Sir Elton John felt "shook" by the sudden death of his mother.
The 70-year-old music icon – who endured a turbulent relationship with his mother Sheila Farebrother over the last few years of her life – reconciled with her in 2016 and was shocked by her sudden death, aged 92, in December, after she’d appeared to be in good health the week before.
Elton – whose eight-year feud is rumored to have centered on a disagreement over two of her friends – explained: "We reconciled in 2016 and it was a nice reconciliation.
"I saw her a week before she died, and I thought, ‘God, she’s pretty feisty, she’s going to last for a few months’, and a week later she was dead it it really shook me actually. And we had a beautiful private ceremony for her."
Meanwhile, Elton announced his intention to retire from touring on Wednesday (24.01.18), revealing he’ll quit at the end a final 300-date world tour.
And the chart-topping star admitted he feels fortunate to be alive, after he was forced to spend two nights in intensive care and 12 days in hospital last year following a health scare on his return from tour.
Elton – who contracted a "harmful and unusual" bacterial infection during his tour of South America – told ITV’s ‘Lorraine’: "I went to South America and had a wonderful tour with James Taylor. I came back from Chile, felt ill on the plane, got home on a Tuesday night, I was in intensive care on Thursday, having stayed there for two days … I was very, very close to death.
"I didn’t know that, I was very fortunate – I had a great team of doctors, and it took me seven weeks to get back to normal."