How an Ad in the Local Paper Led Bernie Taupin to Elton John

livemint.com:

Bernie Taupin, 73, is an Oscar-winning lyricist best known for his songwriting partnership with Elton John. He is the author of “Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me" (Hachette), a memoir. He spoke with Marc Myers.

My first bit of serious writing as a child had nothing to do with song lyrics or poetry. When I was 12, I attempted to write a book on Wyatt Earp. I loved the American West.

My book on the lawman was just three pages long, but I was enterprising. I looked in another book, found a publisher’s name and sent it off. At least I received a rejection letter, which was quite something then.

Fortunately, the person who wrote me realized the pages had come from a child. The letter was sympathetic and broke the bad news gently. I was born at home in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles from Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England.

My older brother, Tony, and I lived with our parents in a primitive, semidetached farmhouse. My younger brother, Kit, would be born later. My father, Robert, was employed by a farm estate adjacent to our home to raise livestock.

My mother, Daphne, was a homemaker, but that doesn’t give her enough credit. She was a bohemian and incredibly artistic. She had spent World War II in Switzerland and had many literary friends.

She gave up that life to join my father on an adventure in farming. Her sacrifice was a testament to my parents’ love for each other. She was the rock we all leaned on and was an extraordinary woman.

I was an incredibly solitary child. The literary, imaginative things I enjoyed weren’t the pastimes of local kids. They focused on soccer and cricket.