Elton John Accepts iHeartRadio Icon Award, Honoured By Demi Lovato, Chris Martin, H.E.R. & More

Elton John was on hand for the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards as this year’s recipient of the Icon Awards.

Prior to accepting his award, Lil Nas X and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin gave speeches to praise the honouree, with Martin’s taking a comedic approach.

In his setup, Martin claimed he’d gotten into a “really bad fistfight” with the guy who ran the teleprompter, and, since he claimed to know absolutely nothing about the “Rocket Man” rocker, he was simply going to recite whatever iHeartRadio had put on the screen for him to read.

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“Elton John was born in the USA,” Martin began in his fact-free introduction.

“He and his collaborator, Bernie Sanders, lived and worked together in an apartment that his partner, David, furnished,” he added.

He then listed some of the not-even-close titles to some of the Sir Elton’s songs, including “such classics as ‘Uptown Girl’ or ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’. Beautiful stuff, Elton.”

Martin continued by claiming the singer originally wanted to be an actor, admitting “that didn’t go so well but it did lead to an incredible song, ‘I’m Still a Stand-In’,” and then mentioned the movie made about his life, “Rock It, Man!”.

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Martin then shared his love for Sir Elton’s romantic songs, “particularly the one he wrote for his husband’s parents, ‘Don’t Let Your Son Go Down on Me’,” he joked.

“Anyway, he’s one of the greatest guitarists of all time,” Martin concluded before introducing “a video about Sir Elton Newton John.”

Martin’s foray into standup comedy was followed by a phenomenal performance of “Benny and the Jets” from H.E.R., who handled both the piano part and a fiery guitar solo that caused Sir Elton’s jaw to drop.

H.E.R. was followed by Demi Lovato, decked out in a ’70s-style suit, glittery Elton-style sunglasses and platform boots to deliver a rousing rendition of “I’m Still Standing”.

At one point, Lovato strolled over and sang directly to him, singing the line, “If our love was just a circus…” and then thrusting the mic toward him so he could complete the line, singing, “I’d be a clown by now.”

In addition, Brandi Carlile honoured Sir Elton with a cover of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”.

? But losin’ everything is like the sun goin’ down on me ? #iHeartAwards2021 pic.twitter.com/AjeX26QBZM

— iHeartRadio (@iHeartRadio) May 28, 2021

Finally, John accepted his award. After thanking iHeartRadio and the performers, he paid tribute to radio.

Admitting he felt humbled, because “when I first came to Los Angeles in 1970, radio was so important and I’d never heard radio in America before because I’d never been to America before,” he said, noting that in England “we had just one station.”

He also explained his insistence at championing young artists, “because they need exposure. They need the radio. I’ve had my time, as they say, in the sun, and I’m still glad people play my records, and I love it,” he added, causing the audience to erupt into applause.

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