Elton John tells audience he's lost eyesight

Sir Elton John made the announcement at the The Devil Wears Prada Musical charity gala night on...
Sir Elton John made the announcement at the The Devil Wears Prada Musical charity gala night on Sunday. With him is partner David Furnish. Photo: Getty Images
British singer Sir Elton John has told a theatre audience that he has lost his sight.

One of the biggest selling artists of all time, the Tiny Dancer and Rocket Man star attended the launch of a show in London's West End on Sunday, but said he had been unable to watch the performance.

"As some of you may know I have had issues and now I have lost my sight. I haven't been able to see the performance but I have enjoyed it," John said, according to the Daily Mail.

The 77-year-old said in recent months that an eye infection had left him unable to see out of his right eye and that his left was "not the greatest", meaning he could no longer read or watch anything, and putting his ability to record any new music in future at risk.

John was on the red carpet  for the launch of The Devil Wears Prada, a musical based on the best-selling novel for which he wrote the score.

"It's hard for me to see it but I love to hear it and it sounded good tonight," he said.

Speaking to those in the theatre, he thanked his husband David Furnish for being his "rock".

John, who shot to fame in the early 1970s and whose piano-led rock songs and ballads such as Candle in the Wind have kept him in the spotlight since, played a farewell tour between 2018 and 2023, and has since focused on his family.