Best of Enemies – the special friendship between Elton John and Rod Stewart

Together they defined an era; the 1970s and 1980s would be unthinkable today without the music of Sir Rod Stewart and Sir Elton John. From back then right up to the present day, this unlikely duo has given us countless global hits – anthems made for eternity.

Today, Elton John is celebrating his 79th birthday, and we’re taking this as an opportunity to take a closer look at the very special friendship between these two music legends.

It all began in the 1960s when Sir Rod performed with Long John Baldry. “Elton and I had known each other since those days,” Stewart wrote in his autobiography ROD (2012). During this time, Elton John was performing in London clubs with his first band, “Bluesology”, and when “Steampacket” split up, Long John Baldry joined them as a singer.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t until the 1970s that Stewart and Elton John got to know each other better and “became the closest of mates for a while”.

Rod’s discoverer, Long John Baldry, one day came up with the idea of giving the pair nicknames, and so Rod Stewart became “Phyllis” and Elton became “Sharon”. From then on, the two always referred to each other only by their nicknames or as “darling”.

They shared the same sense of humour; both could hardly contain their laughter whenever one of them had come up with something new. “He (Elton John) once drove round Marble Arch in London thirty times,” Rod recounted. “That might sound silly today, but it was really funny back then.”

But the two singers were also united by their views on music and – unsurprisingly – their passion for football. “Elton’s views on blues and soul showed he was a true connoisseur,” Rod once praised. “And when he praised my recordings, it meant a great deal to me.” Both were able to indulge their passion for football; Rod’s devotion to Celtic FC is well known, but Elton John is also a huge football fan. In 1976, he became president (and owner) of Watford FC, which was then still playing in the fourth tier, and which, under President Elton John, actually secured promotion to the top flight of English football in 1982. John still owns shares in the club, which is now owned by the Italian Pozzo family and currently plays in the second tier, the Championship.

The pranks that Sir Rod and Elton played on each other over the years are also legendary. There was that one Christmas when Rod spent a long time thinking about what to give his “Sharon”. “The classic conundrum: what do you give a man who already has everything?” said Rod. And he settled on a new kind of portable fridge. Stewart forked out a whopping £3,000 for it, “which I thought was enough”. But then the ‘Maggie May’ singer’s jaw dropped, because he received from Elton John: a Rembrandt!

One of his drawings: “The Adoration of the Shepherds”.

“WTF, a goddamn Rembrandt! I felt pretty shabby, though not as shabby as Elton would have liked,” Rod laughed in an interview with the Reuters news agency many years later. The payback came, albeit a few years later. For his wedding to Rachel Hunter, John sent the bewildered Rod a gift voucher for the Boots pharmacy chain – worth £10. On the back, he wrote: “Why don’t you buy yourselves something nice for the house.”

And so it went on and on; the two “best enemies” kept playing pranks on each other. Fancy a few more examples? Here you go.

In the 1980s, Rod Stewart was promoting his tour from a blimp. “So I rang my management, and they hired someone to shoot it down,” said Elton of the stunt. “Apparently it landed on a double-decker bus and was last seen heading towards Putney. About an hour later, the phone rang. It was Rod, who was upset about the disappearance.”

A year later, Stewart got his own back when a banner advertising John’s Olympic concert was mysteriously cut down. When he later spoke to his rival on the phone, Stewart cheekily said: “Such a shame about your banner, darling. I heard it didn’t even hang for five minutes. I bet you didn’t even get to see it.”

And that was far from the end of it. When Rod organised his “BlondesHave More Fun” tour in the 1970s and promoted it with posters, Elton ensured that posters were put up on the opposite side of the street reading: “But brunettes earn more money”.

A few years ago, however, the two music icons fell out when Rod spoke disparagingly about John’s farewell tour in an interview and accused his mate of “greed”. Stewart commented: “I was a bit spiteful when he announced his tour. I regret it, I really do. So we’re friends again now. I really love him. We’ve always been bitter enemies over the years, as you know, but it was always on a playful level. But we had the worst row, like a married couple. It went on forever.”