Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Kevin Mazur/WireImageA few weeks ago, Elton John said in an interview that he and Beyonce might work on a song for her to sing in the upcoming live-action version of The Lion King. Now, he’s talking about a song he wrote for yet another iconic female R&B singer, Mary J. Blige.
Mary voices a character named Irene in Sherlock Gnomes, the upcoming animated film that’s being produced by Elton’s company, Rocket Pictures. He wrote the music, including a special song for Mary. He tells Extra, “It’s so fantastic that we got her to do it because now she’s nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Mudbound and I always thought she could be a great actress.”
He adds, “In fact, the song was written, and the words, for her, were very close to home because she just finished a relationship with her husband. So she did it in about 10 minutes. I’m so glad she did it because we’ve been friends — Mary and I — for a long, long time.”
Elton also told Extra that his two young sons know what daddy does for a living, but they’re not that impressed with it.
“They know I’m famous. They come and see a show…like they did last weekend…and they got very excited, and then they went home and it’s all about football,” he says, referring to the British word for soccer.
“They are mad about football — all they think about is football,” he admits. “They love my music and they love what I do, but they are not intertwined with it.”
Sherlock Gnomes comes out March 23.
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