Elton John dedicated his classic hit Your Song to his late mum Sheila during a concert in Germany on Wednesday night.
Sir Elton announced on Monday that his mum Sheila Farebrother had passed away earlier that morning, and he paid tribute to her onstage in Hamburg, Germany two days later – before singing Your Song in her honour.
“It’s a hard day for me because my mother passed away. I’m glad to say she passed away peacefully, with no pain. Maybe sooner than she should have done – I was quite shocked,” he said, according to the Daily Mirror newspaper.
“I was thinking how I can pay tribute to her tonight and what song I should choose. Well this next song I wrote at her house or her apartment. I can remember every single minute of writing this song with Bernie (Taupin). So this is a song I want to dedicate to her. And it’s taken me from nowhere to somewhere. So thank you, mum.”
The 70-year-old revealed Sheila, 92, had passed away by sharing a picture of the pair on Instagram and writing in the caption, “So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning. I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum. Thank you for everything. I will miss you so much. Love, Elton.”
The pair had only been back on speaking terms for a couple of years after becoming estranged in 2008. They fell out after Elton told her to cut off contact with two of their oldest friends, Elton’s former driver and personal assistant Bob Halley and his ex-manager and lover John Reid, but she refused.
They reconnected in 2015 after Sheila hired an Elton impersonator for her 90th birthday.
