He is one of the richest pop stars of all time, with an estimated £240 million fortune – and he is now on a US tour that includes an extended stay at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, earning a reported $500,000 (£340,000) per show.
But more than 5,000 miles away from the glitzy showbiz mecca, Sir Elton John’s mother celebrated her 90th birthday in very different style – at a £14-a-head tapas restaurant near her home in West Sussex.
Sheila Farebrother is not thought to have spoken to her son for seven years after a family rift, and was joined by two friends for the modest lunch at the Restaurante Andalucia in Worthing on Thursday.
World's apart: Sir Elton is on tour in the US (pictured last week) as his mother, in purple, dines with friends
£14-a-head: The Restaurante Andalucia, centre, where Sir Elton's mother, Sheila Farebrother, celebrated
Speaking later at her £740,000 four-bedroom home on a private estate near Littlehampton, she appeared to rule out any reconciliation in the broken relationship with her rock legend son.
Asked if she had been contacted by Sir Elton during her birthday, she simply replied ‘no’, adding: ‘Anyway, it’s none of your business.’
Mrs Farebrother revealed in 2011 that the two had fallen out spectacularly, saying: ‘He has cut me off completely. I don’t want to go into what caused it. It is a painful subject. My son cut me out of his life for good.’
Family rift: Elton John with his mother and stepfather in 1971. He is still believed to support her financially
It is understood Elton was furious over comments his mother made that offended his partner, David Furnish
It is understood that the 67-year-old musician was furious over comments she made that offended his partner, David Furnish. Their relationship soured so much that Sir Elton did not go to the funeral of his stepfather Fred Farebrother in 2010.
Mrs Farebrother divorced Sir Elton’s father, Stanley Dwight, when the singer was 14.
Sir Elton is still believed to support his mother financially.
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Sheila believes that the only people who matter to Furnish and Elton are the celebrities and the super-rich with whom they now consort. 'It appears all they are interested in these days are people with wealth and fame.'
There is huge sadness in her eyes as she tells me Elton did not even attend Fred's funeral.
'And really, Furnish doesn't want to be with me and I certainly don't want to be with him.'
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The sitting room of the sunny seaside bungalow is awash with flowers, but Sir Elton John's mother Sheila Farebrother is leading a clear path to one large bowl of white orchids that is perched on a table by her chair.
Still attached to a stem is a simple white card with a note. It reads: 'Wow, 90! Congratulations. Love Elton, David, Zachary and Elijah.'
You can tell from the smile lighting up Sheila's face that the orchids' arrival has a special significance for her. As well it might. For it is the first she has heard from her world-famous son in seven years.
Though she had been a loving mother to him throughout his childhood, and supported him through all of the ups and downs of his career, Elton severed all contact with her after a catastrophic argument.
Before the split: Elton John with his mother Sheila Farebrother at his 50th birthday bash in 1997
The precise nature of what sparked their rift has hitherto never been explained.
But today Sheila has invited me into her home to reveal exactly what took place between them — and the enduring hurt she feels.
And what an extraordinary story it is: a tale of divided loyalties, control freakery, a dispute over a wedding hat, and, above all, the influence of the person she blames for turning her son against her — Elton's husband, David Furnish.
Devastatingly, she reveals that during one of their final exchanges, her adored son told her that he hated her.
'Yes, it's seven years now in June', she confides quietly about the estrangement from her son. 'But you know, I've got used to it. And it was all so stupid — so petty.'
It all began, she reveals, when Elton telephoned her out of the blue and ordered her to cut off all contact with two of their oldest friends, Bob Halley and John Reid, with whom he had fallen out.
Bob had been Elton's driver turned personal assistant, whom he had fired after more than 30 years of loyal service as part of a series of changes he was making to his team.
John, meanwhile, had been Elton's brilliant manager — and briefly his lover — and is the man who guided his career from its earliest days through to global superstardom and a £235 million fortune.
Since Sheila had known these two men for decades, and particularly valued their support and companionship in her later years, she flatly refused to cut them out of her life.
As far as she was concerned, they had always taken care of her throughout the years she had spent travelling the world with Elton and thus deserved her loyalty.
And unlike so many of Elton's entourage, she was not afraid to refuse her son's demands.
'I told him: 'I'm not about to do that and drop them. Bob is like a son to me. He has always been marvellous to me and he lives nearby and keeps an eye on me.' '
'Then to my utter amazement, he told me he hated me. And he then banged the phone down. Imagine! To me, his mother!'
