Elton John’s lifelong friend and music collaborator, Bernie Taupin, was officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. The ceremony airs on January 1 on ABC, and fans are ecstatic to see the lyricist finally get the recognition he deserves.
As the brains behind several of Elton’s romantic tracks, such as “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and “Candle in the Wind,” Bernie knows a thing or two about relationships. The U.K. native has been married four times in his life, and he found the love of his life in current wife Heather Kidd.
Learn more about Bernie’s past marriages and current relationship with Heather below!
Maxine Feibelman
Bernie and Maxine were married from 1971 to 1976, and she was the inspiration behind Elton and Bernie’s hit song “Tiny Dancer.” The former seamstress spoke with The New York Post in 2019 about the moment she knew the lyrics were about her.
“I knew it was about me. I had been into ballet as a little girl and sewed patches on Elton’s jackets and jeans,” Maxine told the publication. “I had goosebumps. Elton was on one side of me and Bernie was on the other. That song was like having your really good friends give you the best gift you could ever receive.”
While recalling how, during her and Bernie’s marriage, he would compose Elton’s music, Maxine pointed out that her ex-husband would include her in the songwriting process by showing her his creations. Even in the years following her and Bernie’s divorce, Maxine kept folders containing the original songs that Bernie had written in the 1970s.
“Bernie would be up in our bedroom, writing lyrics. When finished, he would show them to me,” she continued. “Next morning, he’d walk downstairs to the dining room to see Elton for breakfast. There was a piano there, and that is where Elton composed the music. Then, Elton would give the lyrics back to Bernie, and I would put them into folders for safe keeping. Over the years, I [started keeping] them in a temperature-controlled vault.”
While Maxine wasn’t a songwriter, she was credited with helping Bernie and Elton come up with their hit single “The Bitch Is Back.”
“Elton had just come back from one of his tours,” she recalled. “He was talking about how tired he was and about how difficult the long hours on stage had been. ‘In the midst of all that, I rolled my eyes and said, ‘Oh, the bitch is back.’ We all started laughing and Bernie thought it would make a great song title.”
Toni Lynn Russo
In 1979, Bernie married his second wife, Toni Lynn Russo, who is actress Rene Russo’s sister. The former spouses were married for a while until they finalized their divorce in 1991.
Stephanie Haymes Roven
Two years after divorcing Toni, the “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” songwriter married his third wife, Stephanie Haymes Roven. They were together for five years until they divorced in 1998. Stephanie is the daughter of actor Dick Haymes and actress Fran Jeffries.
Heather Kidd
In 2004, Bernie tied the knot with his fourth wife, Heather, and the spouses share two daughters together.