Elton John has revealed the pain that was caused by his name change.
The Rocket Man singer admitted there was an unanticipated downside to ditching his birth name.
Elton, 77, was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947 but legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John on 7 January 1972.
"Reginald is a really old-fashioned name," Elton told Good Morning America in a new interview airing this week. "It's shortened to Reggie, which I hated. I just didn't like it, and as soon as I could, I changed my name."
However, the singer-songwriter revealed his decision "caught up" to him just as he was about to go on stage for a now-historic show at LA's Dodger Stadium in 1975.
"I was very clever, I thought, 'No one's really called Elton, so I'll be Elton and I'll be the only Elton.' I wanted to leave my childhood and that persona behind, and that caught up with me," he recalled.
"I realised I put everything into my work and my art, my recording, and there was nothing underneath there."
Elton explained he had discovered he could not simply erase his past with a name change.
"I was just a void," he added. "I left little Reggie behind, but little Reggie was still inside of me."
