In the mid-1980s, I stayed in Los Angeles and went to Universal Studios for the day. When I got there, I met Renate Blauel and spent a morning with her on a backlot tour.
Who is Renate Blauel.
Renate Blauel is a German sound engineer best known for her marriage to the famous musician Elton John. Renate has worked with various artists and bands, including The Human League, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Chris Rea, Marvin Gaye, and Mike Oldfield. She met Elton John in 1983 while working on his album "Too Low for Zero".
The couple got married on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1984, in Sydney, Australia. Their wedding was a high-profile event, but the marriage lasted only four years, ending in divorce in 1988.
How I met Renate Blauel.
I had just entered Universal Studios and was in the queue for the backstage tour when I noticed a beautiful woman in the queue in front of me with two huge men. I thought I recognised her and suddenly realised where I had seen her before. I had seen her in the newspapers a couple of days before when she had got married to pop legend Elton John. She was Renate Blauel.
As we were queuing up for the tour, I said hello and started talking to her, telling her I had seen her in the papers a couple of days before. We started talking, and she told me that as soon she and Elton John got married, they flew to California, where he was making a video for his latest record.
She introduced me to her two minders as we talked and queued up for the backstage tour. We continued talking as we waited in line. She asked if I was on my own and how long I was on holiday. As we got to the front of the line, she turned away to talk to her minders and told them she didn't need them anymore and would go on the backstage tour with me. They then left, and I spent a few hours with her on the Universal Studios backstage tour.
When the tour finished, she thanked me for my company and said she had to leave to meet Elton John. I spent the rest of the day walking around Universal Studios, and when I had finished, I walked back to Burbank to get a lift home. When I saw Ron, I asked him to guess which famous singer's wife I had spent the morning with. Straight away, he said Renate, Elton John's wife. When I asked him how he knew, he said he had just guessed, as he had seen Elton John working in the studios.
I didn't meet Elton John, but I did get to meet his wonderful wife, Renate, who was kind enough to accompany me on my backstage tour of Universal Studios. It was another great memory that I will never forget.