Elton John broke down in tears delivering a six-word health update to his crew and band. The Rocket Man legend, 78, admitted in his 2019 autobiography Me that despite trying to be stoic when delivering a terrifying update, he promptly “burst into tears” when doctors told him some grave news.

Back in 1987, Elton was warned by health professionals that he could be suffering from throat cancer in a huge blow to the musician. Cysts were found on his throat and vocal cords, which doctors advised could be caused by smoking marijuana. He admitted: “It turns out there’s nothing like being absolutely terrified to help you quit something, and nothing like the word ‘cancer’ to make you absolutely terrified.”

When delivering the news to his band and crew members during his Australian tour that year, Elton confessed: “If there was a chance I was never going to sing again, I at least wanted to put off the day I stopped as long as I could.

“I decided I would take the same stoic, show-must-go-on attitude when I told the band and crew what had happened. Instead, I walked into the bar of the Sebel Townhouse – yes, there again – croakily announced, ‘They think I’ve got throat cancer,’ and then burst into tears.

“I couldn’t help it. I was so scared. Even if the operation was successful, even if the biopsy came back clear, I might still be done for, at least as a singer – Julie Andrews had come out of an operation to remove a cyst on her vocal cords with her voice completely destroyed.”

Thankfully, it turned out Elton did not have throat cancer, but he underwent an exploratory surgery anyway, with doctors discovering a “non-malignant lesion” on his vocal cords. The operation did, however, alter his voice into a deeper register, though he continued to perform.

He told Billboard in 2004: “My voice is the thing that's really improved the most over the last few years. There's more resonance to it. It started to change when I had the operation in Australia after the live album.”

He added: “Halfway through my career I got a voice change, thanks a lot! And I've learned to breathe properly, I've watched other people singing, I've become a much better singer. I've become a singer that plays the piano instead of a piano player that sings."