ELTON JOHN - EIGHTIES GUILT FIRES ELTON'S AIDS CHARITY WORK

EIGHTIES GUILT FIRES ELTON'S AIDS CHARITY WORK

SIR ELTON JOHN does all he can to help the fight against Aids because he feels terrible about ignoring pleas to help when he was a drug addict during the 1980s. The rocker founded the Elton John Aids Foundation just months after abandoning his hedonist lifestyle in 1990, and he has since gone out of his way to raise millions for medical research into the killer disease. He says, "In the 80s I didn't really do much for Aids. I was too unreliable at that time in my life, with drugs and drink involved, to actually come to the fore and be accountable. "When I got sober in 1990, then I realised that my life was just so out of whack, so self-absorbed, so self-obsessed and six months after that I did get sober and I thought, 'Right, I'm gonna do something now.'" The British star admits his charity work is now more rewarding than all his musical achievements and accolades - especially when he gets the chance to meet the people his efforts have helped. He adds, "It's really, really satisfying. I am doing something decent with my life, I'm not wasting it. I'm not putting it up my nose, I'm not drinking it, I'm not putting it down my throat, I'm actually doing something that is worthwhile and I wish I had come to my senses much earlier."