Joel performs with one of the hottest bands in the UK comprising hand-picked musicians at the top of their game and there is an evident camaraderie in both their playing and performance on stage. He has performed worldwide as Elton John including packed houses at venues as prestigious as Alexandra Palace. Joel was born with a similar timbre to his voice and just like his hero began piano lessons as a child. Joel Buckingham takes on the task of recreating the Elton John live experience. Elton John's unique blend of pop and rock styles turned him into one of the biggest icons of the 20th century. No show about Elton John would be complete without the outrageous outfits and glasses which have become a signature of his live shows from the early 1970s right up to the modern day. His autobiography, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, was published to coincide with his 60th birthday.I'm Still Standing – The Music of Elton John is a musical celebration of the legendary 50 year career of Sir Elton John featuring all of his greatest hits performed by the outstanding Joel Buckingham, backed by an amazing live band. He wrote several novels including Refugee Boy, about political asylum, and Face, about a boy who suffers facial injuries after an accident. Amazingly, I never met a racist animal.” Veganism also appeared as a theme in his poetry: Talking Turkeys, from his first book of children’s poetry, has the opening line “Be nice to your turkeys this Christmas”, and in 2001 he published The Little Book of Vegan Poems. “When the cats were away, I’d talk to the birds and the bees. “I experienced racism in and out of the classroom, so in the playground I would often find myself sitting in a corner talking to the local cats,” he wrote in the Guardian last year. When he was nine, he decided to stop eating animals. Zephaniah was also an animal rights activist and an ambassador for the Vegan Society. “I get angry when I hear that word ‘empire’ it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.” “Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought,” he wrote in the Guardian. 'It would be hypocritical': Benjamin Zephaniah on why he refused an OBE – video When a concert honouring Mandela was held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1996, Mandela asked Zephaniah to host it. Mandela heard the tribute while in prison, and later asked to meet Zephaniah. He also released a number of albums, and was the first person to record with the Wailers after the death of Bob Marley in a tribute to Nelson Mandela. His work, which appeared on the national curriculum, was heavily influenced by Jamaican music and poetry, and he was often classified as a dub poet. In 1999, he wrote What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us as part of the campaign to find the murderers of the 18-year-old south-east Londoner. In 1990, he published Rasta Time in Palestine, containing poetry and travelogue based on a visit to the Palestinian occupied territories. His second poetry collection, The Dread Affair, was published in 1985 and featured a number of poems attacking the British legal system. His poetry often directly responded to historical and current events. We are a multicultural society but the institutions have to catch up with us,” he said in 2019. “I was a big protester, not just against racism but also apartheid. He began performing at demonstrations, youth gatherings and outside police stations. In 1979, he moved to London, and his first collection, Pen Rhythm, was published. He had dyslexia, and he left school aged 14. He began performing poetry locally in his early teenage years. Zephaniah was born April 1958 in Handsworth, Birmingham, which he thought of as a “cold suburb of Kingston, Jamaica”. Upon hearing the news of his death, co-star Cillian Murphy said that he was “so saddened” by his news, adding: “Benjamin was a truly gifted and beautiful human being – a generational poet, writer, musician and activist. Zephaniah also played the role of Jeremiah “Jimmy” Jesus in Peaky Blinders, appearing in 14 episodes. “Rise in Power Benjamin Zephaniah.” Comedian Frankie Boyle added that “the world has lost a strong, strong human being”. Brum legend,” said author Kehinde Andrews. Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour party leader, said that he was “a devoted friend of the marginalised and dispossessed,” “a beacon of hope” and an “inspiration”. Author Bernardine Evaristo wrote that he was a “trailblazing poet” and “force of nature” in a post on X. Writers, poets, musicians and politicians posted tributes to Zephaniah on social media following the news.
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