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The head rabbi there, whom the school is now named after, knew my voice quite well from the shows I had been in there,” he said. Those haunting melodies are forever ingrained in my memories,” he said.Ĭhester attended a Hebrew day school in Miami Beach, where he grew up, and a rabbi encouraged him to go into music.Īdam Chester playing piano at Dodger Stadium

He would go to synagogue for the High Holidays with his family, and he specifically remembers singing Jewish songs with his father. When he was four, he began playing the piano, and by seven, he was writing original songs. “I'm truly grateful every time I see him and the band.” Encouraged by a RabbiĬhester has always loved performing. “I refresh Elton himself on how he plays certain songs on the piano that he hasn't played in decades, while arranging and conducting choirs for him whenever he needs,” said Chester. This summer, he’ll be playing again with Elton at the Glastonbury Festival in England. Last November, he played piano and sang backups for Elton at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on the song “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” Elton was at the front of the stage, singing with Kiki Dee. “Since then, there have been so many amazing gigs over the past 18 years.”Ĭhester has earned the name SUR Elton John, which means “Surrogate Elton,” playing off of the singer’s official title, Sir Elton John. “In 2007, I got to arrange and conduct for Elton at his 60th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden,” said Chester. Then, Elton agreed to bring Chester to Boston and New York not only to rehearse with everyone there, but to perform onstage with a small choir as well.

His hard work paid off: the rehearsals went well. I felt like I was in training like Rocky Balboa,” said Chester.

To prepare for the job, Chester spent weeks listening to Elton’s album “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy Studio,” since he was going to be playing the entire album on its anniversary. “It was a wild honor for me, and I knew I had to make good of the ask,” said Chester. “We soon became good friends.”Ĭhester and Johnstone stayed in touch throughout the years, and two decades after they first met, Johnstone asked Chester a life-changing question: Would he be willing to sit in at the piano and sing Elton’s parts at a rehearsal? “Being a fan of Elton and his band, I immediately recognized him,” said Chester, who struck up a conversation. He was working in a record store when Davey Johnstone, Elton John’s music director and guitarist, walked in and started browsing the shop. It was 1985 and Adam Chester had just graduated from college.