Elton John has warned new and emerging acts that instant TV fame such as The X Factor brings is the "worst thing" and reckons they should "play in a pub" instead.
The 77-year old musician gave the advice in an interview with Rolling Stone UK ahead of the release of his joint album with 43-year-old US singer Brandi Carlile, which shares the same title as their hit single Who Believes In Angels?
Giving advice to young musicians, Elton said: "Just keep trying to play live. That's the way you improve as a musician and songwriter.
"It doesn’t matter if you’re playing to 40 people. The more experience you get playing to nobody, the better. Because when I played in Musicology, we played to hardly anybody sometimes.
"That experience stood me in great stead for when I became Elton John because I had backbone. And backbone is so important, because the worst thing that can happen to you in the industry are things like X Factor and instant fame on television where you have no experience of playing live.
"You get put on stage, you go, and you can’t do it. That’s the worst thing. American Idol - just the worst. Take risks. Go and play in a pub."
Speaking about his album collaborator, Carlile, he said: "I love her so much and not just as a person, but I love what's inside of her musically and creatively.
"It hasn’t really touched the surface. I think it’s beginning to, but it’s got so much further to go.
"She’s like an embryo at the moment, and she’s done a hell of a lot to be an embryo, but she’s going to just burst."
Source: Press Association
