Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist, releases The Sea Has No Mercy, his first solo album in almost 40 years

For almost six decades Bernie Taupin has written words for someone else to sing, most famously Elton John. Now, at 76, he is singing his own. The Sea Has No Mercy was released on Friday, 23 October 2026, through Vertigo Records and MCA Nashville.

Two firsts

1. It is his first solo album since Tribe in 1987, almost 40 years ago.
2. It is the first album he has written completely on his own, words and music.

How it was made

Taupin recorded in Nashville with producer Frank Liddell and a studio band he calls the Tennessee Stone Cutters: guitarist Adam Wright, bassist Glen Worf and keyboardist Michael Rojas. The sound leans towards quiet, atmospheric folk rather than big pop arrangements.

Guests include Brandi Carlile, who sings on Come On California, country star Lee Ann Womack, and Taupin's younger daughter, Georgey Devon Taupin, who makes her recording debut on the closing track One Hundred Ways.

The tracklist

Fisherman, Old Church Road, The Sea Has No Mercy, Elephant Boy, Ghosts of Greater Men, Joker, Come On California, The Favor, Old Dog and One Hundred Ways.

What it is about

Taupin has called the record the most personal he has ever made and a kind of late-life statement, a companion to his 2023 memoir Scattershot. In the title track he uses the open sea as a symbol for the darker chapters of his past, which he describes as the most frightening force on earth and the most fascinating. He has also said he could not have written these songs as a younger man, because they need the life behind them.

And the Elton news

Taupin says Elton John's 32nd studio album is fully recorded and is planned for early 2027. For a partnership that began in 1967, it is a busy year.