The story of Elton John’s kaleidoscopic, Ozian life has been told many times over: in his own albums and in documentaries and books. The musical film Rocketman, which arrived earlier this year, was an opulent fantasia that traced his astronomical ascent and cocaine-induced crashes: “It’s obviously not all true, but it’s the truth,” John wrote about the film in an essay for the Guardian in May. But John never wrote a definitive autobiography—that is, until now.