Bernie Taupin Releases First Solo Album in Almost 40 Years

Bernie Taupin, best known as Elton John's writing partner, releases his first solo album in almost 40 years this Friday, Oct. 23. The record is called The Sea Has No Mercy, and it is scheduled for release on Vertigo Records/MCA Nashville, according to Billboard.

Taupin has spent decades writing the words that John sets to music, from songs that became huge hits around the world. This album is different in one important way. It is the first record Taupin has written entirely by himself, without a co-writer.

Frank Liddell produced the album. Taupin's band on the record, The Tennessee Stone Cutters, will also play with him on a stage that many country fans will recognise. On Nov. 7, he is scheduled to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville for the first time. That date will also be his first public musical performance in nearly 30 years.

The album has a guest singer on one track. Brandi Carlile sings on "Come on California." Taupin also considered asking Joni Mitchell to take part in the same song, Billboard reported.

Taupin's last record before this one came out in 1998, when he was part of the band Farm Dogs. Since then, his public profile has been built largely on his writing and on his memoir. He spent two years writing his autobiography, Scattershot, which was a bestseller in 2023.

For people who know Taupin mainly from the credits on Elton John's records, the album gives a different view of his work. It is a set of songs with his name on every line, and it arrives with a live date that will show how they sound outside the studio.

Album releases like this one are often measured in their first week by sales and streams, but those figures will take time to appear, and no chart results for this album have been published yet.