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(Credits: Far Out / Royal Mail)
You know what they say – you’ll know you’ve made it in the music industry when you’re the face on a postage stamp.
Some people dream of billboards, stadium stages, their name in lights – but there’s something quite uniquely British about having your face slapped on the corner of every letter and piece of junk mail that people have slipped through their doors, spanning the length and breadth of the country from the Shetland islands to the Cornish coast. Something quite regal, elegant, and important in knowing that you have the royal postage seal of approval.
Of course, it goes without saying that anyone who is set to take over the reins from a monarch with their visage on a stamp can’t just be anyone who wanders in off the street – although, admittedly, that would be quite funny. It has to be someone instantly recognisable and seismic in everything they have done; so iconic that it could never be mistaken for anyone else.
When the call came down from on high to the music industry, asking which of its subjects would be the next custodian of the newest class of stamps, they could have gone with frankly any number of regal options. But in terms of the artists who were still here to see their stamps roll off the production line, there was only ever one man really suitable for the job.
All hail Elton John, who may indeed be considered a knight in terms of the British honours, but in some ways has never received a higher accolade than the call to ask if he would approve of his face being plastered all over a collection of commemorative stamps in 2019. Do you think it took him long to consider? Somehow you can imagine that they didn’t even have to complete the sentence before he said yes.
What did Elton John say about being on a postage stamp?
The year was 2019, and John was in the midst of his seemingly never-ending farewell tour, when he received the offer from Royal Mail that he absolutely couldn’t refuse: a collection of eight commemorative stamps, each depicting a goddamn iconic album cover of his, what could be better than that?
“To say I was surprised when Royal Mail got in touch is an understatement,” John said in response to the news, “never did I think I’d appear on a stamp! It’s wonderful, a great honour.”
With versions of stamps for Honky Chateau, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Made in Britain, Caribou, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Sleeping with the Past, The One, and Songs From the West Coast all appearing in circulation, John was not only undoubtedly laughing all the way to the bank with the free publicity but also just where he likes to be: anywhere and everywhere.
You can guarantee that, despite feigning indifference on the matter, there would have been plenty of artists glaring with green eyes of jealousy when John’s stamp swag was revealed, and promptly getting their publicists on the phone. But only a very few select people can enjoy a status fit for a king.
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