On January 7th 1972, Reginald Kenneth Dwight changes his name (by deed poll) to Elton Hercules John.

In the UK New Musical Express the 1971 readers' poll places Elton John as the 16th world male singer; 20th world musical personality; 13th British male singer and 15th British vocal personality.

Later this month Elton and the band record tracks for the next studio album in france at the Strawberry Studios, Château D'Hierouville

February sees a short tour in the UK. Davey Johnstone, formerly with the group Magna Carta, joins the band as the guitarist. They perform at the Royal Festival Hall and Elton opens the concert solo. He is joined by Nigel Olsson, Dee Murray and the debut appearance of  Davey Johnstone as a member of the Elton John Band. The band is augmented by Alan Parker (guitar; Blue Mink) and backup singers: Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan & Caroline Attard. Some songs are accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Paul Buckmaster) and were filmed. Some reports say the show was broadcast on televison.

Also during February, Tiny Dancer is released in the US with the B-Side of Razor Face (UNI 55318). It reached number 41 on the Billboard charts. More UK concerts followed at the University of Lancaster, Exeter University, Watford Town Hall, Waltham Forest Technical College.

Another US release during the month of February was Everything Stops for Tea by John Baldry (Warner Brothers BS 2614). Elton provided vocal accompaniment and produced many of the tracks. It was recorded in February 1972 at IBC Studios, London.

Elton followed his short UK tour with 2 concerts in Germany during March (Frankfurt).

April17th 1972 was the official US 45 release of Rocket Man on UNI 55328, which reached number 16 (B-Side was Suzie (Dramas)).

April 22nd was the official UK release on DJM DJX 501. With the B-Side of Holiday Inn and Goodbye, it reached number 2 in the UK.

April 22, 1972 Rocket Man DJM DJX501 – Strawberry Studios, France.

April 2nd to May 10th was a 10 show US leg of a North American tour.
This included Texas, Ohio, Indianna, Illanois and Chicago.

Whilst on tour, Elton released the Honkey Chateaux album in the UK (May 19th). DJM DJLPH 423 reached number 2. Recorded at Strawberry Studios, France and re-mixed at Trident Studios, London

Elton John: "For a start there's no orchestra and there are rock'n'roll tracks which we've never done before on albums. I don't want to say it's the best thing I've ever done because that's what I said and felt about Madman but people didn't agree. It's just that with this album no one can say, 'Oh, it's Elton John with his bloody 100 piece orchestra again.' There's one number on the album called I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself which I think is going to have tap dancing on it. A sort of vaudville number. I guarantee the numbers on the album will get many covers because the songs are light pop".
The US version Honkey Chateaux was released on UNI 93135 a few weeks later.

On June 3rd 1972, Elton appeared on stage with the Beach Boys in London. Elton played piano and Keith Moon on drums joined the Beach Boys for an encore.

In June, Elton and the band could be found back in the Strawberry Studios, Château D'Hierouville to record Crocodile Rock, Elderberry Wine, Daniel and a new version of Skyline Pigeon for the next studio album. At the end of July Elton released Honkey Cat in the US. UNI 55343 reached number 8.

During August and September Elton performed a7 date UK tour, with the four piece band. Portsmouth, London, Newcastle, Manchester, Croydon, Oxford and Glasgow

Later the same month, Honkey Cat was released in the UK. DJM DJS 269 reached number 31 in the charts with the B-Side of lady Samantha and It’s me that you need.