David Furnish | |
---|---|
Born | David James Furnish 25 October 1962 |
Education | |
Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, producer, director |
Years active | 1997–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
David James Furnish (born 25 October 1962) is a Canadian-British filmmaker and former advertising executive. He is the husband of English singer, pianist and composer Sir Elton John. [2]
David Furnish was born in Toronto, Ontario at Women's College Hospital, the son of Gladys and Jack Furnish, a director at the Bristol-Myers pharmaceutical company. [3] He has an older brother, John, and a younger brother, Peter. Furnish graduated from the Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute in 1981 and received an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (HBA) from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in 1985. [4]
After graduation, he was recruited by the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Canada in Toronto. At 27, he asked his firm to transfer him to their UK principal offices in London. Furnish flourished in England, becoming the firm's youngest Director of Account Services. [4]
Furnish is co-chief of Rocket Pictures along with his husband, Sir Elton John. Furnish serves on the board of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, attending fundraisers and other events in support of that cause.[ citation needed ]
Furnish is a contributing editor for Tatler magazine and also is a regular columnist for Interview and GQ .[ citation needed ]
In 2015, he was named one of GQ 's 50 best dressed men in Britain. [5]
In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Queerty named him, along with John, as one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people". [6]
Furnish began a relationship with singer Elton John in 1993. John proposed to Furnish in May 2005 at a dinner party with friends and family at one of their homes in Old Windsor. Furnish and John entered into a civil partnership on 21 December 2005, the first day that civil partnerships could be performed in England, in the town of Windsor, Berkshire. [7] Their first child, son Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born on 25 December 2010 in California via surrogacy. [7]
On 11 January 2013, the couple's second son, Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, was born through the same surrogate as their first. [8] After same-sex marriage became legal in England and Wales in March 2014, Furnish and John retroactively converted their civil partnership into a marriage and marked the occasion with a ceremony in Windsor on 21 December 2014, the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership. [9]
In 2016, Furnish sought an anonymised privacy injunction in the case PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd . [10]
Bernard John Taupin is an English lyricist and visual artist. He is best known for his songwriting partnership with Elton John, recognised as one of the most successful partnerships of its kind in history. Taupin co-wrote the majority of John's songs, dating back to the 1960s.
Lee Hall is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the film Billy Elliot (2000) and the book and lyrics for its adaptation as a stage musical of the same name. In addition, he wrote the play The Pitmen Painters (2007), and the screenplays for the films War Horse and Rocketman (2019).
Dexter Fletcher is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama Hotel Babylon and the HBO series Band of Brothers and, earlier in his career, starred as Spike Thomson in the comedy drama Press Gang. His earliest acting role was playing Baby Face in the 1976 film Bugsy Malone.
Andrew James Matfin Bell is an English actor. He rose to prominence for his debut role in Billy Elliot (2000), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming one of the youngest winners of the award. He is also known for his leading roles as Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and as Ben Grimm / Thing in Fantastic Four (2015).
The Windsor Guildhall is the town hall of Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is situated in the High Street, about 100 meters (330 ft) from Castle Hill, which leads to the main public entrance to Windsor Castle. It is a Grade I listed building.
John Reid is a music manager, known for being the manager and former partner of singer Elton John, as well as for managing the British rock band Queen.
Timothy MacKenzie Gunn is an American author, academic, and television personality. He served on the faculty of Parsons School of Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative officer. Over 16 seasons, Gunn has become well known as the on-air mentor to designers on the reality television program Project Runway. Gunn's popularity on Project Runway led to two spin-off shows; Bravo's Tim Gunn's Guide to Style and Lifetime's Under the Gunn, as well as five books. In addition to being an executive producer, Gunn has served as mentor for the teen designers on Project Runway: Junior. He also provides the voice of Baileywick, the castle steward in the Disney Junior television show Sofia the First and narrated the sitcom Mixology.
