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Elton John · S6 E3
Renate Blauel
February 1984. Elton marries a woman in Sydney. He will later call it the biggest mistake of his life
February 10, 1984. Elton John proposes to German sound engineer Renate Blauel over dinner at an Indian restaurant in Sydney, and the wedding is scheduled for three days later.
Elton John -- Something About the Way You Look Tonight (1997). Thirteen years after the Sydney wedding, Elton will write this about the person he truly loves. In 1984, the marriage he's about to enter has nothing to do with love and everything to do with running from himself.
The Sound Engineer
Elton met Renate in London in 1983, while finishing Too Low for Zero at AIR Studios. It was her first session as a full engineer. She had a calming, grounding influence on him, and by the time the Australian tour rolled around, she was part of his inner circle.
“A drug addict thinks like this: I've had enough boyfriends, and that's not made me happy, so I'll have a wife, that will change everything. And I loved Renate. I really, really loved her. But it is one of the things I regret most in my life, hurting her.”
— Elton John, The Australian, 2008
TAP TO REVEAL: How quickly did Elton go from proposal to wedding?
St. Mark's Church, Darling Point, Sydney
The church where Elton John married Renate Blauel on Valentine's Day 1984, four days after proposing. The marriage lasted four years.
The Marriage
For four years, Elton and Renate live as husband and wife. He is still using cocaine heavily. She is, by most accounts, a stabilizing presence in a life that has very little stability. The marriage ends in 1988, the same year Elton tells Rolling Stone he is "comfortable being gay."
The Wedding and After
On what date did Elton John marry Renate Blauel in Sydney?
A Word in Spanish -- Elton John
From Reg Strikes Back (1988), released the same year as the divorce. A lush, melancholic ballad about a feeling you can't put into words. Bernie's lyrics describe someone reaching for a connection they can't quite name. In the context of this episode, it sounds like a man who spent four years unable to say the one thing that mattered.
A Word in Spanish, Elton John (1988)
Bernie Taupin writes about longing that exists beyond language. The narrator knows what he feels but can't find the right words in any tongue. Released the year Elton's marriage ended and he finally came out as gay, these lyrics carry a weight their author may not have intended.
The Real Cost
The marriage to Renate isn't a scandal or a punchline. It's a tragedy involving two real people, one of whom was honest and the other who couldn't be. Elton has never spoken about Renate with anything other than regret and affection. The hurt was never the divorce; it was the reason the divorce was necessary.
The marriage is over, but the cocaine isn't. Next: Breaking Hearts and Ice on Fire, moderate hits masking a deepening crisis, and the drug use that's consuming everything.
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