Elton John has established himself as one of the world’s greatest musicians since he shot to fame in 1970 following the release of his self-titled second album.

The 77-year-old British singer-songwriter, famous for his popular ballads and eccentric style, taught himself to play the piano when he was just three years old, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music when he was 11, and it’s all clear from there there was no going back.

However, as some fans may know, Elton John is not the Rocket Man star’s actual name, as he has now revealed the extremely sad truth behind his name change.

Elton John has spoken out about the sad truth behind his name change (Simone Joyner / Contributor / Getty Images)

Elton, who appears in an upcoming documentary titled “ Elton John: Never too laterecently spoke about his real name in a chat with Good morning America.

The Grammy winner’s actual name is none other than Reginald Dwight – a nickname he wanted to give up.

“Reginald is a really old-fashioned name,” Elton explained. “It’s shortened to Reggie, which I hated. I just didn’t like it, and as soon as I could, I changed my name.”

However, the name change apparently occurred to him as he was about to take the stage for a show at Dodger Stadium in LA in 1975, which will no doubt be familiar to the singer’s fans.

He continued: “I was very clever and thought, ‘No one is really called Elton, so I’ll be Elton and I’ll be the only Elton’.”

The “Tiny Dancer” star at Dodger Stadium in LA during his historic 1975 concert (Chris Walter / Contributor / Getty Images)

Elton further shared that the name change wasn’t just about standing out from other singers in the music industry.

“I wanted to leave my childhood and that personality behind me, and it caught up with me,” he remembers. “I realized I was putting everything into my work and my art, my recording, and there was nothing underneath.”

The star added: “I was just a void. And so I left little Reggie behind. But little Reggie was still inside me, you know?”

Back in the 1980s, Elton had reflected that the name change would allow him to take on a completely new personality.

“I became Elton John, it was like a new life,” he said at the time, according to Metro. “I didn’t particularly like being Reg Dwight. It had too many unhappy memories.”

“I hated the word Reg anyway. It was just a terrible name. Once I was Elton it was just great. It was like a new personality.”