Elton John and Britney Spears have collaborated for the first time, creating the slinky, club-ready single “Hold Me Closer” that sees the pop icons take old sounds and fashion something new. The funky, piano-driven single uses John’s 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer” as the skeleton and adds elements from his songs “The One” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” all with Spears voice soaring and fluttering. While John has been releasing new music in the past few years — including the 16-track 2021 album “The Lockdown Sessions” — the song represents Spear’s first new music since her 2016 album “Glory” and her first offering since the ending of her contentious conservatorship. “She truly is an icon, one of the all-time great pop stars and she sounds amazing on this record. I love her dearly and am delighted with what we’ve created together,” John said in a statement. Spears, in her statement, told John it was an honor to be asked: ”I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with you and your legendary mind.” Read: Leon Vitali, Stanley Kubrick's right-hand man, dies at 74 The track is produced by Andrew Watt, who has worked with such acts as Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder, Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus. The song begins with both stars singing the opening lyrics of “The One” — “I saw you dancing out the ocean/Running fast along the sand/A spirit born of earth and water/Fire flying from your hands.” It then seamlessly moves to ”Tiny Dancer”: “Hold me closer, tiny dancer/Count the headlights on the highway/Lay me down in sheets of linen/You had a busy day today.” The track calls to mind last year’s hit “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” which melded John’s songs “Kiss the Bride,” “Rocket Man,” “Where’s the Shoorah?” and “Sacrifice” into a dance bop featuring vocals by Dua Lipa. John and Spears first met in 2014 at an Oscar viewing party and she later tweeted her love of “Tiny Dancer,” sowing the seeds for the latest collaboration. John is in the midst of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

Ray Cordeiro considers himself the luckiest radio DJ in the world. In a storied career spanning over 70 years in Hong Kong, Cordeiro has interviewed superstars including the Beatles and Elton John, and even received an MBE — an order of the British empire for outstanding achievement or service to the community — from Queen Elizabeth. Cordeiro, who holds the Guinness world record for the world’s longest-working DJ, retired last month at the age of 96. “I’ve been talking all my life about music and all, and I’d never thought that I would retire. I never thought that I was getting older,” he said. Read:7 Things That Happened On the ‘Friends Reunion’ Cordeiro was born in 1924 in Hong Kong and is of Portuguese descent. His musical tastes as a child were influenced by his brother who was 10 years older and collected records from groups like the Mills Brothers and the Andrews Sisters. Back then records were breakable, Cordeiro said. “When he’s not home and I played his records, I had to be very, very careful, because if I broke it he would get awfully angry,” Cordeiro said. “I grew up with his music.” In his youth, Cordeiro worked as a warden at a local prison and a clerk at an HSBC bank. His love for music eventually led him to pursue a career in radio, where he joined public broadcaster Radio Hong Kong, now known as Radio Television Hong Kong. It was during a three-month study course in London with the BBC in 1964 that Cordeiro landed the interview that kickstarted his career — with the Beatles, the biggest band in the world at the time. He had some free time after the end of the course before he had to return to Hong Kong and didn’t want to “sit around for two weeks doing nothing.” “So I said, why don’t I grab the chance of finding some peeps, some pop groups or singers that I can interview and bring back (tapes) to Hong Kong,” he said. During those two weeks, Cordeiro traveled to venues where groups were performing and interviewed them afterward. The Beatles had become wildly popular and Cordeiro wanted to interview them the most. Armed with a notebook and a pen, he went to the offices of the band’s record label, EMI, to ask for an interview with the group. Read:Jolie says judge in Pitt divorce won’t let children testify By a stroke of luck, he was told to return the next day for an interview, with EMI loaning him a tape recorder for it. He bought a magazine with a picture of the Beatles on the cover and took it with him to the interview, and got all the members to autograph it. “Altogether I have some 26 signatures of all the Beatles, and it’s probably worth a fortune,” he said.  

Elton John canceled his two remaining New Zealand shows late Tuesday as he continued to suffer from a bout of pneumonia.

Elton John intends to play his remaining shows in New Zealand this week, his tour promoters said Monday, a day after illness caused the singer to lose his voice and cut short a performance.

An emotional Elton John had to cut short a performance in New Zealand on Sunday after he lost his voice due to walking pneumonia and had to be assisted off stage.

Elton John and Chris Hemsworth are among the celebrities donating big bucks for relief efforts as wildfires engulf Australia.