Sir Elton Hercules John is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. Acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his work during the 1970s, his music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry. His songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin is one of the most successful in history.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation(EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with or at risk of HIV. It has raised over $565 million to support HIV-related programs across ninety countries.
Gnomeo & Juliet is a 2011 animated romantic comedy film directed by Kelly Asbury from a screenplay by Rob Sprackling and John Smith. It is loosely based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and features the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Patrick Stewart, and Ozzy Osbourne. The story follows Gnomeo and Juliet, a pair of garden gnomes who fall in love, but due to the feud between their respective families, they must find a way to keep their blossoming romance a secret.
Gnomeo & Juliet is the soundtrack to the 2011 film Gnomeo & Juliet released on February 1, 2011 by Walt Disney Records' imprint label Buena Vista Records. The album featured music from Elton John, who was also the film's executive producer, who also composed two original songs for the film with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. The album also featured selections from James Newton Howard and Chris Bacon's score compositions.
David France is an American investigative reporter, non-fiction author, and filmmaker. He is a former Newsweek senior editor, and has published in New York magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and others. France, who is gay, is best known for his investigative journalism on LGBTQ topics.
Richard James is a bespoke Savile Row tailors and contemporary menswear company. It was founded in 1992 by designer Richard James, a graduate of Brighton College of Art and a former buyer for the London boutique Browns, and his business partner Sean Dixon. The Design and Brand Director is Toby Lamb, a graduate of Central Saint Martins. Richard James has won both the British Fashion Council's Menswear Designer of the Year and Bespoke Designer of the Year awards.
Rocket Pictures is a British film company founded in 1996 by Elton John to produce family and music-themed film and TV projects.
Sherlock Gnomes is a 2018 animated mystery comedy film directed by John Stevenson. Based on the character Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle, it is a sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet (2011). The main cast reprise their roles from the first film including James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Ozzy Osbourne, among others, alongside new voice cast members, including Johnny Depp, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, and Jamie Demetriou, among others. The animation was done by Mikros Image and Reel FX Creative Studios.
Taron Egerton is a Welsh actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he performed in stage plays. Egerton gained recognition for his starring role as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, a spy, in the action comedy films Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).
Rocketman is a 2019 biographical jukebox musical drama film based on the life, music, and career of British musician Elton John. The film focuses on the story of John in his early days in England as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his musical partnership with Bernie Taupin. The story is told through his music and is titled after John's 1972 song "Rocket Man". Directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall, the film stars Taron Egerton as John, with Jamie Bell as Taupin, Richard Madden as John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Sheila Eileen, John's mother. A British-American venture, the film was produced by New Republic Pictures, Marv Films and Rocket Pictures, and was distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Gypsy Sport is an American fashion brand. The company is based in New York City and was founded in 2012 by its creative director Rio Uribe.
Nakhane Mahlakahlaka is a South African singer, songwriter, actor, and novelist. They are formerly known under the stage name Nakhane Touré. Having grown up among a Christian community in Port Elizabeth, at 15 they moved to Johannesburg, leaving the church in 2013 and publicly celebrating their queerness with their debut album Brave Confusion. They found both controversy and critical acclaim with their starring role in John Trengove's 2017 feature film Inxeba, and relocated to London to record and release 2018's heavily autobiographical album You Will Not Die. Their work has been championed by Elton John, who interviewed Nakhane on his Beats 1 radio show, and Madonna, who cited them as one of her two favourite artists and said their music influenced her 2019 album Madame X.
Rocketman: Music from the Motion Picture is a soundtrack album released by Virgin EMI (UK) and Interscope Records (US) on CD and digital formats on 24 May 2019 and is the official soundtrack album to the 2019 biographical musical film of English musician Elton John entitled Rocketman. The album contains 22 tracks of several hits performed by the cast of the film and a newly written track "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" featuring vocals by Taron Egerton and John together. This is the only song featuring Elton. The song won the 2019 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song & the 2020 Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack was also released by Interscope Records on vinyl on 23 August 2019.