I have no idea what someone of Elton John’s caliber would make from a typical concert while on tour. But I’d be surprised, when you consider all the expenses associated with touring, if he himself managed to clear a million dollars from most shows. Here he works, what three or four hours, and walks away with a million dollars free and clear - well, he still has to pay taxes on it, but you know what I mean. He doesn’t have to give the promoter or venue their cut, he doesn’t have to pay for a big soundstage or a crew to set it up, he probably doesn’t have to buy insurance for this gig. And these sorts of private gigs by big stars happen more often than most people think. In the town I was living in a few years ago, there was a rich lawyer who hired Jerry Lee Lewis to come in and sing for his birthday. The gig wasn’t publicized as it was pretty much a private affair, and as the lawyer wasn’t really all that famous (he was well known in the community, but I doubt that most people outside the legal profession would know his name) it didn’t make headlines either. The main reason I knew about it, was because I knew someone who worked at his law office and happened to mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/24 "2010-06-07T15:06:00Z")
> [@choie](#): > > I mean, Limbaugh isn’t exactly _sympathique_ to gay folks. Nonsense. He even hired a gay man to sing at his wedding. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/25 "2010-06-07T15:49:28Z")
IIRC in 2000 Elton John basically went into [near receivership](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John). I’m not sure how he climbed back to be worth a quarter of a billion dollars. I think that estimate is highly suspect unless his residuals are just powerhouse money pumps and they are using some sort of a net present value estimate of the income stream. > [@](#): > > During the 2000 court case, in which John sued both his former manager John Reid, the CEO of Reid’s company and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, he admitted spending £30 million in just under two years – an average of £1.5 million a month, the High Court in London heard. The singer’s lavish lifestyle saw him spend more than £9.6m on property and £293,000 on flowers between January 1996 and September 1997. John accused the pair of being negligent, and PwC of failing in their duties. Mark Hapgood QC for defendants PwC suggested that John went “spending mad” following a £42 million deal with recording company Polygram in February 1996. When quizzed by Mr Hapgood about the £293,000 spent on flowers, John said, “Yes, I like flowers.” John stated that the terms of the contract, whereby John paid Reid 20% of his gross earnings, were agreed in Saint-Tropez in the summer of 1984 – but that he could not remember the exact occasion on which the deal was made.[61] After losing the case, he faced an £8 million bill for legal fees. > > In June 2001 John sold 20 of his cars at Christie’s, saying he didn’t get the chance to drive them because he was out of the country so often.[62] The sale, which included a 1993 Jaguar XJ220, the most expensive at £234,750, and several Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys, raised nearly £2 million.[63] > > In 2003, John sold the contents of his Holland Park home in a bid to create more room for his collection of contemporary art. The auctioneer Sotheby’s catalogue had a list of more than 400 items, expected to fetch £800,000, including: Biedermeier furniture; early 16th- and 17th-century items, including an Edward Bower estimated at £20,000–£30,000 and a portrait of Elizabeth Honeywood from the circle of William Larkin, which was estimated at £30,000–£40,000. John’s bedroom featured a painting by 19th-century French artist Jacques-Noël-Marie Frémy, which was exhibited at the 1814 Paris Salon, and is estimated at £12,000–£18,000.[citation needed] ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/26 "2010-06-07T16:07:43Z")
When U2 played Raleigh last year Bono made a point of meeting Jesse Helms widow before the show. ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Saucer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Flying\_Saucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Saucer)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/27 "2010-06-07T16:19:38Z")
Has it occurred to anyone that it’s Limbaugh’s _wife_ who’s the Elton fan, and Rush was just trying to please her? After all, marriage is about compromise. Case in point: Since I’ve gotten married, I’ve not only accompanied my wife to UCLA games…I’ve even cheered _for_ the Bruins. If a die-hard Trojan like me can do that, anything is possible. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/28 "2010-06-07T16:35:50Z")
[Kennerthe Great]Wasn’t Sammy Davis Jr. like that? [/QUOTE] Sammy loved performing and also died hopelessly in debt, so either way it works.🙂 > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > When U2 played Raleigh last year Bono made a point of meeting Jesse Helms widow before the show. I think it was to serve her with a restraining order- “Stop sexting me!” ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/29 "2010-06-07T19:07:24Z")
Well, Elton John performed in a concert or two with Eminem, a guy who for a while was almost making a career out of childish homophobia. So even if Rush was as openly homophobic as Eminem (and I don’t think he’s anywhere near), I don’t think Elton would have cared. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207/30 "2010-06-07T19:22:23Z")
> [@choie](#): > > …Because that’s the only explanation I can think of for this: > > [Rush Limbaugh Weds, Elton John Sings](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20391620,00.html) > > I mean, Limbaugh isn’t exactly _sympathique_ to gay folks. He’s the one who snarked that gays would suddenly become pro-life if amnios could pick out potentially gay fetuses, which in turn would inevitably cause abortions of said fetuses. Or maybe Sir Elton is aware of some secret humanity in Rush that many of us aren’t privy to? > > If he turns around and gives it all to some AIDS charity… nah, it’s still bizarre. Perhaps Elton didn’t know about those comments? Rush Limbaugh isn’t very well-known in the UK, and I doubt Elton listens to talk radio when he’s in the US. Or perhaps it’s just that there are so many homophobes around that there’s no point in having a principle of avoiding them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-is-elton-john-bankrupt/542207.md?page=1)