Kiki Dee has opened up about her relationship with Sir Elton John and revealed how their iconic duet Don't Go Breaking My Heart still brings her success to this day. The song, released exactly 50 years ago this week, gave Elton John his first UK number one single, a feat he would not repeat until 1990 with Sacrifice. It stayed at the top for six weeks during the legendary summer heatwave of 1976 and has now achieved over one billion streams on Spotify.
The Billion-Stream Milestone
In an exclusive interview, the 79-year-old singer expressed amazement at the song's enduring popularity. She said: "What’s lovely is that Don’t Go Breaking My Heart has kept me in the public spotlight because what I do now is not so commercially based. The Spotify award was amazing. It’s lovely that people still want to hear this song. I got a large brown parcel in the post totally out of the blue and it was this award from Spotify for one billion streams. It is quite beautiful. And every so often a little cheque pops into my account because of this song. That’s sweet."
The Duet That Almost Wasn't
Back in 1976, Elton John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin originally planned for the song to be a solo Elton performance with Kiki providing only backing vocals. Kiki was signed to Elton's Rocket record label and had already enjoyed hits like I Got The Music In Me and Loving and Free. However, record producer Gus Dudgeon saw the potential for a duet. Kiki recalls: "You know what's interesting about Don’t Go Breaking My Heart? It was just going to be an Elton performance with me singing backup vocals. But it was his record producer, Gus Dudgeon, who saw the potential for it to become a duet."
That decision changed both their lives. The song shot to number one in the UK, knocking Demis Roussos' Forever and Ever off the top spot, and also reached number one in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.
Recorded Thousands of Miles Apart
Despite the video showing them singing together, the track was actually recorded separately. Kiki explained: "We didn’t actually record the song together. It happens a lot when artists record duets. I mean Elton was so busy at that time he was probably flying all over the world so the only way they could get the single together was for him to do his vocal in America. I got a tape of him singing his part himself and then doing my part in a falsetto voice. This is so I knew which bits were mine. I wish I had kept the recording. It has that ‘live’ feeling about it. It doesn’t sound like my vocals are edited in. I guess that’s why I never spoke about how it was made."
The Low-Budget Video
Kiki now cringes at the very low-budget video, which was filmed in a recording studio with her in dungarees and Elton in a loud check suit. "We weren't in our coolest phase, were we?" she laughed. "It wasn’t high maintenance. Very informal. I think we did it in two takes because Elton doesn't like to hang around. We didn't even rehearse it. Remember these were the days before MTV. It was done in case we got a Top of the Pops slot – which I thought we would! So we just chucked a video together not knowing that 50 years on, it would still be out there."
Live Aid and Other Performances
In 1985, Elton and Kiki reunited to sing the track in front of two billion people at Live Aid. Her appearance had been kept a secret, which she admits took away any nerves. She said: "It was 1985 and I was doing theatre then so I wasn’t in the charts. I wasn’t ‘the latest flavour of the month’ as they say. So when they asked me, I didn’t actually feel any pressure as an artist that day like all the others there such as Queen. I just turned up in my strange outfit. I looked like I was just about to go to bed in my pink pyjamas. But it was an amazing day."
Elton has since performed the song with The Spice Girls, Minnie Mouse, and Ru Paul. Kiki admitted she was jealous when Miss Piggy sang it with him on The Muppet Show, saying: "I mean I actually loved it when Miss Piggy said ‘Eat your heart out Kiki Dee’. He also did it on a TV show with The Spice Girls. That was a bit odd because I was in the audience at the time."
The Dusty Springfield Myth
Over the years, an urban myth has persisted that Elton originally wanted to perform the song with Dusty Springfield, but she was ill. Kiki dismisses this: "I think it is a myth. I think there was a musical about Dusty at some point and I don't know whether they were stretching the truth a little...I mean we all love Dusty but I can't see it being true. It wouldn't have bothered me though, I actually got to sing on a couple of her singles in the 60s. The reason I was asked to sing with Elton was because he knew me already. I was on his Rocket record label at the time and had already had two hit songs."
Nicknames and Friendship
The pair remain friends, swapping gifts and gossip. Elton, known for giving male pop stars female nicknames (Rod Stewart was Phyllis, Freddie Mercury was Melina), also gave Kiki one. She revealed: "He used to call me Stanley Matthews after the footballer because my real surname is (Pauline) Matthews. Elton would give everyone nicknames. On Don’t Go Breaking My Heart it says it’s written by Anna Orson and Carte Blanche – that was him and Bernie. The names came from the fact that when Elton checked into hotels it meant fans couldn’t call his room as they wouldn’t know his nickname. I know one was Lord Choc Ice."
Enduring Legacy
Kiki is proud of the song and noted that Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant once told her it would always be part of her musical life. She added: "I worked with Robert Plant about four years ago and he said ‘Oh.. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ - that's your Stairway to Heaven’. Even though things move on, I embrace this record because it’s forever. That's why I do a different live version arranged by my music partner Carmelo, we slow it slowed down and it has more pathos."
Asked why the song has lasted, Kiki said: "It must strike some kind of a chord with people as far as relationships go. It's got some kind of romance about it. There is a lot of joy about it. Like most people, I have had an interesting love life but I am a very private person. These days, I am proud to say I’m happily single!"
When asked which current artists she would like to see perform the song together, she suggested: "Off the top of my head I think if I had to pick two current artists to sing Don’t Go Breaking My Heart in 2026, I’d go for Olivia Dean and Sam Fender. It would be a cool version."