A mother, moreover, who was then 83-years-old.
She accompanied her son when when he received an honorary doctorate at the Royal College of Music in London
Yet despite Elton's cruel words Sheila does not regret standing up to him and indeed is capable of giving as good as she got.
'I had no intention of dropping John and Bob and I told Elton so. He told me I thought more of Bob Halley than I did of my own son.
'And to that I said to him, 'And you think more of that f***ing thing you married than your own mother.' '
By that 'thing' Sheila is referring to David Furnish, Elton's long-term partner and now husband.
'Those were the last words I spoke to him. That's what it's all about. I suppose he was horrified because I dared to disobey.'
No doubt Elton — a supremely gifted man who can be wonderfully generous and warm-hearted to his friends — will have his own interpretation of events.
On the contrary, she is a tolerant and open-minded woman who has many close gay friends, long ago accepted her own son's sexuality and proudly served as a witness at his civil ceremony.
Rather, her anger centres on what she sees as Furnish's attempt to take control of all aspects of Elton's life, at the expense of his old friends and family.
Sheila believes that the only people who matter to Furnish and Elton are the celebrities and the super-rich with whom they now consort. 'It appears all they are interested in these days are people with wealth and fame.'
For Sheila, the first hint of trouble came at Elton and David's civil partnership ceremony at Windsor Guildhall in 2005, for which she was invited to be an official witness.
'I wouldn't comply with everything they wanted me to do, that was the trouble,' she recalls. 'One thing I didn't do was to wear a hat. That didn't go down well with Furnish because he wanted it to be the Wedding of the Year.
An even more wounding incident was to come a few years later — after their heated phone call — and this time it concerned Sheila's husband, Fred Farebrother, to whom she was married for 40 years after divorcing Elton's father, Stanley Dwight.
In 2007, Fred fell ill with a chest infection and battled illness for the next three years until his death at the age of 88. Yet Sheila says that in those final years, Elton never once came to visit him in hospital.
'Fred became even more ill and I think he just hung on thinking that Elton would come to see him and he never did.'
Elton severed all contact with her after a catastrophic argument, pictured together when he received his Knighthood
'We only tried to do everything to help him. Fred idolised him and he was so upset, you know, that he didn't even bother to come and see him when he was in hospital.
There is huge sadness in her eyes as she tells me Elton did not even attend Fred's funeral.
'But clearly Elton wasn't worried about him; he wasn't worried about me, either.
'Oh yes, it's hurt me. It's the way he spoke to me. You know, things I never thought he'd ever say to me, that he hated me.'
Nor could she know that it would lead to seven years when they would not speak at all. 'For all this time I haven't had as much as a Christmas card, a birthday card or a Mother's Day card. Nothing.'
Which brings us, of course, to her 90th birthday party. Although Sheila wasn't expecting her son to make a surprise visit from America — where his current tour includes playing for a reported £340,000 a night at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas —she wasn't going to let that stop her celebrating her birthday in style.
Eighty of her friends turned out to toast her at a party thrown at a converted barn near her West Sussex home. And to add to the fun she hired 'The Ultimate Elton Tribute Band' — led by amazingly realistic Elton lookalike Paul Bacon.
Few families go through life without a row or two along the way, but most learn to make peace eventually. Surely, after seven years, it is time for Elton and Sheila to be reconciled?
Even so, it is to Elton's credit that despite his harsh words, he continues to support Sheila financially as well as providing a roof over her head and paying for her medical bills.
She said she was not allowed to be in wedding photographs after she refused to wear a hat
Now, with the arrival of the white orchids for her birthday, does she think perhaps the tide may be changing?
'No,' she says in a resigned way. 'I just think that he [Furnish] has got him now, hasn't he?'
'It's up to him. Maybe, I don't know,' she says. 'I'm happy now. I've got over all the hurt of those seven years. I've got over all the nasty things and the hurtfulness.
Surely she must miss the closeness — the fun and the laughter — that she and Elton shared for so many years?
the fact that she has never even met the two boys whom Elton and David fathered with a surrogate mother.
Even so, she says she is no longer fretting about Elton's absence in her life.
'I'm great because I've got Bob, I've got John, and I've got loads of friends here. I have loads of people around me and I have a lovely life.'
Finally, with enormous dignity, this strong, principled woman says that despite all that has happened, she wishes only that Elton is happy.
