Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, Jam Master Jay ... Sir Elton John?

OK, John isn't dead and that the legendary singer, songwriter and pop icon is talking about tackling the hip-hop genre next proves there's life in ol' Reg yet. That's Reg as in Reginald, as in Reginald Kenneth Dwight, as in Elton John's real name. He'll be tickling the ivories tomorrow night for a sold-out audience at Rexall Place, the first time he has performed in Edmonton since 1999.

John first cemented his international stardom in 1970 with Your Song and went on to crank out a long list of hits, including such now pop standards as Honky Cat, Rocket Man, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting and Crocodile Rock.

It's John's rock 'n' roll legacy that makes the very idea of his pursuing hip hop so odd - or so it would seem.

The 59-year-old let on that he was keen on the idea during a recent interview with Rolling Stone. He also demonstrated that he knows his stuff, or at least who he ought to be working with.

"I want to work with Pharrell (Williams), Timbaland, Snoop (Dogg), Kanye (West), Eminem and just see what happens. It may be a disaster, it could be fantastic, but you don't know until you try," John told the magazine.

Only time will tell whether he pulls it off. But with a career that's spanned five decades, time has been kind to John, who's taken his share of risks, both creative and personal.

Rock piano's prodigal son, John began playing at the age of four and by the time he was 11 he won a scholarship to the British Royal Academy of Music. He went to school for six years, dropping out just prior to graduating to focus on his music career.

After playing in a couple of bands, John began writing music for Liberty Records, where he was paired with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Their work laid the foundation for John's rise to stardom, but it's only with the release of John's latest album, The Captain and the Kid (a successor to John's autobiographical album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, from 1975), that Taupin has been given front-and-centre billing.

For the first time ever, images of both John and Taupin appear on the album's cover, celebrating their on-again, off-again 40-year partnership.

Arguably, John's most vital creative period came during the early '70s, buoyed by his energetic playing style (along with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, he defined piano rock) and outlandish fashion sense (his massive glam wardrobe and selection of wild glasses were unforgettable).

But by 1976 the wheels started to come off, partly because he came out - half way, anyway. In another older interview with Rolling Stone, John announced that he was bisexual (John would finally announce he was just plain gay during the '80s). Hurt by adverse reactions to the article, he announced that he was retiring from performing in 1977.

Obviously, it didn't last. Nor did his apparent slump. John has since become one of the most most-celebrated and highest-paid artists of all time.

His unprecedented wealth (he signed an estimated $39-million publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music during the 1990s) afforded him more opportunities to line his closet, but also more chances to explore new creative avenues and philanthropic causes.

In 1994, he and Tim Rice won an Academy Award for best song for Disney's The Lion King, with Can You Feel the Love Tonight. The same song also landed John a Grammy for best male pop vocal performance and the soundtrack sold more than 15 million copies worldwide by 1999. John and Rice would go on to write songs for 2000's The Road to El Dorado, a DreamWorks animated feature, and score a Tony and Grammy for Broadway productions of The Lion King and Aida, respectively.

The '90s also saw him establishing the Elton John AIDS Foundation and donating more than 55 million pounds - with proceeds from his revised version of Candle in the Wind, the fastest-selling single of all time - to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund

Throughout his career, John has worked with a veritable who's who of industry giants, calling people like the late John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, the Who's Pete Townsend, Queen and Eminem (defying the rapper's supposed homophobia), friends and collaborators.

But can the Rocket Man rap himself? Again, only time will tell, but even some of his almost-forgotten recordings seem to prove that he was a man ahead of his time - like the ignored '70s single Are You Ready For Love, which went straight to No. 1 on Billboard's dance charts in 2004, thanks to a re-release on Southern Fried Records.

Maybe John can do the Diddy thing, after all.