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    "headline": "Elton John has sung Candle in the Wind 1997 live only once, at Princess Diana’s 1997 funeral",
    "description": "Elton John performed Candle in the Wind 1997 in public only once, at Diana's funeral in Westminster Abbey, then vowed never to sing it again.",
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    "keywords": "Bernie Taupin, Candle in the Wind 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, Elton John, Westminster Abbey",
    "articleBody": "Elton John has sung “Candle in the Wind 1997” in public exactly once. That single performance came on 6 September 1997, inside Westminster Abbey in London, at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. He has never done it again on any stage since, even though the record went on to outsell almost every single ever pressed. The fact has been doing the rounds again this week as a “today I learned” favorite, and it holds up: the song’s own documented history records that John kept singing the original 1973 version at his concerts while turning down every request for the rewritten one. A rewrite for a friend The first “Candle in the Wind” was a 1973 tribute to Marilyn Monroe, written by John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin. Diana, a close friend of the singer, died at 36 on 31 August 1997, the same age Monroe had been. Weeks earlier the two had been photographed together at the funeral of designer Gianni Versace, with Diana comforting John. In his autobiography, Me, John recalls a call from Richard Branson, who said mourners signing the condolence book at St James’s Palace were quoting the old lyrics. Branson asked whether John would rework the song and sing it at the service. Taupin rewrote the words, swapping “Goodbye Norma Jean” for “Goodbye England’s rose.” Taupin later explained his aim: “I wanted to make it sound like a country singing it.” The studio version was cut at Townhouse Studios in West London straight after the funeral, with George Martin producing and adding a string quartet plus flute and oboe. The numbers behind one performance What followed is still one of pop music’s strangest sales stories: 658,000 copies sold in the UK on the first day, and more than 1.5 million in the first week. 3.5 million copies sold in its first week in the US, where it debuted at No. 1. 14 straight weeks atop the US singles chart, a record for a male solo artist at the time. About 33 million copies worldwide, with every artist, composer and label penny sent to Diana’s charities. Guinness World Records eventually split the title: Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” keeps the all-time crown, while John’s single is the best-seller since UK and US charts began in the 1950s. At the 1998 Grammys, the record won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Why he never sang it again The reason is simple and personal. John vowed he would perform the 1997 lyrics again only if Diana’s sons asked him to. That promise was tested in July 2007 at the memorial Concert for Diana, ten years after her death. Asked again to sing the rewritten version there, he again said no. Put another way, a song heard live once, by mourners inside the abbey and a television audience around the world, became a multimillion seller that its singer has effectively retired. Few hits of that size have a live history measured in a single date. Still on the air John, now in his late 70s, still talks music every week on Rocket Hour, his Apple Music radio show, which has passed 470 episodes and features rising acts alongside his own record collection. The show’s own description still points to “Candle in the Wind” as one of the biggest-selling singles of all time. For more on the people who shaped 1970s rock records, read our profile of Jim Ed Norman, who wrote the strings on Hotel California. Royal watchers can also see how the Princess of Wales wore Diana’s Lover’s Knot tiara at a recent Windsor banquet, and how a late-1990s ballad moment became Céline Dion’s 1998 Oscars Barbie doll. The funeral recording of that one live performance was released on 30 September 1997, and it remains the only official document of John singing the song before an audience. Further reading Wikipedia: Candle in the Wind 1997 Image: Tomtom80 Thomas Waleczka, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.",
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