• Elton John > Works

At the beginning of 1974 (the year when I graduated from high school in Nice), I was contacted by Elton John’s
management about the singer's forthcoming 1974 US Tour and its UK leg, scheduled to start at the Dallas Convention Center
on September 25, 1974. After forty five dates, the Tour's American leg was to conclude at the
Philadelphia Spectrum on December 3, 1974. And to end in apotheosis later in December 1974, with the five legendary
"Christmas Show" concerts in England, at the London Hammersmith Odeon.

I was informed that Elton John wished to use some of the gouaches that I had left with him during our December 1973 meeting
at his Surrey mansion. I was also asked to create some new ones specifically for his future tour.
Thus around mid-July 1974 I traveled to London and brought the commissioned works to
John Reid Enterprises's offices (then located in North Audley Street), and hand-delivered the paintings
to John Reid, Elton John’s manager whom I met on this occasion, while having the pleasure
of seeing Elton John again, later that summer (see Elton John > background).

The first work among the new commissioned ones that I brought to London
was the The Fantastic Elton John Band painting, as well as a monochrome Indian ink on paper
which represented Elton John and Bernie Taupin (Black & White Medley). In addition to these works was one quickly baptized
The Bitch Is Back, given that it was used during the 1974 Tour in different media and supports to promote the September 1974
release of the The Bitch Is Back second single from the Caribou album (that had been released in June 18, 1974).
The combined efforts of The Bitch Is Back single and the new projected US Tour and its UK leg must
promote the Caribou album and therefore boost its sales, in accordance with
the applicable marketing rules established by the Rock Business at that time.

In total, seven works were used in the context
of the Elton John 1974 US Tour and its UK leg, on different occasions and on different media.
These works having been specifically commissioned for the 1974 Tour, consequently never were used
again by Elton John during the rest of his career, with the exception of the The Bitch Is Back painting :
The Rocket Music Entertainment Group (last avatar of The Rocket Record Company, updated in 2011) used again The Bitch
Is Back painting on a T-shirt sold as part of the Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour that started in 2018.