Sir Elton John avoids 'madman' label

Sir Elton John feared he was coming across as a "madman" when he contacted a young singer, says her mother.

Tallia Storm saw Elton's husband David Furnish while she was on holiday and handed him a CD of her songs. The next day she received a call from Elton who was amazed by her talent.

Tallia and her family were on their way home to Scotland from America when Elton phoned, so he decided to call again when they'd finished their journey.

"It was the most surreal experience," Tallia's mother Tessa Hartmann recalled.

"He said, 'I just thought I should speak to mum so you don't think I'm some madman chasing your daughter across the world.' He was so pleasant and normal and enthusiastic and passionate, he knew all her songs, he'd been listening to them for 24 hours and his band loved them."

Elton was blown away by 13-year-old Tallia and invited her to perform with him in Falkirk, Scotland, earlier this month. She still can't believe she was allowed to take to the stage but is going to concentrate on her schoolwork for a while.

The singer added she was nervous about approaching David with her CD, although he was kind to her.

"[I thought] when is a Glasgow star ever going to get a chance like that so just wing it!" she laughed on UK TV show Lorraine. "I was nervous because you never know how these people are gonna be. But he's very humble and he was lovely. He just said, 'Of course!'"