A Classic Duet Turns 50

One of my all-time favorite female vocalists has been in the news recently due to the 50th anniversary of her most well-known recording. The following explains what I mean.

On July 24, 1976, Elton John finally scored his first overseas No. 1 single with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” alongside Kiki Dee. It was his sixth chart-topping hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and the first to reach No. 1 in the United Kingdom.

Although John had already cemented himself as an international rock legend by this point in his career, for some reason, his singles struggled to find as much success in his home country as they did in the United States. Records such as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou had managed to top the albums chart, but his singles always suffered from a lack of momentum.

John’s best-performing single in the U.K. before “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” was “Rocket Man”, which shot to No. 2 and helped push its corresponding album, Honky Chateau, to No. 2 as well.

Ultimately, the combined star power of Elton John and Kiki Dee was too much for the charts to ignore, and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” overcame whatever hurdles had previously held the artist back from commercial domination. The song was a massive radio hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

And the song’s success couldn’t have come a moment too soon. John co-wrote the track alongside his long-time writing partner Bernie Taupin with the intention of getting a huge international star to perform the female part, hoping it would speak to fans of classic Motown duets between artists like Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

Although the single wasn’t originally released on an album (where John had typically found most success), it quickly became his most popular song and broke records for physical sales in the United States. Even today, it’s still fondly remembered as one of John’s greatest early hits, and among the most iconic duets ever recorded.

– Jack Walters
Excerpted from "50 Years Ago:
A Beloved Rock Star Scored His Sixth No. 1
With an Unexpected Duet"
Men’s Journal
July 24, 2026

For all the massive fame he had achieved by 1976, Elton John had yet to place a song at the top of the charts in his native Great Britain. That changed when he teamed up with Kiki Dee for “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”

Although Dee, born Pauline Matthews in 1947, had broken through a few years earlier, she already had more than a decade of recording experience under her belt. She’d began working with Fontana Records in 1963 when she was in her mid-teens, signing with the same label that gave John’s early band Bluesology a shot. Her five-year tenure resulted in a handful of singles and a 1968 album, I’m Kiki Dee, none of which charted. But she gained a name for herself as a backup singer (appearing on Dusty Springfield’s “Some of Your Lovin’” and “Little by Little”) and a featured performer on radio and television.

That led to Dee becoming the first white British artist signed to Motown and while 1970’s Great Expectations didn’t match that lofty title, it proved fortuitous in another way.

The music manager for Motown in the U.K. was John Reid, who was also managing Elton John. He convinced Dee to sign with the label they were forming, Rocket Records, and Loving and Free arrived in 1973 with her first U.K. Top 20, “Amoureuse.” A year later, Dee had a hit on both sides of the Atlantic with “I’ve Got the Music in Me.”

. . . Released as a stand-alone single in June 1976, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” went to No. 1 in both the U.S. (four weeks) and the U.K. (six weeks). That ranked as his sixth song to top the Billboard Hot 100 in four years, it was also Elton John’s last until 1986, when he sang on Dionne Warwick’s charity single “That’s What Friends Are For.” One of John’s own compositions wouldn’t reach No. 1 until another duet, George Michael’s live remake of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” did so in February 1992.

In honor of their success on “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” John gave Dee a gold heart necklace with the song’s title engraved on it; as of 2011, she said she still had it. And even though he’s revisited “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” on several occasions, including singing it in high-profile situations with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show, the Spice Girls, Minnie Mouse, RuPaul and actor/comedian Steve Coogan, John has never forgotten his original duet partner. They recorded a cover of the Four Tops’ “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” for her 1981 album Perfect Timing, she joined him onstage at Live Aid for “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and they interpreted Cole Porter’s “True Love” for his 1993 Duets album.

“I love working with him because as well as being hugely talented he’s such a hoot,” Dee said in 2013. “He’s a fascinating person, incredibly loyal and one of the funniest, most quick-witted people I’ve ever met. As we were born just three weeks apart; we always do birthdays. He sends me an orchid and two bottles of champagne every year.”

– Dave Lifton
Excerpted from “The Story of Elton John’s
First U.K. No. 1, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’”
Classic Rock and Culture
May 18, 2019

A rare concert performance of Elton John and Kiki Dee singing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart" [see below] has been released online. The archival footage captures the pair performing the hit at London’s Empire Pool, Wembley, in November 1977.

The release marks the song’s 50th anniversary as a major chart success. In July 1976, the upbeat duet became John’s first number-one single in the United Kingdom and remained at the top for six weeks. It also reached number one in the United States, becoming one of the most recognizable pop collaborations of the decade.

Written by John and Bernie Taupin under the names Ann Orson and Carte Blanche, the song drew inspiration from classic Motown duets. Its playful exchange between the two singers helped it stand apart from John’s solo recordings.

Over the years, John has performed the track with several guest vocalists, but his original recording and live appearances with Dee remain closely associated with the song. The newly shared footage offers fans another look at the chemistry that helped turn the duet into a lasting favorite.

– SuperHits106.com
via social media
July 26, 2026

For more of Kiki Dee at The Wild Reed, see:
• Elton and Kiki: Together Again
• Music Legend Kiki Dee: “I’m a Down-to-Earth Person”
• Celebrating Kiki
• Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri
• “A Classy Duo”
• Celebrating the Proverbial “Soulman”
• Classic Kiki
• Deeper Understandings
• The End Is Not the End
• Amoureuse
• Honoring the Darkness While Remembering the Light
• The Light of This New Year’s Day

Related Off-site Links:
An Interview with Kiki Dee – BBC Breakfast (February 1, 2026).
Kiki Dee’s Forward Motion – The Strange Brew (August 2023).