Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me

A Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller and a Times Best Music Book of 2023, Bernie Taupin's memoir, Scattershot, is the keenly awaited account from one half of one of popular music's most enduring and successful creative partnerships. As Elton John himself exclaims, "Glorious! I am besotted by the life I never knew he had." Pete Townshend simply declares it "Divine. I couldn't put it down," while Cameron Crowe finds it "Hilarious and so emotionally true."

For decades, Bernie Taupin has been the lyrical architect behind Elton John's countless hits, the man who conceived the ideas that resonated with millions. Their extraordinary creative relationship, spanning over half a century, has been documented in biopics and Elton's own autobiography, but Taupin, a famously private individual, has until now kept his own story close.

Scattershot throws us headfirst into this multi-decade whirlwind, offering a thrilling shotgun ride through Taupin's remarkable life. We're transported to early 70s New York on the cusp of Elton's global fame, spend late nights with John Lennon and Bob Marley, and even find ourselves hanging out with Frank Sinatra in LA. Along the way, we witness memorable encounters with literary giants like Graham Greene, surrealist master Salvador Dali, pop art icon Andy Warhol, and a host of other unforgettable misfits, eccentrics, and geniuses – many of whom inspired the indelible lyrics to classics such as "Tiny Dancer," "Candle in the Wind," and "Bennie and The Jets."

Written with refreshing honesty and candour, Scattershot bears witness to these extraordinary events entirely from Taupin's unique perspective, infused with an infectious energy that only a songwriter's vivid prose can deliver – his imagination sparked by a lifelong love of country music and cowboy culture. From his East Midlands childhood and early days in London alongside Elton to the star-studded fishbowl of 70s and 80s Beverly Hills, this is an epic and picaresque journey across a landscape populated by unforgettable characters and locations. More than just a rock 'n' roll memoir, Scattershot is a striking and intimate first-hand account of a creative era unlike any other. Gary Oldman's assertion that "Taupin's words need no musical accompaniment. They sing with a poet's voice" resonates throughout this captivating and deeply personal book.