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The "Tiny Dancer" and "Crocodile Rock" hit
maker, 75, will headline an event where Biden and First Lady
Jill Biden are also set to speak, the White House said on
Tuesday.
John previously performed at the White House during the Clinton
administration in 1998. He declined an invitation to play at the
2017 inauguration of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.
The event's title, "A Night When Hope and History Rhyme," is
drawn from a poem by the Irish writer Seamus Heaney, who Biden
often quotes.
The event will "celebrate the unifying and healing power of
music, commend the life and work of Sir Elton John, and honor
the everyday history-makers in the audience, including teachers,
nurses, frontline workers, mental health advocates, students,
LGBTQ+ advocates and more."
White House workers were setting up staging on Tuesday while
cooks, technicians and other professionals got tests for
COVID-19 in preparation for the event.
Biden wrote emotionally in his 2017 memoir "Promise Me, Dad: A
Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose" about singing John's
"Crocodile Rock" to his late son Beau as a child and then again
years later when he was dying from cancer.
"I started singing the lyrics to Beau, quietly, so just the two
of us could hear it," Biden wrote. "Beau didn't open his eyes,
but I could see through my own tears that he was smiling."
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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