By Grace Robinson
LONDON, July 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Legendary gay
singer Elton John, who has sold 300 million records and raised
almost half a billion dollars in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
marked a new milestone on Monday: his own commemorative coin
issued by Britain's Royal Mint.
The coin is the second in the Royal Mint's Music Legend
series celebrating British bands and singers.
John, 73, who was knighted for services to music and charity
in 1998, features on a series of coins of different values
depicting his iconic glasses and straw boater in a design by
artist Bradley Morgan Johnson.
"It really is a fabulous honour to be recognised in this
way," John, whose first number one in the United States was
"Crocodile Rock" in 1973, said in a statement on Monday.
"The last few years have contained some of the most
memorable moments of my career, and this is another truly
humbling milestone on my journey."
The Elton John AIDS Foundation has donated some $450 million
to projects since it was founded in 1992, foundation officials
said.
"Elton is without a doubt a British music legend and is
recognised as one of the most successful singer-songwriters of
his generation," said Clare Maclennan, divisional director of
commemorative coin and The Royal Mint Experience.
The Mint's first coin in the music series, issued in
January, was in honour of the band Queen, led by another gay
musician, Freddie Mercury, who died of an AIDS-related illness
in 1991.
(Reporting by Grace Robinson; Editing by Helen Popper and Hugo
Greenhalgh. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the
charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of
people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.
Visit http://news.trust.org)