Chappell Roan Was Booked for Elton John’s Oscars Party After They Became ‘Dear’ Friends, David Furnish Says: ‘He Keeps an Eye on Her’

Elton John counts himself as one of Chappell Roan’s earliest fans. He became aware of the singer before her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” was released in 2023.

“He was about as early as an early adopter can be to her talent. Subsequently, she’s become a dear friend to Elton and me,” the Rocket Man’s husband David Furnish tells me. “He keeps an eye on her and loves what she has achieved musically.”

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John and Furnish attended one of Roan’s shows at London’s O2 Academy Brixton in September. “Elton hadn’t been to Brixton since 1968 or something. It was a real pilgrimage,” Furnish says. “We were both just blown away by her and her performance. This is a an artist with one album under their belt and she played every single song from the album. The audience knew every word, and she just gave them the most spectacular performance. Her band were fantastic. She knew how to put a song across to an audience in such an electric and powerful and entertaining way.”

So it should come as no surprise that the “Pink Pony Club” hitmaker will perform at this year’s Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party. The 33rd annual event will take place at West Hollywood Park on March 2. Sharing co-hosting duties with John and Furnish will be Jean Smart, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. The viewing party has raised nearly $115 million to support EJAF’s mission to end AIDS since beginning more than three decades ago.

“Chappell understands the work that the foundation does,” says Furnish, who serves as chair of EJAF. “She’s aligned with our values and our goals. We’re all passionately committed to ending the epidemic, and to putting our arms around everybody and making sure that no one gets left behind.”

John will spend the first part of the evening at the Oscar ceremony, because he is nominated for best original song “Never Too Late” from his Disney+ documentary of the same name. His co-writers included Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Watt. Furnish is hoping for a repeat of 2020 when John arrived at the party with his second Oscar after winning for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from his biopic “Rocketman.”

No decisions have been made if John will perform with Roan during the festivities. “They’re still talking about stuff, let’s put it that way,” Furnish teases. “We will run the same drill that we did when the song from ‘Rocket Man’ was nominated, whereas as soon as the award is presented, we will jump in the car and we will go straight on to our party because it’s very important for us to be there and to be in the room.”

The foundation has raised more than $600 million since its inception in 1992.

“The most pressing issue for the foundation is that we continue to fight and push very strongly to capitalize on the gains and progress that we’ve made, to make sure that we don’t lose momentum,” Furnish says. “There’s a lot of questions being asked by governments around the world, including America, about spending and spending efficiency and value for money.”

Furnish points to a bipartisan trip that he and John took with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to Johannesburg two years ago to see the work EJAF has accomplished in South Africa. “We were reviewing the progress that had been made so far and everybody from both sides of the aisle all unanimously agreed what a tremendous investment this has been. So much progress has been made,” Furnish says. “Everybody agreed these are very wise investments, philanthropically, for the American government and governments around the world to make.”

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