Elton John Didn't Return Patti LaBelle's Tupperware, But Paid Her Back With Something Even Better

Elton John and Patti LaBelle go way back—so much so that when they met, the “Rocket Man” singer was not yet going by his stage name.

The Godmother of Soul recently opened up about their decades-long friendship, sharing how they know each other, and revealing the touching way that John paid her back after not returning her Tupperware.

🤩🤩 SIGN UP for Parade's Trending News newsletter & we'll keep you in the know on the viral pop culture moments & celebrity news everyone is talking about 🗞️🗞️

LaBelle guested on the Dec. 4 episode of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast Wiser Than Me, where the entrepreneur and music legend discussed her Grammy Award-winning career and some of her famous friends, including the “Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me” crooner.

“Elton John was my piano player back in the day. His band would come to my flat after the shows and we would play cards for money,” said LaBelle. “They lost every time, so I won all the pounds and sent them home with Tupperware with food every night because they couldn’t afford food!”

Dreyfus then interjected to say that John then didn’t return the Tupperware to the “On My Own” singer, prompting LaBelle to explain their relationship further.

“We were buddies and so he called me one night. He said ‘hello Patti,’ he said ‘this is me, Elton,’ No! Reggie, because he was Reggie at that time, he was not Elton John,” she corrected herself. Elton John’s given name is Reginald Kenneth Dwight, but he switched to his stage name Elton John in the late 1960s, legally changing his name to Elton Hercules John in 1972.

View the original article to see embedded media.

LaBelle continued with her story, sharing that John invited her to his show that night. “So I said, ‘oh, who are you opening for?’ He said, ‘I’m Elton John now.’ Ooh did I tell him some bad things! I said ‘you made it before me, honey!’ And it was just a beautiful, beautiful moment.”

She then went on to detail how the two recorded a duet later and he remembered the Tupperware. “After the song was done, he had taken his rings off so I said ‘here are your rings, Elton.’ And he said ‘no, that’s for your Tupperware that you gave me back in the day.’ So he paid me with a beautiful ring!”

John joined LaBelle for a rendition of his hit “Your Song” in 2005, with the two tweaking the lyrics slightly to include each other’s names in the version featured on LaBelle’s album Patti LaBelle: Classic Moments.

Next: Elton John Makes Emotional Statement About Husband David Amid Months-Long Health Battle