Bernie Taupin has praised his “very savvy and wickedly funny” wife for elevating his career over the last decade – which saw him win an Oscar, be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and receive the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize.
The British lyricist is best-known for his long-time collaboration with Sir Elton John spanning more than five decades, with hits including Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Bennie And The Jets and Crocodile Rock.
Taupin was honoured with an outstanding career achievement award during the 15th annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, which he attended with his wife, Heather Taupin, and daughter Charley Indiana May.
“I’ve had a sort of renaissance of sorts in the last 10 years, and that’s due in no simple part to someone who was every day going out and pushing for me and elevating everything I do and elevating my name, and that is the very savvy and wickedly funny, Heather Taupin,” the music star said of his fourth wife, whom he married in 2004.
“She’s done more for me in 20 years than anybody ever did before.”
It comes after Taupin and Sir Elton received the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize in March, months after Sir Elton inducted Taupin into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Taupin and Sir Elton won the Oscar for best original song for (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from the biopic Rocketman.
The track also won the best original song at the Golden Globes, following Taupin’s 2006 win in the same category for A Love That Will Never Grow Old from hit film Brokeback Mountain.
Presenting Taupin with his career achievement award, US star Jimmy Jam described the lyricist as “one of the greatest poets in music history”.
Taking to the stage, Taupin said he is a “man of few words” but noted the “contradiction” given his career as a songwriter.
“When I started out, I was just lucky to get out of a life of drudgery and become what I always wanted to be, which is somebody who tells stories and who got to write creatively,” the 74-year-old said.
“And luckily…I got to be associated with the very best there is, and you know who I’m talking about,” he said, referencing Sir Elton.
“There are people out there that lay their life on the line every day and protect homes and save lives and defend the defenceless.
“But I really believe that those who get to enjoy the creative process are the luckiest people alive…it is a God-given gift.”
Taupin said he feels grateful that “I’m not on the bootheel of a boss”.
“Nobody gets to tell me what to do, I get to write what the hell I want to write and I am so lucky for that,” he added.
Taupin and Sir Elton were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.
Taupin most recently wrote the original track Never Too Late which features in Sir Elton’s upcoming Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late.
Among those at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, which honours composers and songwriters for their contribution to film and TV, was nominee Finneas O’Connell -who posed on the red carpet with his father Patrick O’Connell.
