📍Pinner, London HA5, UK
1947 – 1967“Reginald Dwight was born in 1947 at 55 Pinner Hill Road, his grandparents' council house in Pinner, a quiet suburb at the edge of north-west London, and lived there for his first six years. His father was away in the RAF much of the time, and strict when he was home; his mother and grandmother were the warmth. It was his grandmother, Ivy, who sat him at her piano, and before he was four he was picking out The Skater's Waltz by ear. At eleven he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, travelling into central London every Saturday for five years — though he preferred Elvis and Little Richard to his set pieces. At fifteen, with his mother and stepfather's backing, he got a job as pianist at the Northwood Hills Hotel, a pub across from the Tube station, playing Thursday to Sunday nights and learning how to win over a room. Within a few years he had a new name, Elton John, and a songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin — but it all began at his grandmother's piano in Pinner.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today