Unbelievable but real.

Because all indications were that Elton John had received and seen the book I had made for him.

On the one hand, I had been assured that he did, a couple of months after that I had sent it. And on the other hand, if the musician never mentioned my shipment to his close and significantly concerned friend (which was odd, since the book paid tribute to the latter), another confirmation came soon. I found out that the book had also ended up in other hands than the British artist's. Those of someone working for him, as I learned by then. As it happened, I was approached about My Elton Years in the Summer of 2017 by an executive from Elton John’s London based firm. The email of this firm's employee showed that she had seen that book’s content sufficiently enough to be able to comment it.

I found embarrassing to witness that if my shipment recipient had never considered worthwhile to react after receiving my book, someone from his firm took upon herself to do it in his place seven months later. It must be clear that in my view, this book told and showed a personal story that concerned no one other than Elton John and I (to the exception, of course, of our closest friends' circles and family members, according to our respective decisions in that case). Hence, it seemed weird to me that someone who did not belong a priori to any of those categories contacted me about a work's private content which was none of her business.

Anyway, I was informed in that way that Elton John’s firm wished to obtain the reproduction files of my 1970s work that appeared in My Elton Years. My interlocutor also expressed her interest in my back-catalogue, i.e. the never published works relating to the singer. According to what she would tell me later in further exchanges, the firm no longer had any originals, transparencies or digital files in store.