Elton John had plenty to celebrate at his annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party after winning his first Oscar since 1995’s The Lion King for his Rocketman track “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” with songwriter Bernie Taupin. The award followed a live performance of the song.
Elton thanked his husband David Furnish and his kids Zachary and Elijah: “David, I love you so much. To my beautiful boys who are watching this in Sydney, Zachary and Elijah, how much do I love you? Daddy loves you.”
Back at Elton’s party, the crowd went wild upon seeing the rock icon win his Oscar.
Immediately after winning the award, Elton was given a police escort from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood to West Hollywood Park to join his party before the show was even over.
Yahoo Entertainment reports: ‘Once Elton arrived, a live charity auction conducted by Alexander Gilkes commenced, and once again, John showed his devotion. First, he purchased one of the items, a specially commissioned artwork by renowned artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn, for himself. Then, in an effort to bump up the auction price for the white Yamaha grand piano featured in Rocketman during “Bennie and the Jets,” he sat at the keyboard and actually began taking requests from each of the bidders, playing snippets of “Bennie,” “I’m Still Standing,” “Daniel,” “Your Song,” and other hits until the piano — which had been shrink-wrapped and shipped to Los Angeles just for the occasion — eventually fetched a whopping $220,000.’
